Issue No 113 | 28 September 2001 | |
MediaChucking a Wobbly
Veronica Apap meets Dan Buhagiar, the programmer of Labor Council's new online initiative, Wobbly Radio.
********** Judging by the name, you would be forgiven for thinking the staff at Wobbly Radio are prone to fits of anger. Thankfully though, that's not where the name originated. "It's an old union term from the early 1900's," says Dan Buhagiar, the programmer at Wobbly. "The Industrial Workers of the World, the IWW, were a group fighting globalisation. People had trouble getting their tongue around IWW and it became wobbly," she says. Wobbly radio was officially launched last Saturday night with a gig at the Newtown RSL. The feature acts included Stella One-11, Lazy Susan and Peter Fenton. Buhagiar has been in radio for seven years. In that time she has broadcast with 2SER, Triple J and a range of commercial and community broadcasters. In that time she's interviewed a range of local and international acts including Gomez, Ben Lee, You Am I and the Superjesus. The greatest advantage with online radio is it gives the audience greater control over what they listen to. "It gives listeners more freedom and flexibility," says Buhagiar. "They can just click on their favourite artist and listen to their song instead of listening to half an hour of other stuff they didn't want to hear." The main aim of Wobbly is to help small emerging Australian acts raise their profile. "Each week we'll feature a new artist and have material on them," Buhagiar says. "We're going to get as many profiles of bands as we possibly can. We also give people a chance to upload their own songs." The other purpose of Wobbly Radio is to introduce its listeners to unions. "I'm hoping that people will come for the music and then raise their awareness of the unions," says Buhagiar. "I don't think it's a ridiculous assumption that young people could care about unions. I think they haven't been educated properly yet." They don't intend to push the union message too hard. If listeners choose to, they can go to the Active News section and find out about recent and upcoming union events.
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Interview: The Custodian Labor's arts spokesman Bob McMullan on the role government can play in nurturing national culture. Media: Chucking a Wobbly Veronica Apap meets Dan Buhagiar, the programmer of Labor Council's new online initiative, Wobbly Radio. E-Change: 3.3 Unleashing a Networked Culture Politics does not occur in a vacuum - it's is as much a product of its culture as it is an influence on it. In the post-Industrial Age how will this relationship change? Unions: Are You a Terrorist? Away from the talkback noise, Mark Hearn reports on how a Sydney workforce is taking up the cause of racial understanding and tolerance. Organising: STAA Performers Film industry workers are acting collectively to ensure they don't become Mexicans with Mobiles. Workplace: Making Art Work The Workers Cultural Action Committee is a community cultural development provider. What is this? And what does it mean for the union movement? History: Creative Alliances Neale Towart wanders through the archives to look at how unions' have worked with artists to promote progressive casuses. Performance: Tales from the Shop Floor Peter Murphy profiles Sydney's New Theatre and the role it has played in fostering working culture. Review: Homegroan In an extract from her new book, The Money Shot, Jane Mills argues that the local film industry needs more than patriotism to get bums on seats. Satire: PM Pleads To Nauru: Take Our Aborigines Too In the wake of Nauru�s acceptance of the Tampa refugees, Australian Prime Minister John Howard has struck a new deal with the small island nation to take our Aborigines as well.
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