99.9 Voice FM – Ballarat Community Radio

Local people interested in the concept of a community access radio station based in Ballarat, initially met in August 1979. A series of public meetings were held, and a steering committee formed.

Following only one year’s work by a growing group of volunteers and a Family and Community Services grant, a studio site was developed at Mount Clear Technical High School for training presenters.

The registered name of the Co-operative is the Ballarat Community FM Radio Co-operative Limited under the Co-operatives Act (1996), and the license is classed as a 'Community Broadcasting License' under the Broadcast Services Act (1992), servicing a General Geographic Area.

In August, 1982 Ballarat Community FM Radio Co-operative Society Limited was incorporated and relative committees were established to develop the Co-operative. (The word ‘Society’ was later deleted to conform with the requirements of the Co-operatives Act 1996 (Vic)).

With the assistance of SMB (School of Mines Ballarat) a studio site in the Old Courthouse building commenced development in 1983 to compensate for the inconveniences of travelling to and from Mount Clear.

In May, 1983 the station went to air for its first test transmission. The test involved over 70 volunteers, including 40 on-air announcers and 15 community groups. Response to the test was overwhelming with over 400 calls. 3BBB was born.

Circa 2001, the decision was made to move to new premises in what is now the Ballarat Business Centre at 15 Dawson St South. This was made possible with the generous support of building owner Rex Cartland. This facility was slowly developed over a number of years as the station grew.

Further growth was made possible with the assistance of Helen Bath, who ran the station in the role of Manager for a number of years. Helen was integral in developing a number of community relationships and initiatives within the station and mentored many presenters and volunteers while carrying out the numerous operational tasks required by community radio.

Helen stepped down from this role in 2017 but continued to assist the station in a
variety of capacities until 2019.

In 2019, the Board realised that it was untenable to continue in the Dawson Street premises. A fundraising drive was launched and a number of events were held, including a trivia night and sausage sizzles. By mid-2019, two ex classrooms were secured in Ballarat Group Training’s Barkly Square (formerly the Barkly St campus of Ballarat Secondary College, and the prior to that, a Girls School). The classrooms were redeveloped to a custom-built studio and administration space. This became a reality thanks to some generous donations of time, money and equipment, particularly the Irene and Les Lillingston Charitable Trust for its generous donation, Ballarat Group Training (BGT) and the various individuals and organisations that have provided equipment and services at generous discounted rates or at no charge at all.
We also remember and thank the countless number of individuals who have contributed their time as volunteers to the station over the past 33 years.

The new premises were launched on Eureka Sunday, December 1, 2019, with a live program featuring interviews with many local personalities including Ballarat Mayor Ben Taylor. This program was interspersed with outside broadcasts from MADE throughout the day.

Voice FM is an independent not-for-profit Community Broadcaster founded in 1982, securing a full license in May 1986 and operating with a great team of volunteers ever since. We think of ourselves as providing a real alternative to other broadcasters.

Each of our programs are unique, with presenters playing their own choice of music that they love and enjoy, so you will be sure to get a wide variety of music, information, news and views with the programs presented. Of course, it goes without saying that we are foremost in supporting many local organisations, artists, bands and events.

The 2019 move to Barkly Square sees a new future strategic direction – a 21st-century broadcasting facility with more space, better functioning facilities, extra studios and appropriate disability access, all of which complement Voice FM’s drive to further enhance and broaden its program diversity and community engagement.

The main goals and objectives of the Station:

1. Involve and inform the community of local events and affairs;
2. Build a stronger sense of community;
3. Maintain a radio station that can provide opportunities in the areas of education, ethnic, indigenous and current affairs, as well as local music, sport and news;
4. Raise public awareness and foster a general understanding for groups representing the disadvantaged members and residents of Ballarat and the Grampians region. Support local volunteer and emergency groups by providing air time for their messages.
5. Stimulate interest and entertain through a wide variety of programming styles and
   tastes;

Currently our ethnic programs consist of Filipino, German, Greek, Mandarin, Thai and Dutch. We also have an English language program focusing on Irish news, music and culture. Some of these programs are supported by Ethnic Grants from the Community Broadcasting Foundation (CBF), which is federally funded to distribute to the community broadcasting sector.

We broadcast an RPH program, “The Courier on Air”, every weekday. This program provides listeners with a print disability access to local news and community information through a reading of The Ballarat Courier. The program is supported by Vision Australia who were first involved in the training and rostering of volunteers when the program was established in 2003. In 2019, we added the Ballarat Times to our programming and this is read on air every Friday.

The licensed listening area extends as far as Clunes in the north, Beaufort and Smythesdale in the west, Meredith in the south and Ballan in the east. We commenced streaming to ensure coverage to large areas affected by topography locally, enabling engagement with a larger audience via the internet, this along with our website (www.voicefm.com.au) is strengthening the opportunity for community interaction.

Voice FM depends on the sponsorship support of local and regional businesses and organisations.

Community radio is about communities; the communities that you live and work with are both the audience and the makers of community radio. The station itself is a mini-community made up of representatives from those communities. Community radio strives not only to represent, but to provide opportunities for growth within that community. To question and encourage debate, to promote healthy attitudes, to foster links, to communicate new ideas and information.

Philosophy of Community Radio

Community radio is about communities; the communities that you live and work with are both the audience and the makers of community radio. The station itself is a mini-community made up of representatives from those communities. Community radio strives not only to represent, but to provide opportunities for growth within that community. To question and encourage debate, to promote healthy attitudes, to foster links, to communicate new ideas and information. It all starts with you.

Community radio broadcasts on a special license with conditions attached. The license is free but the responsibilities to represent the community are paramount.

Community Radio in Australia was established in 1976 as an alternative to National and Commercial Radio and has had the support of government since its beginnings.

The community broadcasting sector has experienced rapid growth since its inception in the early 1970’s and now consists of 357 permanent community radio licensees, including 78 Remote Indigenous Broadcasting Services (RIBS)2, in addition to 50 temporary radio licensees in remote areas and six community television stations. Volunteers are at the core of community broadcasting operations; nearly 20,000 people are involved in management and broadcasting roles for licensed community radio stations across Australia.

Community broadcasting stations vary enormously from licence to licence, depending on the needs and interests of the local geographic communities and the specific communities of interest they serve – including youth, senior citizens, arts, fine music, Australian music, sport and other specialist interests, as well as providing specific services for Indigenous, religious, print handicapped and ethnic communities. There are stations all over the country, some with metropolitan wide licences (18%), others that service particular areas of a city that hold sub-metro or suburban licences (16%), and those in rural (25%) and regional areas (41%).

99.9 Voice FM considers itself as a general community broadcaster.