For many Sydneysiders, FBi Radio is a cultural institution. And for those in the music and media industry, it has been a launching pad – for bands, for careers and for a whole social scene.
From its humble beginnings in the mid-90s when test broadcasts would go out in three month-long blocks each year, to officially launching as a full-time broadcaster based in Alexandria in 2003, to that fateful moment when the station asked Richard Branson for a million dollars, FBi Radio has a long and colourful history. We speak to some who helped start it – and others who have kept it going.
How it started
In 1995 Sydney’s last three FM licences became available and 16 aspiring broadcasters began vying for them. Jim Beatson, a co-founder of Brisbane’s community station 4ZZZ, had a vision for a Sydney-centric station, pulling together a team that ran fundraisers and began test broadcasting three times a year.
Meagan Loader, former program director: I jumped in from the very first test broadcast. I remember being on air for a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon and during one voice break hearing 50 motorbikes taking off next to me while the mic was on. I was just having to pause and go, “Sorry, we’re at the Clock hotel.” I was really excited about the idea of building something specifically for Sydney … There were very few stations who were passionate about creating a space for Sydney artists to be heard.
Julian Hamilton, the Presets: Kim [Moyes, also of the Presets] and I got involved with the station long before they even were granted their licence. We had a band before the Presets called Prop in the late 90s and we used to play at FBi fundraisers. Our first EP [as the Presets] came out in 2003, so we’re the same age as them.
Cassandra Wilkinson, co-founder: The two things that we said right from day one was it has to be 50% Australian music with half of that from Sydney, and that it needs to be accountable to the members. It was built on the basis that it belongs to the people that it’s for, because they’re the ones who show up and volunteer.
The volunteers
FBi is community-run and funded. All of its presenters and producers are volunteers, with alumni including Marc Fennell, Dom Alessio and Avani Dias.
Linda Marigliano, TV and radio presenter: I was the first ever volunteer and joined in the break between high school and uni. Every Thursday I would spend a full day with Meagan Loader. She taught me how to listen critically to music. One afternoon, a couple of months before the station launched, Meagan was like, “Linda, I think I’m gonna give you your own show.” It was my dream to be a radio presenter. I actually couldn’t believe it.
I remember shitting myself while staring into the ocean eyes of Nick Valensi from the Strokes, being sassy with MIA, and having a real connection with Anohni … Volunteering at FBi gave me all of the tools that landed me a full-time job at Triple J directly afterwards.
Andrew Levins, DJ and writer: I was in high school in 2002 and there was a call-out in street press. I remember listening to the test broadcast and not knowing a single song that played on any of the nights that I was listening, and I thought that was so cool and weird. My friend and I went to the open day – we were the youngest people there … Meagan Loader mentioned she wanted me to have a daily show and I started doing announcer training, host training and interview training … and I started taking DJ gigs off the back of what I was playing on the radio.
Marigliano: We were just this crew of dorks that had come straight out of high school, all big music fans and we had nowhere to put our energy. We all found FBi, or FBi found us.
Levins: It was such a unique and cool place to be a teenager.
The launch
After years of test broadcasts, FBi Radio was granted its broadcast licence in 2001, then spent two years fundraising, training volunteers and building its facility on Botany Road. The station began broadcasting full-time at 94.5FM on 29 August 2003, kicking off with a live broadcast and party. The first song played was a cover of the Masters Apprentices’ Turn Up Your Radio, performed by Sarah Blasko, Dave McCormack of Custard (and Bluey), Spod, Tony Buchen, Upshot and Front End Loader.
Loader: It was like throwing any party: you send out the invites and you have no idea if anyone’s going to come. We bought a case of beer and some chips and no one was there half an hour before and we were like, “Oh god, what have we done?” We still had volunteers painting the music library walls as guests were arriving, and then suddenly it was filled with artists, music industry people, politicians, board members, stakeholders and presenters. We had people running across to the pub across the road and buying more and more cases of beer.
Wilkinson: It was like standing on the top of the mountain and getting to look down for the first time and see how far you’ve come.
Levins: I was the second host on air, after Jess Keeley. I remember being so nervous in the lead-up to going on air, and being very excited to play songs from my favorite artist back then, Hermitude – I think I played three songs from them in the first hour.
