One of my clearest recollections from those Singapore days was parties, dinners and get-togethers. I was reminded of these when visiting Hong Kong recently to visit some expat friends. The dinner party was nice but afterwards I recalled those similar events from my teenage perspective in Singapore. What was different? In Hong Kong the party only had expats – some ‘Poms’, ‘Yanks’ and ‘Aussies’ but no locals. I contrasted this to the days in Singapore – our parties were multicultural – as was the ABC office in Orchard Road. I remembered such a mixture of people at those parties; Chinese, Malay, Indian, English, Vietnamese, Australians and some Eurasians. It was really a mixture. I reflect now that this was something Dad taught me – that easy acceptance of people from all nationalities, backgrounds and religions. Indeed the picture of an ABC office party attached indicates this cultural mix.

Dad and Mum had many local friends in Singapore who they visited regularly; one even became the President of Singapore and Mum returned to Singapore many years later to pay him a visit.

It is nice to reflect on those 70 years and realise that Radio Australia was all about building friendships throughout South East Asia in the 60s and all of Asia and the Indian sub-continent today.

I have read that you are celebrating your 70th Anniversary, so I thought I would join the celebration. It’s a long time since the last time I tuned in to your programmes. As your target areas are Asia and Oceania, it is very difficult to listen to your programs in Europe on shortwave. I sometimes hear your signal thanks to the World Radio Network, so I ‘taste’ your programmes, but for a SW lover it is not the same. But I have decided to send a reception report with this letter. It has not been too hard work, as on some days your signal can be received in Spain, but too weakly. So, please, excuse me if any of the information on the reception report is not very accurate. I would like to have a QSL card if you think it is correct. With this reception report, I can be said to be a listener for 10 years. A long time if we think about the changes: internet, satellites,…and I feel sad about the shortwave. After a lot of years and a few radio sets I think it is dying slowly. I would like to listen more to Radio Australia because I think you do great work in Asia and Oceania, offering culture, information and entertainment to a lot of people. Only a few broadcasters do such great work.

 Well, my friends, visiting your website I see the future of Radio Australia is certain for at least other 70 years.

 Many thanks for your work, for your respect to listener and my best wishes for the next 70 years.

One evening I tuned in my shortwave radio and found very few stations. One stuck out as it was playing really nice music followed by an arrangement of Waltzing Matilda. After the time signal I heard a very familar tune that made the hairs on my neck stand up. It was ‘Majestic Fanfair’ and the announcer said: “Here is the news from Radio Australia.”

I had many letters answered on Mailbag by Keith Glover and on one occasion he sent me a studio copy of a programme on a cassette tape as reception had been so bad. A listener needed to qualify to join The Listeners Club, another program with Keith Glover who was assisted by Warren Moulton. I became a member and proudly wore my Green Badge, until one day it disappeared, which was quite upsetting, as it had been very difficult to get in the first place.

Reception had always been a problem but with the building of a new high power relay at Carnavon it greatly improved. An evening service to Europe was put in place and provided some of the clearest reception we have ever had. It meant that we could hear Mailbag and Listeners Club a day early, as they were the first editions to go out. An SSB signal was used as a backup studio feed to Carnavon on 12290Khz and provided a good signal into Europe for many hours a day.

Later, we were amongst the first to hear RA via satellite, as RA is always finding new ways to get its programmes heard. Now the distance makes little difference when using the web.

The music of RA has always attracted me and in 1980 there were several hundred versions of Waltzing Matilda in use. I corresponded with many announcers who often took the time to reply in length and would often send me autographed pictures. They would often say ‘hi’ during the breaks between programmes to certain regular listeners, and listeners would ‘phone to tell the announcer that reception was good. RA has always been like a friend, ask a question or request a tune and they will try to oblige.

When I wrote to Roger Broadbent at Feedback asking for an obscure tune from the 60s, he found a copy and kindly played it. I asked about the news theme and he researched all the tunes used by the ABC and played them. He also found some remaining copies of the old Waltzing Matilda stings and played those too.
I hope it will soon be possible to find a replacement for Mailbag and Feedback as these programmes bring us closer together.

Congratulations and many happy returns. Long may you continue to bridge the distance gap. Here’s to the next 70 years.

