QUEENSLAND'S GERMAN CONNECTIONS - PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
“Hör zu -Mach mit!”
Over thirty years of German-language community radio broadcasts in Queensland are recalled by founder Wolfgang Kreuzer and colleague Rose Scheimann, reminiscing about ‘the little studio in West End’. That is where it all started; well, not quite – actually that was a leap forward just now! The year was 1976, when a few people from different cultures and languages came together and talked about creating an ethnic radio station. The idea was not new, but it was certainly novel in Australia then. After many meetings, conferences and resolving some differences with the authorities, the funding efforts started to take shape, record-players (do we have to put an explanation in the Glossary for today’s readers?!) and broadcasting equipment had to be bought and,
In that little studio, everything was very basic, and even the transmitter tower was second-hand and erected and painted by the station’s volunteers. The studio was very small (why does that stay stuck in our memories?!) , under a corrugated iron roof and in the Brisbane summer reached some very high temperatures. Even the donation of an air conditioning unit did not help – it was too noisy and had to be switched off when the announcers were talking! But a move to larger premises in Montague Road at West End changed all that for the better. Other presenters and more members followed this move, and 4EB became more well-known, through the publicity efforts and an improved variety of programs. In 1981 and 1982 the German Language
Group had a great influx of new members and announcers, like Marianne Prell, Isolde Keating, Hansl Wernyowska, Margret Gleisenberg and Annemarie Kofler, who filled the-then ‘free’ airtime and were able to broadcast five times a week. The presenters had little training, compared with today’s standards, but survived their time thanks to plenty of imaginative improvisation, and their own music library and material.
especially, members recruited. The first test-broadcasts came about on radio stations 4ZZZ and 4MBS, and members had to bring their own reading material – and, of course, records and tapes! (Are you sure we don’t need to explain?) The ‘German Language Group’ was founded by Hans Streim and Wolfgang Kreuzer, the first
broadcasters on that station. As far as finances are concerned, Radio 4EB will never forget the people who provided money to the station, and one of them gave a $10,000 surety. That gave a big boost to the efforts to the final stage of making reality out of a dream. The great day came on 1 December 1979, when the station, now with its broadcast licence, staged a big festival on the grounds of Musgrave Park in South Brisbane. Celebrating with many stalls, national dishes from different countries, folk dances and music, and the former Immigration Minister Al Grassby (a big supporter of muticultural Australia), the station officially opened at 12 noon. The first German-language program went to air from the little studio above a Greek bakery in cosmopolitan West End, presented by co-founders Wolfgang Kreuzer and Hans Streim. With over 20 ethnic groups participating, 4EB was born on the AM radio dial! The third active member, Rose Scheimann, attended the German stall at the festival and joined the on-air team as an announcer shortly after.
The Deutsche Welle broadcaster in Kõln came to their aid, supplying a range of pop and classical music and reports for the station to use, first on (reel-to-reel) tapes, then on cassettes and later CDs. (Today, of course, there is a great variety of music and information on the internet, and this story may seem very old-fashioned by contrast!) In 1988 the station moved into its own premises in Kangaroo Point, and at last had a permanent home. The next big step came at one minute past midnight on 1 December 2001, the conversion to FM radio opening up an even greater audience. The station still conducts its annual ‘radiothons’, which help raise money for expenses, as the growing number of community broadcasters in recent years has been tapping into a limited pool of government funding. Unlike the ‘good old days’ of the 1980s, now, before new applicants are permitted near the microphone, they have to attend broadcasting courses held by the station’s trainer, learning how to moderate, interview, and prepare programs, acquire technical knowledge and finishing with an exam.
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