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By George Krupinski
To a generation of Aussies, Australian music effectively died when ‘Countdown’, a popular Sunday evening TV show for over a decade, disappeared from our screens in 1987.
This left a void in mainstream media exposure for independent Australian music, with community radio stations becoming the primary platform for local artists.
The Australian Music Radio Airplay Project (AMRAP) emerged as a solution to the challenge of accessing and promoting local music. Established by the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) in the early 2000s, AMRAP initially distributed CDs monthly to community stations via post. It has since evolved into an online platform where artists can make their music available to program presenters across the Community Radio network.
Community radio stations are required to include at least 25% local music content in their programming. Before AMRAP, this often resulted in a repetitive rotation of older tracks from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. AMRAP's creation changed this landscape, providing access to contemporary local material.
At 96.5 Inner FM in Heidelberg, Adrian Hook noticed that CD packages sent to the studios were often left unused. In response, he proposed creating a program featuring exclusively new Australian independent music. This led to the launch of 'New Grooves' in February 2012, which continues to air on 96.5 Inner FM.
‘New Grooves’ goes out of its way to present a wide cross-section of new, independent local music, from Country to Hip Hop, Metal to Folk. The program reflects the vast talent pool of Australian contemporary bands and artists available on the AMRAP platform.
As Adrian says, “It’s always a difficult task selecting the final 28 to 30 tracks for each program. The quality has to be heard to be believed – I’m constantly amazed at the huge reservoir of talent lurking on the AMRAP platform, all deserving airplay and recognition for their work, the vast majority of which is produced for nothing more than the love of making music. It is a joy to listen to and present this music on ‘New Grooves’ each week in the knowledge that just hearing their music played on the wireless means so much to the artists”.
So, as someone once said (many times) “Do Yourself a Favour” and support local music by listening to it and going to ‘live’ shows.
‘New Grooves’ is presented by Adrian Hook – Mondays from 10 pm and repeated on Thursdays, also from 10 pm on 96.5 Inner FM. The program is streamed and now podcast at the website: innerfm.org.au