我收听澳广是偶然一个朋友介绍的。跟卢宏婷认识也应该感谢澳广。因为那个时候澳广给我们寄来纪念品，我记得那张纸上有八个人（的名字），其中四个男的，四个女的。这四个女的桂林有一个，淮南有一个，但是记忆最深的一个是卢宏婷，因为她后来嫁给我了嘛。这些人相互联系最开始还是很多的，但是后来慢慢地就跟一个人联系最多了，因为彼此之间谈得来嘛，这就是卢宏婷。后来就发展下去。比如说网上征婚也罢，比如说别人介绍也罢，或者从一见钟情到亲友介绍，男女双方都会刻意地展示自己的优点，回避自己的缺点。而我们两个人应该说，并不展示自己的优点，也不回避自己的缺点，因为本来就是听友嘛，朋友嘛，就像现在的网友一样。后来我们觉得两个人彼此之间还是挺不错的。这就是我们交往的过程，我把它非常简单地说了一下。这个应该感谢澳广。我记得我女儿曾经说过，她的生命是澳广给的。这一句话我觉得她说得很到位。没有澳广，在那种交通不便的情况下，信息网络又不是很多，两个人相距两千五百多公里，怎么能走到一起呢。所以说，这辈子，不管发生什么大的变化，从婚姻这个角度上来说，感谢澳广。

第二个我要感谢澳广的是，澳广给了我们许多听友，和在国内媒介无法享受到的乐趣。澳广播出的歌，一般来说旋律都比较优雅。就在那个时候，澳广给了许多听友一个交流的平台。大家都在听，谁给谁点播，谁给谁点播，确实感觉到，我们的听友遍及祖国的每一个角落。这个也是要感谢澳广的。其实感谢的话是很多的。今天卢宏婷跟我说，要讲几句祝贺词，可是几句根本不够，因为心里的话太多了。我女儿曾经说了一个词，“澳广人”。我认为她的这个词说得还是有点道理的。澳广人不仅仅是澳广的从业者，我们这些所有热爱澳广的人都应该归纳到这个范围里边。我就不多说了，向所有的澳广人问候。愿他们和澳广一样，永远年轻，永远保持一份年轻的心态。

Radio Australia, like the continent it so ably represents, has weathered some significant storms and, in response, has smartly changed over time. From a station that saw itself initially as almost a European outpost in Oceania, it has become a powerful voice from and to the Pacific and south and south-east Asia, not only representing the region to itself, but also to the world at large. As such, it daily demonstrates Australia’s steadfast commitment to its neighbors while explaining an evolving multicultural Australia to the nations and peoples among which it lives.

My earliest memory of RA is as a young teenager turning the dial of my newly christened Heathkit GR-54 receiver one morning and, to my complete amazement, finding a strong, steady signal on 9580 kiloHertz (kilocycles, then!). It was Australia, literally halfway around the world from upstate New York! (Incidentally, that signal on that frequency still makes its way here despite the interference and noise added to the band in the intervening five decades. Some things persist despite everything!)

There were several fine programs on offer, but the one which made the deepest impression on me was a segment each weekday morning called ‘Window on Australia’, where a call was made to one Australian seemingly at random to describe what he or she was seeing outside their window at the moment. The images depicted must have had their impact because it became an early dream to some day visit Australia myself and personally experience some of the scenes I first saw in my mind’s eye through that program.

I had no idea how that opportunity would come, if indeed it would ever come at all. In 1998, my daughter enrolled in a college semester abroad program at Macquarie University near Sydney. Of course, we could not let her be so far from home alone for so long a time. So, in the trip of a lifetime, my wife and I and our three other children flew to Sydney and, with our daughter, on to Melbourne, the Great Barrier Reef and Brisbane.

One of the genuine highlights of the trip for me was visiting Radio Australia at its Southbank headquarters and being so graciously received by Roger Broadbent, John Westland and Jean-Gabriel Manguy, RA’s Director at the time. 1998 and the years immediately preceding and succeeding it were perhaps the most challenging times for the station, as there had been significant pressure placed by the government at that time on the ABC to dismantle Radio Australia entirely. As it was, funding was reduced to a virtual trickle. As a writer on international broadcasting, it was my intention to produce a comprehensive illustrated magazine article explaining Radio Australia’s mission and the threats under which it was operating and which could cause it to stop doing so entirely. Roger took me on a tour of the station and he, Jean-Gabriel and John took considerable time out of their extremely stressed schedules to explain matters as they stood and as the plans that were in place for refocusing and rebuilding RA for the future. They made this visitor, this listener, feel most welcome – just like they do on the air.

After publication of the article, I looked for a way to help other listeners become more aware of the wealth of valuable programming broadcast by Radio Australia. So, for several years thereafter, I undertook an effort to publish comprehensive details of that programming on the internet and in an annual print publication I edited. Again, I received nothing but wholehearted support from Roger Broadbent and the RA team.

