July News: Radiothon Success, New Studios, and Live Theatre
Your monthly behind-the-scenes look at what’s happening at Canberra’s home for arts and music radio.
Radiothon Success And Simulcast
Our 2026 Radiothon exceeded all our expectations by raising an impressive $25,322 for ArtSound. We owe a massive thank you to everyone who donated, the local businesses that provided prizes, and our dedicated volunteers who went above and beyond to make the campaign a success. We adopted a multi-channel approach this year by combining social media outreach, subscriber emails, and persistent on-air messaging. This crucial revenue ensures we can continue covering the essential electricity, insurance, and licensing bills that keep our signal broadcasting.
The energy generated during Radiothon month also led to some incredibly exciting new broadcast experiments. Masterminded by Steve Little and Leon Buker, we launched a special Simulcast Day on June 24th to showcase the capabilities of our new digital on-air studio. Parts of the Arts Café and Driveway programs were transformed to feature live performances from our recording studio, seamlessly mixing music, monologues, and in-studio interviews. We invited our community to watch the broadcast live on our website and YouTube channel, and we look forward to bringing you more live video events very soon.
Studio Upgrades Near Completion
Work has been progressing beautifully on the completion of our second broadcast studio, affectionately known as Studio 3. Our Technology Manager, Chris Deacon, has spent the past two months carefully untangling old cables and installing modern equipment to bring the room up to speed. The project is coming along well and should be fully operational within a few short weeks. Once completed, Studio 3 will be identical to our newly launched Studio 1, providing seamless backup broadcast capabilities and interworking with all our other spaces.
Chris has also recently finalised a brand-new production facility connected to our main recording studio. This setup incorporates a state-of-the-art touchscreen sub-mixer that allows live broadcasts of digital audio to be routed directly from the recording floor. We actually put this new equipment to the test during the recent Radiothon, using it to successfully simulcast several live musical performances. It is exciting to note that other community stations across Australia are paying close attention to ArtSound’s pioneering digital upgrades as they plan their own technical solutions.
Fresh Programming And Theatre
ArtSound has just completed a vibrant new eight-part program series exploring the rich culture and music of Guatemala. Titled Guatemala: Heart & Soul, the series airs Saturdays at 11 am and features insights from Luis Ernesto Molina Campana and Luis Manuel Zapeta Way from the local Embassy of the Republic of Guatemala. Produced by Peter Monaghan alongside Lara McLellan, the episodes cover ancient heritage, culinary traditions, and UNESCO treasures, all punctuated by gorgeous marimba music. We are hoping to create even more collaborative programs with Canberra-based embassies in the future.
We are also thrilled to announce another exciting collaboration with our friends at Mill Theatre to stage a live radio play of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows. Adapted by Bart Meehan, the producer and host of ArtSound Radio Theatre, this fresh take on a classic will run from 24 July – 3 August. Our fantastic production team will be on hand to record and film a performance for a later broadcast, giving our listeners another wonderful way to engage with the local ACT arts scene. Tickets are on sale now: https://events.humanitix.com/live-radio-play-wind-in-the-willows-adapted-by-bart-meehan
ArtSound at the Ray of Light Festival
ArtSound proudly provided on-the-ground support to the second annual Ray of Light festival, held at the White Eagle Polish Club to celebrate the Winter Solstice. Our dedicated video unit spent eight hours recording every band on stage, with Leon, Callan, and Marcus operating the cameras while Steve cut the show live at the vision mixer. It was a wonderful community effort with presenters Felicity, ‘Alopi, Joanne, and Paul Marsh helping out at the ArtSound desk and encouraging Radiothon donations from the crowd. As an added bonus, presenters Paul and Joanne even opened the festival with their band, the Coolibah Coolective. Highlights from the event will be uploaded to our YouTube channel soon.
We are also grateful to Dave and Andrew from the ‘Polo’ for their hospitality and support.
Memorial for Annabel Wheeler
We are gathering to celebrate the life of Annabel Mary Wheeler, who passed away on April 11, 2026, at Clare Holland House in Canberra. Annabel was deeply loved and admired by her diverse friends in the musical, radio, and bushwalking fraternities, as well as her many colleagues in CSIRO and ACT Forestry.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, August 1 at 11:00 am at the Margaret Whitlam Pavilion at the Canberra Arboretum. There will be light sweet and savoury refreshments, alongside ample opportunity for attendees to speak, sing, or present something in her honour. If you would like to attend, please RSVP directly to Gary Hovey via email.
