Way back in the early 1980s a small, dedicated group of volunteers worked tirelessly to obtain a community radio licence for the people of the Goulburn Valley.
ONE FM (as it became known) finally went to air in April 1989 and Ernesto was the program director in those exciting first days.
One of the goals Ernesto had was to return live local football to the Goulburn Valley’s airwaves, as it had been 17 years since the local AM commercial radio station, 3SR, dumped live Goulburn Valley League football coverage.
We did not let the grass grow under our feet. Just one month later, on the interleague weekend in May of that year, our intrepid technicians and commentary team perched themselves on top of the tin shed (you couldn’t call it a grandstand) at Central Park, Shepparton East, and called our first ever game — the Tungamah Football League vs the Northern Tasmanian Football League.
The following day the GVL took on the Bendigo Football League at Deakin Reserve, Shepparton. That day the ONE FM commentary team joined forces with 3CCC, the community radio station based in Castlemaine, to jointly call the action.
Live footy was back on the Goulburn Valley airwaves!
From that first weekend, the volunteers at ONE FM gradually built the coverage to a minimum of a weekly live GVL game plus occasional big clashes from other leagues and as many finals games from as many leagues as possible, as well as reporting on the netball games.
Since those exciting early days, ONE FM football coverage has got better and more complex, winning many media awards along the way thanks to the stewardship of Ernesto’s successors such as Graeme McCartney and Jason Welsh.
It was, therefore, quite a surprise then to read the News recently reporting the GVL had decided to terminate a 30-year partnership with ONE FM in favour of a streaming service, Red Onion, based in Geelong.
What happened to supporting locals?
I tried to find coverage of the battle of the co-tenants of Deakin Reserve last Friday night but gave up after being sent down all sorts of website rabbit holes.
This game is one that ONE FM would have broadcast but I had to wait for Monday’s News to get the result.
I would like to ask the GVL, what is the purpose of excluding thousands of supporters from listening to the local footy and getting the score wrap-up on Saturday evening in favour of a media organisation based outside the Goulburn Valley?
I can’t imagine, for example, a dairy farmer jumping into his ute, tractor or dairy would have the time or patience to muck around trying to find a live stream on his or her phone — but they would turn on the radio.
Many older members of the community will be unable to access this stream simply because they aren’t confident with or don’t have the necessary technology.
What will the GVL do if Red Onion finds that covering the GVL doesn’t pay well enough and doesn’t renew the arrangement after the initial contract is over. It might be difficult for the league to get ONE FM back after giving it the flick.
I also understand the time window given for expressions of interest in the GVL coverage in 2022 was only 11 days in the busy lead-up to Christmas.
Remembering that most of the ONE FM sports commentary team are volunteers, and the GVL were looking for a big increase in coverage commitment (e.g. video), which required a lot of work, many people I have spoken to think that the whole process was unfair.
Ernesto contacted Jason Welsh from ONE FM, who respectfully declined to comment, as he was still hopeful of an agreement between the GVL and ONE FM on the broadcast rights this year.
Having local football and netball live-streamed is a fine idea and I support it, but I don’t support the GVL turning its back on the thousands of local supporters that for one reason or another cannot access the stream, and I certainly don’t support the GVL turning its back on ONE FM after 30 years of beneficial partnership.
Surely the league can come to an arrangement with ONE FM and Red Onion that sees a live radio commentary and a live stream for our local competitions.
Hopefully common sense will prevail.
Ern Meharry,
Shepparton.