I am pleased to say that my enthusiasm for Radio Australia continues undiminished today, though it is more often that I hear its programs via podcast, Sirius/XM satellite radio and my wifi internet radios than by the still much cherished shortwave medium. It remains my favorite broadcaster and I am honored to count Roger Broadbent, Nigel Holmes and Brendon Telfer (who for years gave me my necessary dose of Aussie rules and rugby stories and scores) as friends with whom I can freely correspond from time to time despite the many thousands of miles between us. It seems we share a common passion.

Radio Australia has been an important factor in my life for almost five decades. Congratulations Radio Australia on your 70th! Here’s hoping for many more!

Australia is a fascinating country with marsupials like koala, kangaroos, wallabies and echidnas. The details of this Pacific nation left some good impressions in my childhood mind during 1990. When I got a Shortwave Radio during my eighth grade, I started listening to BBC. During one night while scanning through the bands I heard an interesting programme on forest fires and wildlife in Australia. To my surprise it turned out to be Radio Australia. My Philips Radio became my bedtime companion along with Radio Australia. I still remember waking up earlier at 5.30 in the morning to hear your mailbag programme ‘Feedback with Roger Broadbent’, ‘Grandstand’ with live cricket match, interesting shows like ‘Sound About’ and ‘Charting Australia’ based on India-Australia relation filled my room. During those days I was an avid programme listener.

Later when I went to college, I left radio for couple of years and concentrated on my studies. During that period I came to read an article about DXing and corresponding with Radio stations for QSL Cards. I am hooked. I started listening again on my Philips analogue receiver. I heard many stations from Asia, Africa and Europe and QSL started flowing down.

I searched for my ever favourite station with the voices of Roger Broadbent and Barry Seeber all over my analogue radio dial. But I didn’t find them even after continuous search during early evenings. Further I don’t have any exact frequency information about Radio Australia at that time. After many weeks of attempt, during one day at 2am (midnight time!) I got something with just fair reception on the dial near 9500 kHz mentioning about Pacific news items. It turned out to be Radio Australia broadcasting on 9500 kHz confirmed by the frequency announcement and followed by the laugh of the great kookaburra!

The next day I wrote a letter to them and waited patiently. Many weeks later I got a frequency schedule and programme information from Radio Australia, and I learned why I can’t listen to them as easily as earlier. It states as ‘Due to the closure of Radio Australia’s high power transmitters at Cox Peninsula near Darwin Radio Australia’s reception has greatly weakened, where it was strong’. My heart sank down and I became much despair that I cannot hear my favourite station as easily as earlier.

But with the aid of a Grundig Digital receiver and improved reception conditions later due to high sunspot period I started listening continuously to Radio Australia. Pacific beat, Roger Broadbent etc. all became my favourite again. But I lost many exciting shows due to financial constraints over there. Frequencies like 21820, 17750, 9500 provided fair reception at certain times.

The reception of Radio Australia improved when Radio Australia started leasing airtime from Christian Vision who bought the Cox Peninsula transmitters from Australian Government. Now Radio Australia became a leaser from a transmitter which owned it few years ago. However reliable reception provides us some relief.

I am not a veteran and experienced Radio Australia listener from the era of the legendary Graham Hutchins or Keith Glover period. But I salivate by reading the memories of listening during that golden era of Radio Australia especially in Radio Historian Jerry Berg’s writing.

I have plenty of QSL and post cards from my listening period of 20 years which provides golden memories of my listening. I can’t forget my re-introductory listening on 9500 during midnight and also the coverage of Sydney Olympics over RA.

My mobile ringtone is the Radio Australia call sign with the laugh of the kookaburra which always remind me of my favourite station from the Land of Marsupials.

Long Live Radio Australia!

For me, it was at 1975 to have begun to hear Radio Australia. It receives in October, 1975 and the copy of the verification card is sent. At that time, I favorite Japanese program of me who was the junior high school student was happily heard every week by program “Sunday Southern Echo” of which Kiyoshi Omura took charge.

I was a member of the Listener’s Club of Radio Australia. It was possible to join by sending it putting the reception report of 12 totals received six months more continuously together. The membership card and the tie pin are my still treasures.

I reopened SWL after an interval of 31 years. I have heard your English program many times. I wish you provide restart Japanese program.

Until now I still keep couple of Radio Australia Programme Guide during 1964 – 1967. Here I upload the one celebrating 25 years.

Happy 70 years of broadcasting to Radio Australia!