Vision Australia Radio in Shepparton has been broadcasting for 23 years and is supported by 30 volunteers, delivering local content live on 100.1FM and online for the blind and low-vision community in the Goulburn Valley.
Operating from a local studio in Shepparton, the passionate and dedicated team presents readings from the Shepparton News and select regional papers within the broadcast region, along with simulcast content from across the Vision Australia Radio network.
Like many community radio stations, volunteers are the lifeblood of the service and the station is always looking for new voices to contribute on air and with administration support behind the scenes. Following the recent impact of COVID-19 and lockdowns in Victoria, there has been a concerted effort to attract new volunteers to help deliver this vital service for the local blind and low-vision community.
Vision Australia Radio Manager Conrad Browne said the opportunities within Vision Australia Radio were varied and could be tailored to people’s availability and busy schedules.
“The main on-air roles for reading programs are a presenter who oversees the delivery of the program and reads articles, the reader role who also reads the articles throughout the program and a panel operator who manages the technical delivery of the program,” he said.
“Training and support are offered to all volunteers when they start and ongoing to ensure we continue to deliver quality programs with the latest local news and information all year-round.”
He also highlighted that there were other roles for people to get involved in at Vision Australia Radio in Shepparton including people with lived experience of vision loss.
“We are also looking for people who are passionate about the local area to deliver specialist programs that are specifically addressing access to information for the blind and low-vision community,” Mr Browne said.
“It could be reading local history content, interviewing people of note within the community or providing information about local accessible events and activities.”
He emphasised that it was not just on-air roles that people could volunteer for.
“There is also a need for people to help out in administration with on-air rosters and community engagement activities, along with roles as researchers, producers, audio editors and more supporting specialist program makers,” he said.
If you’re based in the Shepparton or the Goulburn Valley area and want to find out more about volunteering or have a program idea, please email radio@visionaustralia.org
You can listen to Vision Australia Radio Shepparton locally at 100.1FM and online at www.varadio.org
For more on the region’s volunteers and volunteer groups, look out for the ‘Our Community, Our Volunteers’ feature inside The News on March 1.