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Sweet sixteen is such a Joy |
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Written by Patrick Arnold
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Tuesday, 24 November 2009 17:05 |
Patrick Arnold reports that our gayest radio station has reached the age of consent.
 Australia’s only dedicated queer radio station, Joy 94.9, turns sweet 16 on World AIDS Day. The date is no coincidence: Joy began transmissions on World AIDS Day 16 years ago because the station’s original concept was to broadcast to people with HIV/AIDS in hospitals.
The Victorian AIDS Council’s Colin Batrouney says Joy’s ‘Well, Well, Well’ program addressing HIV/AIDS issues started as ‘Positive Life’ in 1993. Batrouney says the program morphed into its current format in 2005 to address issues relating to health and well-being of the GLBT community generally, not just regarding HIV/AIDS.
‘Well, Well, Well’ co-host Kylie Johnston says the show receives questions about HIV transmission from a broad range of listeners. “The program is important for anyone across all ages, but I think for young people in the sense that HIV is still very real. Also for people who are isolated because they’re living with HIV or just living regionally.”
Joy president Stephen Duns says being HIV positive 16 years ago “was still pretty scary”. “Now, the ability to deal with it is significantly improved, which is great – that’s a real change.”
“[Joy has] become much more of a broad community base for all of the GLBTI communities and I think it’s much more of a celebration of those communities now and that’s a really positive thing.”
Much has happened since Joy’s first transmission – an accidental playing of a Jimmy Barnes track. (Joy’s first official song was Kylie’s ‘Celebration’.) Duns says Joy’s greatest milestone was being granted its full-time licence in 2001.
“Before that, we shared the airwaves with a Muslim station; all of a sudden on a Thursday there were prayers going up! It was entertaining in lots of ways, but the licence was huge.”
Relocation to new and better premises in the CBD with support from the City of Melbourne was also a great step for the station.
“It’s been superb and that’s been a really positive move,” Duns says. “It was particularly helpful having Gary Singer as Deputy Lord Mayor, he was very supportive.”
Celebrating these and many other milestones, Duns says there’s a lot of energy around the studio at the moment. “It’s almost a coming of age. We’ve sort of grown up and so ‘what next’? That’s how it feels and it’s pretty exciting.
“We are moving to a slightly new phase, we’ve got our new general manager just started and it’s fantastic having a woman as general manager. Our charter is to entertain, educate and inform. But what does the ‘educate and inform’ bit mean and how can we do that in a way which is still a celebration and fun?”
Duns says Joy’s birthday message is sent out with a real sense of gratitude, and an invitation to the community to participate in shaping the station’s future.
“What are the things we should be doing, what are the needs within our community that we can start to meet?” he asks. “Everyone’s welcome to come and join in.”
joy.org.au
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Sweet sixteen is such a Joy
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