LOCAL community radio station 2NVR Nambucca Valley Radio is a multiple time winner of the “The Best Little Station In The Nation’ award, and will be celebrating 30 years of broadcasting to the Nambucca community in 2022.

News Of The Area caught up with 2NVR Nambucca Valley Radio President, Donna Collins, for a chat about what it means to deliver a community-based station.

Donna explained, “The initial planning for a local radio station first started in 1984 with Rob Turnell (then an ABC Producer), and several other like-minded people.”

The first test broadcasts started in 1985, and regular broadcasting commenced as a licensed entity at the end of January 1992.

Donna became president in November last year, and explained that the largest responsibility of 2NVR is the broadcasting of local emergencies and disasters.

“The delivery of emergency releases is very important to remote communities in the Nambucca Valley,” Donna said.

“Towns and properties can become cut off quickly as we saw in the 2019 fires, and our recent flooding event.”

Community radio plays a key role in keeping people connected in these situations, informing them of emergency services, and abreast of disaster escalation/evacuations.

Nambucca Radio is lucky to have a very functional broadcasting space in the Tewinga Community Hall, equipped with up-to-date technology that allows the station to branch out to the greater community with new and innovative programs.

Donna is very passionate about how the station can contribute to the community especially regarding outside broadcasting.

“Community radio becomes quite an addiction once you get started,” Donna said.

Everyone knows how important the footy season is, and 2NVR is the only local community station to broadcast the football, next year the station hopes to live stream football games without interrupting scheduled programming as it does at present.

Once a year recruiting and training drives are conducted and Donna would love some volunteers for office administration, manning phones, and multimedia roles.

“There is plenty of room for volunteers to be involved without requiring them to be on-air.”

Home broadcasting started with COVID-19 restrictions in 2020.

The downside is the loss of human contact, but presenters gained in the upskilling of technology, making program delivery more flexible.

2NVR Nambucca Valley Radio locally produces shows with a focus on Australian music and local voices.

You can contact the station on 65647777 or https://2nvr.org.au/on-air-announcement-request/.

 

By Karen GRIBBIN