TUGGERANONG’S 20-year-old community radio station has been revamped and sees its future in getting a younger generation onboard, with Laura Johnston leading the charge.

“Radio isn’t dying, radio’s always going to be here with streaming,” says Valley FM89.5 vice president Tony Briscoe who has seen the radio station through the tough times of about six years ago. The station has been on air since June, 1999.

“The future of radio is to try and involve young people and get them to care about it, and that’s an objective Laura’s got.” 

Laura started at the radio station, based in the old Wanniassa police station, Erindale, in 2014 when she was 15, after she and friend Cal managed to convince Tony that Valley FM needed a show about youth affairs.

She had heard someone talking about radio at a party and Laura, who was on a debating team with Cal, talked him into being her co-host, after she dreamt up having her own show. 

“I had a dream and I wanted Tony to realise it, and he did,” she says.

“It started with us being super unsure. Every Friday we’d make countless mistakes.”

But five years on and Laura is still hosting the show titled “Youth Matters” (now solo after Cal moved) every Friday, 4pm-6pm, and says she’s interviewed a variety of local politicians, musicians and community members in that time. 

“It’s been incredible. You meet people who are doing so much and yet, if you weren’t in their circles, you would not know,” says Laura, of Pearce. 

Not only a radio announcer, Laura has also joined the station’s board and is the director of youth engagement and communication, too, which sees her running programs to bring young people to the station. 

With her help, Laura’s now getting Year 6 students involved in the station, and is helping them present their own 20-minute program during the show. 

“One of the most important reasons I’m doing this is confidence,” she says.

“You’re dealing with young kids who are going through puberty and change and I see radio as an opportunity to give them confidence and learn how to speak up for themselves.

“One of the big problems faced by youth is disengagement. I don’t think it’s because the youth are apathetic, I think it’s because they don’t see how them caring will make change. 

“I’m teaching them that their opinions are valid and important.”

Laura says it’s also really important to promote community awareness.

“Especially in Canberra, because we can be bombarded with negative news, but things that happen on a community level can be really uplifting,” she says.

“A radio station is uniquely placed to bring that positivity.”

And while Laura works at engaging the youth of the region and the community, Tony says the station has a few other hurdles to overcome in the next year.  

It recently used grant money to refurbish one of the studios in the station, which can record shows so people can listen to them at any time, and are looking at doing up the website. Now the focus is on getting Valley FM heard on the radio in other areas in Canberra. 

During Valley FM’s 20 years of broadcasting, its topography and its licence has restricted it from broadcasting outside of the valley. 

“Over the last few years a range of other stations have been granted the right to put repeater stations into our valley, which allows them to broadcast their signal into this area,” Tony says. 

“Valley FM believes it is only fair that it be allowed to do the same for at least all of southern Canberra.

“We haven’t been allowed yet but we’ve got all the capacity to. This will require an application to ACMA [Australian Communications and Media Authority], which we will be doing next year.” 

Another reason to increase the reach, is to increase the support from listeners, says Tony. 

“One of the things we’ve found is there’s not many big businesses down here, and the ones that are here already support us. In order for the station to grow we need to get a little sponsorship. We’re all volunteers, there’s no salary or wages,” he says. 

valleyfm.com