CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
A new program director at one of the premier Aboriginal radio stations deep within the Diamantina Shire has done wonders in connecting with younger listeners, according to the most recent ratings survey.
Community radio veteran, Cyril ‘Big Orse’ Rennie arrived at DEADLY FM 98.5 in July this year, and immediately set himself the task of growing their youth audience.
Big Orse shocked the loyal DEADLY FM fan base with the August announcement that they would let some of the local teenagers host their own show every Friday, where they get to play whatever music they want, which doesn’t necessarily have to be country.
After liasing with nearby high schools, the station decided that program will be named ‘All Eyez On B2ta’ and will broadcast each Friday evening from 6-8.
This isn’t the first time Deadly FM has made headlines in The Betoota Advocate, earlier this year the station reported a catastrophic slump in ratings after failing to play any Troy Cassar-Daley for an entire twenty minutes of air time.
We spoke to one distraught DEADLY FM listener at the time.
“I’m not that angry… I’m just disappointed” said Aunty Annie, one disappointed member of the BUSH JURY, a group of VIP listeners who help pick the songs on the Friday arvo count down.
“They know how it works” she says.
“We get Dolly Parton at Midday. Goanna at knock-off. Kev Carmody at the top of every hour and pretty much rotate between Slim and Troy for the rest of the day”
However, the new programming of a Friday evening youth show looks like it will only further ruffle the BUSH JURY’s feathers, especially given the fact that the kids are yet to play a song that isn’t by 2Pac in the three months they have been on air.
As one of the leading names in the rise of West Coast gangsta rap, the late Tupac Shakur is still wildly popular with remote Murri teenagers, and his 1990s brand of gangsta rap music most definitely does not resemble any of the country ballads that usually get a run on Outback Aboriginal radio.
However, the new program has been hailed as a success for Big Orse and the team at DEADLY FM. Early reports show that the Friday evening ratings have spiked at over 300% since they began the back-to-back rotations of the extremely explicit and uncensored rap songs.
Big Orse says his team look forward to continue growing the audience, but hopes there is no confusion between the rapper ‘2pac’ and the 15-year-old Friday arvo host, who is also named Tupac.
MORE TO COME.