Please RSVP to: garyroyce.hovey@bigpond.com
Behind the Microphone – New Voices at ArtSound
It is always a joy to welcome fresh talent behind the microphone, and we have a few new voices for you to listen out for. Recent training course graduate Alan Subkey recently did a fantastic job filling in on Arts Café, and you can now hear him regularly hosting the Sunday Classical Mood program. Fellow graduate Felicity Brown has also officially joined the Driveway team, bringing great energy to the airwaves on alternate Wednesdays. We will be sharing proper profiles of our new on-air talent on the website very soon.
ArtSound at the Tuggeranong Arts Centre
We also recently visited the Tuggeranong Arts Centre to MC and record a spectacular concert featuring composer Joe Chindamo and violinist Zoe Black. They showcased their unique interpretations of music by Piazzolla, Gershwin, and Ellington, alongside vibrant reimaginings of classical masterpieces. In this special concert, which like many TAC concerts has been recorded for later broadcast on Friday Night Live, they also performed Chindamo’s own vibrant compositions.
AYO applications for 2027
A supporter and sponsor of ArtSound, the Australian Youth Orchestra, is seeking applications for its upcoming season. Be heard in 2027 with the Australian Youth Orchestra.
Applications are open for talented orchestral musicians and emerging arts leaders aged twelve to thirty. Take part in unforgettable concerts and make life-long friends on AYO’s renowned programs from National Music Camp to AYO Symphonists – performing across Australia and next year touring internationally to Singapore.
You can learn more at ayo.com.au.
The Australian Youth Orchestra (AYO) is one of the world’s most prestigious and innovative training organisations for young musicians. It holds a vital and unique place in Australia’s musical landscape: bringing together exceptional artists, tutors and young musicians from every corner of the country and beyond.
For 75 years, the Australian Youth Orchestra has played an integral role in developing Australia’s finest musicians, thinkers and cultural leaders. Their specialised training pathways have been created to nurture the musical development of gifted young instrumentalists: from school-aged musicians to those on the verge of a professional career. Alongside renowned performance programs for talented young people under the age of 25, they offer complementary courses for aspiring composers, arts administrators, sound engineers and music journalists aged up to 30 years.
Support ArtSound via the Southern Cross Club
ArtSound is back on the Canberra Southern Cross Club Community Rewards list, which allows ArtSound supporters to contribute to our coffers simply by dining at the club’s various facilities.
Under the program, as a patron of the club, you can go to this link: https://csccmarketing.wufoo.com/forms/m1ti98210e4gdsx/ and add your CSCC member details. Then, every time you buy food and drinks at the CSCC, ArtSound will get 7.5% of what you spend, and the money goes towards our equipment upgrades and running costs.
Get Involved
Opportunities to help out at ArtSound are many. Some of them are:
- Welcoming Committee members
- Communications team members
- Advertising reps
- Presenters
- Program producers and assistants
- Music library helpers
ArtSound FM’s mission is to cultivate a vibrant arts community in the ACT region. Your memberships and donations sustain our year-long programming including our artist-centred features and interviews and our many broadcasts of live recordings of concerts in and around Canberra.
THANK YOU FOR BEING PART OF ARTSOUND!
Please go online to artsound.fm to take out membership or donate.
Or send your contact details and a description of how you think you can help to help@artsound.fm.
Or phone (02) 6295 7444 — if necessary, please leave a message and we’ll get back to you.
Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible.
ArtSound is an all-volunteer community radio station.
Please forward this newsletter to any possibly interested friends and family members.
And if you have any suggestions about items to include in this bulletin, please send them to newsletter@artsound.fm at least three days before the end of the month.
Thank you for being part of ArtSound.
ArtSound FM — 30 Manuka Circle, Griffith ACT 2603 | T: 02 6295 7444 | W: artsound.fm
Newsletter contributions: admin@artsound.fm(please submit at least three days before month end)
