92.9 / 2NCR-FM

I paid a visit this morning to 92.9, Lismore’s community radio station, although I know it better as 2NCR-FM, the station where I got my start in radio.

Almost forty years ago, two or three times a week, my dad would drive me from our home in South Lismore to Goonellabah. Located at the back of “The Northern Star”, 2NCR-FM was then owned and operated by the Northern Rivers College of Advanced Education (later Southern Cross University).

Under the watchful training eye of Karl H. Gottsche, I began by reading community announcements and playing classical music. Within a few months, I was hosting my own programs.

There are so many names from those days including Marg Graham (still on air now), Robbie Buck (who I work with at ABC Radio in Sydney), Craig Campbell (now running Rove Enterprises), and Jim McGuiness (who I followed on air for a few years). And many, many, many more.

All of this eventually led to a career in paid work in community, commercial, and ABC Radio.

But I still listen in whenever I’m home, and still have a warm place in my heart for the place where it all began.

These days, the station is no longer owned by the university. Instead, it’s owned by the community and runs from the old NORCO Boardroom in South Lismore. There was no long drive to Goonellabah this time. Instead, it was a two or three-minute walk around the corner for a tour, thanks to John James Maloney, one of the station’s many volunteers.