Australia128 produced in Perth !
Australia128 is a spinoff brand by MultiMediaMakers, launched out of radio passion and now reaching 50 000 monthly listeners. For program director Kris Borgraeve the rising audience means a lot. "We started broadcasting for only a hundred people, and were even grateful at that stage. After all you expect people to pick you out of thousands of radio stations online. Then we started reaching more listeners, up to 20 000 after 6 months and now we measure 50 000 listeners every month ( January 2011). We believed having Australia in the brand name is very attractive for overseas listeners. We play Australian music which isn't played by commercial radio stations, avoiding the cliché songs you hear everywhere. It's a mix of indie music and songs that used to be played quite often but that now seem to be forgotten. Like Heather Nova's "Winter Blue", or "Bring me some water" by Melissa Etheridge. And we also play European music that doesn't reach the Australian or American charts. Like Ozark Henry. It's a great music mix.
Radionomy platform facilitates a new way of broadcasting
Australia128 uses a free platform, Radionomy. The European company is a great tool for online radio producers. "I translated their user manual from French to English", Kris Borgraeve says, "and I've seen them grow to attract over 14 million listeners on thousands of radios now. You can say they're to radio what YouTube is for video. Our own listeners tune in from the US, Canada and the United Kingdom. We've got listeners in countries that I didn't know anything about. And it's great to hear from them every day, when they appreciate the music. We also get great support from indie music producers and artists, sending us their latest work with a short artist drop for our listeners. We have our own station voices, Brigit and Wayne, who live here in Perth, and Andrew, who operates from his Malaysian studio. Working online makes it easy to work across continents and that's what makes the station unique."
Australia128 is living proof that virtually anyone can start a radio now. "That's right, you're able to stream your program for free, copyright is being arranged for you by the platform. Our station branding is provided by MultiMediaMakers so that's an internal cost. Whoever wants to have us create their entire radio station for their company, only needs to count for some production costs involving the audio branding. 10 years ago I wouldn't have believed this would ever be possible."
Australia128.com can be heard on their website, but also on iTunes (Adult Contemporary) or on the Radionomy platform.
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