The music
With its Sydney-centric remit, FBi has been integral in the early-stage careers of local musicians including Flume, Julia Jacklin, Red Riders, Cloud Control and Montaigne – all of whom have won the station’s annual Sydney Music Arts and Culture awards.
Loader: By the time we got the licence, music was changing and the scene was changing. Instead of just going, “OK, we’re an indie station,” we brought all those scenes and sounds and cultures together.
Hamilton: FBi felt like an extension of our Sydney community, along with street press and smaller venues. It was the missing piece of the puzzle – it was fabulous being able to rock into the station, have a chat to the DJs, tell folks that we’ve got a show at the Metro tomorrow night, tickets on the door, come down.
Darren Lesaguis, program director and former Race Matters host: Back in 2014 I was finishing uni and I had a few friends who were volunteers at FBi. I turned it on and for the first time heard a song by Collarbones, who have long been a staple of FBi, and I remember falling in love with that music.
Levins: We had this very anarchic dance music show, Ro Sham Bo Sunset, that was me and three of my best friends. We got massive guests – Diplo, Switch – all these big DJs from around the world would come in and do sets that would be ripped and shared online, and suddenly people around the world were aware of our radio show.
The first time Diplo ever played in Sydney, we ended up hanging out all night … When he next came back, [fellow FBi host and volunteer] Nina Las Vegas and I asked if he’d be interested in doing a series of music workshops with kids at a juvenile justice centre in Wagga Wagga. They went really well and I suggested that he leave the gear he brought with us for Nina and I to continue that work ourselves … that’s how [social enterprise] Heaps Decent was born.
Save FBi – and Ask Richard
When the global financial crisis hit, sponsors dropped off and FBi found itself in dire straits. Cue supporter drives, fundraisers and one memorable idea conceived pro bono by a PR agency: to ask the music-loving billionaire Richard Branson for a million dollars, with a $50,000 prize for whoever could attract his attention in the most creative way.
Wilkinson: I recall being terrified.
Loader: The agency gave us three ideas, and the last one they presented was Ask Richard. We just knew instantly that it was so fun and ridiculous and out of leftfield, and that he was the one to do it. It was a really fun time and brought to people’s attention that, if the community doesn’t support this station, it can’t survive.
Wilkinson: The Ask Richard campaign was so mad and inspired. It was before viral marketing was something that everybody knew about and pre-social media. People were making YouTube videos of themselves jumping out of planes.
Branson rang the station and did an interview on air. He told this amazing story about an Australian woman who had swum from one of the nearby islands across the ocean to his island to tell him. He really was such a good sport – he shared this story that was so wild, it doubled the energy for the campaign. We didn’t get a million from him, but we did raise half a million from Sydney to save the station.
The impact
Alongside music, FBi’s programming includes politics and current affairs – such as the Walkley-nominated Backchat, helmed by young journalists, and Race Matters, an anti-racist show that was born out of the worldwide Black Lives Matter reckoning of 2020. The station has taken a stance on a variety of progressive issues since it launched.
Lesaguis: During the same-sex marriage plebiscite, the program director at the time, Caroline Gates, organised with other youth media publishers a blackout of their platforms to direct their audiences to register to vote yes. It felt like an immediate acknowledgement and engagement of the power of community radio to speak directly to an audience – and as a queer, brown person, I had never been afforded a platform like that. To be able to voice that on the radio felt quite radical to me.
Wilkinson: FBi changes with the culture and we can see it in the way that the activists within the organisation change over time.
Lesaguis: Race Matters began as a 15-minute segment on breakfast. We were coming into this consciousness of what it meant to be navigating this conception of race, and how race is being used to inform, empower and sometimes disempower conversations. Having these slippery, sprawling, exploratory conversations about race within the very segmented and time-constrained format of radio became a really fascinating idea for me. We ended up wanting to grow it and be more ambitious with it. It really informed the way me and my colleague Tanya [Ali, managing director] do everything at the station.
Loader: My favourite thing about FBi is what it has been able to offer so many people. People who started at FBi doing a drum and bass show on a Friday night are running record labels and influencing throughout art and culture at every level. That’s the greatest joy.
FBi Radio are celebrating their 20th birthday on Saturday 9 December with a block party in Marrickville. These are edited transcripts – some quotes have been condensed for clarity
