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If you believe in these things too please consider supporting our fundraiser:
KEEP RADIO SKID ROW ON AIR!
WHY NOW?! This is our first annual fundraising drive. In recent years we have struggled to make ends meet with the rising cost of broadcasting on air and online and the ongoing maintenance of our ageing tin shed studios at The Addison Road Community Centre in Marrickville.
We know a lot of people struggle these days - especially our audience - so we rarely ask our supporters for donations,. But this year we need to get creative and so we are asking for the support from our Radio Skid Row community. We need $36,000 to keep us on air.
And to help kick start the giving, donations to Radio Skid Row are now tax deductible!
WHAT WE STAND FOR:
We believe in a world where there is media justice. Where it’s not just about who is on screens or behind the mic, but also about who is in control of the stories we see and hear.
Radio Skid Row understands that any form of justice starts with the first nations of this land and media is no different to claims to land and language. We also know that most of the media plays a significant role in perpetuating injustice by overvaluing some while maligning and marginalising others. We are striving to create a new status quo which is not just about correcting misrepresentations in the media it’s about changing the media from the inside out.
OUR HISTORY:
Radio Skid Row first went to air with test broadcasts to Long Bay Jail. The station’s first broadcasters included members of Redfern's Indigenous community, migrant railway workers from the Everleigh St Railyards and just about every activist group in Sydney including Greenpeace, Anti-Apartheid activists, Prisoners Action Group, the Squatter Association and the Unemployed Peoples Union - to name a few.
Now 36 years old Radio Skid Row has stayed true to its roots with the voices of the most marginalised communities on the airwaves 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
SERVING OUR COMMUNITY:
On Radio Skid Row you will hear 16 languages from some of the smallest refugee and migrant communities like Nepal, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Pakistan along with more Pacific Island communities including Niuean, Cook Islander, Tongan, Melanesian, Maori, Fijian and Samoan language programs. The station is also home to the longest running African program in the Australia, Afrika Connexions which began just one year after the station started and continues to broadcast pan-African news and music each week in the same Sunday lunchtime slot.
Radio Skid Row was the first radio station in Australia to deliver fully accredited media courses and since its training programs began thousands of people have earned nationally-recognised qualifications in media and broadcasting. Our training is world class and we have hosted people from all over the world including South Africa and the Philippines on training programs.
Radio Skid Row is the birthplace of Koori Radio in Sydney. It was back in 1984 when Radio Skid Row broke ranks with other community radio stations and increased its Indigenous hours until Radio Redfern was broadcasting 30 hours a week. Radio Redfern was so successful that most people today think it was a radio station in its own right. It wasn’t - it was a crucial part of Radio Skid Row which was a wide collective of activists. Radio Redfern eventually expanded in to Koori Radio and continued on Radio Skid Row until finally the community got its own licence in 2001.
Radio Skid Row moves to the beat of music from around the world.
Pioneers of hip hop, reggae, soul and jazz radio - Skid Row was rapping when everyone else was still napping. Regular visits to the station included Chuck D from Public Enemy and Michael Franti from Spearhead. You won’t find your grandmother’s favourites here, it’s nothing but the latest and funkiest music from Nepal, Greece, Macedonia, and of course, the Pacific and Africa.
CURRENT SITUATION:
Keep us in the black: This is our first annual fundraising drive to literally help us to break even. In recent years we have struggled to make ends meet with the rising costs of broadcasting and now maintaining our online and social media platforms. We get some funding for our projects but it doesn’t help pay for the transmitter, the studios, the phones, the broadcast fees, the power and all the technology driving the radio station. Because we know a lot of people struggle these days - especially our audience- we hardly ever ask our supporters for donations but this year we need to get creative and bridge the gap. We need $36,000 to break even this year. And to help kick start the giving donations to Radio Skid Row are now tax deductible.
- BUILDING UPDATES: We love and are very grateful for our tin shed in the Addison Road Community Centre. It has served us well and we still manage to produce world-class broadcasts from such a humble, no-frills, space. It's warm and welcoming and a hub of community activity.
But we need to get real with you all and not sugar coat it..Our training room has barely working computers and the roof leaks in the office. All of our furniture is decades old and is showing the wear and tear of being used by over a hundred people every week. Hell we even have an outside toilet (we can’t tell you how many announcers have locked themselves out of the station while taking a break from a broadcast). At the end of each year there is never enough to paint the walls, replace broken chairs and set up the training room for all the classes we run.
- GROWTH: Like we said we get funding for all our great project ideas but we have to raise the money each year (around $120,000) just to cover all our costs. We make some of this through sponsorship and holding events but in recent years it’s becoming harder to fill the gap.This financial year we need to raise $36,000 to break even at the end of June.
What will your donation help make happen?
- We’ll fix the roof, paint the place, buy some new furniture and revamp the training room to cope with the increasing traffic.
- We'll continue to in increase the number of new media projects especially for young Indigenous and POC activists.
- We’ll expand our courses delivering more critical media training to the people who are most marginalised in the media.
- We'll keep bringing you the best coverage of local community issues in the city and Inner West and international news you won’t hear in the mainstream media.
- We’ll continue the fight for media justice delivering critical media training to the people who are most misrepresented in the media.
The Radio Skid Row-Radio Redfern experience gave me the passion and commitment to continue working in the development of Indigenous media in Australia. At Radio Redfern, I realised the power of radio in breaking down barriers and developing understanding in the community. Most importantly, we were able to create a space that was Indigenous-owned and controlled,'
Tiga Bayles - Former President of Radio Skid Row 1983 - 1985
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
Please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign - with many small to medium donations we can collectively make up this years budget shortfall of $36,000. And please help spread the word by sharing this campaign with your friends and family.
If you make a donation without claiming a reward, your contribution is tax deductible. If you're not looking for a tax deduction, go ahead and claim a reward when you make a donation. We have a whole lot of rewards on offer to show our gratitude for your support. There is a variety of tees to suit different tastes and budgets (see designs below), tickets to our 36th Birthday Party, Jamaican Festival tickets and masterclasses at Skid Row and Sponsor Packages. So we're sure you'll find something you like.
TEE DESIGNS:
Please chip in to our fundraiser and share our campaign with your friends!
Thank you so much for supporting Radio Skid Row and for being instrumental in keeping diverse voices and perspectives on air.
