Brisbane Ethnic Radio 4EB-FM

Diane and I went into town yesterday to the Multicultural Festival at the Roma Street Parklands. Seeing the 4EB broadcast van there brought back some memories for me. 4EB-FM is a public broadcaster. For 20 years, (1979-1999) together with a small group of volunteers and with help from Swiss Radio International, we presented the Swiss Program on 4EB broadcasting to Swiss compatriots in the greater Brisbane area.
Of course in those days the station was an AM station with limited coverage and not very powerful transmitters.
Today, 4EB-FM broadcasts on the FM band with much more powerful transmitters.
Some of the faces of 4EB remain the same, forever volunteering their time and efforts to the Brisbane Ethnic communities.

The Radio 4EB-FM Outside Broadcasting Van

Even the present broadcast van is more modern than the old van we had converted into a studio.

Radio 4EB broadcasting from the Multicultural Festival

While we were there, the station was broadcasting in the Italian language.

I started broadcasting the Swiss program in 1979, just after the station went to air in a make-shift studio in a flat on the 1st floor of a fruit shop in West End. There was not much of a wall around the cubicle and whenever the red microphone light came on, everyone in the station had to be quiet.
In 1981, we finally had managed to build a reasonable studio area, with two broadcast studios and a common room-library and an office in the industrial area of South Brisbane. We really thought we had come up in the world.

In 1982 at West End

In 1988 we had built a proper studio complex in Main Street Kangaroo Point in our own building with three broadcast studios, a performance studio with control booth and a proper office with full-time staff. This is still the present home of Radio 4EB-FM.

In 1999 one of my last broadcasts

With the arrival of the internet and access to real-time radio stations in Switzerland on the internet, the Swiss Group decided to cease broadcasting material that was really over a week old by the time it went to air in Brisbane, and with less and less listeners tuning in, it was time to give up. However Radio 4EB-FM still broadcasts in over 50 languages.

Listen here to Radio 4EB-FM live

In my next life

In my next life, I want to live in Traunstein in Germany and work for the Wochinger brewery.

I just read in the weekend edition of the Courier Mail, that in the Wochinger brewery in Traunstein, Bavaria, Germany, a century-old agreement decrees that every month, each worker receives an allowance of 70 liters of beer. (Just over 18 gallons). I assume they get paid as well.

Now that's what I call good working conditions.

Prosit - Cheers....

Swan wants to go a traveling

In Thun, Switzerland, a white swan decided to take a train, or so it seemed when the bird casually walked onto the busy train lines. Unfazed by passing trains and unaware of the dangers he just sat there.

A passenger on an incoming train spotted the animal and alerted the station master.

The train and security personnel were eventually able to guide the bird back to the sea. All's well that ends well.





From the blick.ch newspaper

Printed version of the free encyclopedia

If Wikipedia was available in printed form, I guess that's what it would look like

Repair of En-suite wall

Quite sometime ago, we discovered some water damage on the outside wall of our en-suite. After putting the problem in the 'too hard basket' for way too long, we finally got a builder to have a look and make suggestions of how we can fix the problem.

I removed some of the 'ship-lap' cladding to show the builder what is behind. We considered replacing the cladding but it is extremely hard to get. So, we decided to do what our neighbour across the street did when he built his house, he made a corrugated feature wall. So that's what we told our builder Steve to do. He came, measured, ordered the materials and came today to fit it.
First, he removed all the ship-lap cladding and cleaned the wall beneath.
Then he fitted the new corrugated steel around the window and side flashing to make sure no water can get into the wall anymore.
This left me to paint the existing exhaust stack.
And the en-suite wall is completed and waterproofed.

What time is it Eccles?

Somebody sent me this sketch the other day. Remember Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan? And the Goons? It's just very funny..... ahhhh English Humour.....

Beauty and the Geeks - Australia

The USA hit show Beauty and the Geek made its debut here:

Our daughter Sonya's partner, Bernard Curry introduced Australia to its very own Beauties and Geeks last night on Channel 7 .“We’ve found the best of both worlds in our beauties and geeks,” he says.

“To me a geek is someone with a singular focus; someone who focuses on one thing forsaking all others. While a beauty has self-awareness, vanity and ego. They are aware of who they are and how people see them and dress and look accordingly.”

While Bernard thinks everyone has a little bit of beauty and geek in them, he’s enjoying watching the transformation as the show’s contestants are put through their paces.

Beauty and the Geek Australia is the ultimate social experiment. What will happen when two very different social worlds collide…

There’s no doubt our Beauties are gorgeous. They are vivacious, fun-loving women who love shopping, socialising and being the centre of attention. Their hair, make-up and outfit have been thought out carefully. They’re preened and ready to take centre stage. But ask for their opinions on politics, to solve a mathematical equation or maybe how to rebuild your hard drive and they’ll more than likely be stumped.

Then there are our Geeks. Undoubtedly they are academically gifted. They love sci-fi, comics, gaming and computers. They are socially awkward, conversationally challenged and many are still waiting for their first date. But with four PhD candidates among them, they certainly have academia covered.

The show continues next Thursday on Channel 7 at 8.30pm