OKRFM radio father and son presenters broadcasted a milestone program on Sunday, as they prioritise launching grass roots musicians.
The ‘Sunday Lunch Break’ first went to air on January 23, 2005 with Mark Perrott and son Lewy at the desk.
Across 20 years they’ve selected songs from the Australian Music Radio Airplay project (AMWRAP) to promote new Australian music and have featured local talent including Kaitlin Thomas and Tilly Rose.
Compact Discs (CDs) were used for the earliest shows and a carefully created play list, also known as a radio running sheet was prepared in the lead up for the two hourly show.
Mark remembers the list including the artist, the song title and especially the CD track number so they could quickly change the discs and select the matching song, sometimes, nervously during its introduction.
Now with computers, the playlist is prepared in advance, and the songs are loading with the click of a mouse.
Mark is thrilled to offer up and coming musicians a platform to highlight their talent.
“It’s an opportunity to get them out there,” he said.
“People will say, who was that…I liked that song.
“In the early days we played Tina Arena’s Sorrento Moon contunuously – or so it seemed.
“Now the musicians come to us and say can you play it [our song], and a lot of it is surprisingly good.”
“It’s come around quick [1000 shows].”
Kilmore locals can tune into Sunday Lunch Break or any of the stations program by searching for 98.3 on their FM frequency dial, and near Wallan, on 97.1FM.
Thanks to technology, regional and overseas listeners can livestream by visiting okrfm.com.au and following the prompts.
Congratulations Mark and Lewy from the Review on making a difference to the Australian Music scene and we look forward to continue sharing the latest local news with you at the station for ‘Day by Day’ each Tuesday between 9am and 10am.
