Alive 90.5 FM Finalists in Community Radio Awards

Great news! Alive 90.5 FM is a finalist in 5 categories for the 2020 Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) Awards. Alive 90.5 FM Chairlady Gillian Schrickker said she is delighted with this achievement. “So proud to be Chairlady of Alive 90.5 with 5 programs and volunteers being finalists for the 2020 CBAA awards. This is a great day for one of the best community radio stations in Australia,” Gillian said.

Reaching finalist in 5 categories is the best the station has achieved in a long while and comes on the back of being finalist in 2 categories in 2019, and the station’s Sunday Sports Round-Up program receiving an award in 2018. Sunday Sports Round-Up is again finalist this year for the Troy Garner Excellence in Sports Programming.

The categories for which Alive 90.5 FM are finalist for 2020 are:

Excellence in Technical Innovation	COVID-19 Remote Broadcasting
Excellence in Technical Services	Darryn Capes-Davis
Best Online Content	The Vividha Dance Series
Contribution to Australian Music – Radio Program	Australian Spectrum Show
Troy Garner Excellence in Sports Programming	Sunday Sports Round-Up

COVID-19 brought challenges for the whole radio industry, with many presenters wishing to broadcast their programs remotely. Alive 90.5 FM was required to rapidly implement remote broadcast systems. The team brought this together well allowing them to be finalists in the Excellence for Technical Innovation category.

Alive 90.5 FM IT Manager and Board Member, Darryn Capes-Davis, is a finalist in the Excellence in Technical Services category as well as contributing to Excellence in Technical Innovation. Darryn has continued to contribute to technical services since he joined Alive 90.5 FM in 2018, taking its IT platform from strength to strength. “One of the many achievements in the year was to finalise the Artist and Song display on your radio, with more than 80% coverage across our music playlist. We had the device but needed the IT glue to bring it all together,” Darryn said.

Divya Saxena, a young Indian talent from the What’s Going On show, curated a theatrical production with a mission to increase diversity in the media. The Vividha Dances Series was run in association with Cumberland Council as an
opportunity to provide a platform for the younger Indian Australian community. The Vividha Dance Series is a finalist in the Best Online Content category. “I am honored to be a finalist in the CBAA awards, especially as I have been able to show the wider Australian community that there is so much more to Indian dancing than the stereotypical head bobbing, and the choreographed routine the dancers break out into in Slumdog Millionaire,” Divya said.

Ross Fear has been producing and presenting the Australian Spectrum Show for 11 years. His show, which airs on a Tuesday night from 9pm to midnight, broadcasts 100% Australian artist music featuring music and interviews with Australian legends as well as emerging artists and launching so many new albums on radio and through social media channels. The show is a finalist in the Contribution to Australian Music – Radio Program category. “It was a surprise and thrill for the Tuesday night Alive 90.5 FM Australian Spectrum Show to be announced as a finalist in the Community Broadcasting Association Australia Annual Awards ‘Contribution To Australian Music’ category,” Ross said.

On the back of their win in 2018 for the same category, Sunday Sports Round-Up are again finalists for the Troy Garner Excellence in Sports Programming. Sunday Sports Round-Up is a show that blends the best of live local sport with voices who have represented Australia on the biggest stage. Sunday Sports Round-Up has been broadcasting the home games of local rugby league team the Wentworthville Magpies for ten years as well as local state soccer teams, Blacktown City, Hills United and Parramatta FC for seven years. Current Sunday Sports Round-Up Executive Producer Tony Salerno is delighted with the show being nominated again as a finalist. “The Sunday Sports Round-Up team work hard to bring together a quality show each week. I am delighted that we have been recognised once again for this excellence,” said Tony.