TamarFM 95.3

Tamar FM President Kevin Ellis, and Sue-Ellen Ellis, retire September 24th 2023

Kevin and Sue-Ellen at their retirement

Kevin and Sue-Ellen at their retirement farewell, George Town, Tas, 24th September 2023.

Kevin and Sue-Ellen Ellis will both be sorely missed by Tamar FM and our listeners as they retire after 20 years of dedicated commitment to community broadcasting.

Kevin has taken on all roles as a volunteer - from construction work on the various offices of Tamar FM, Board member and President on 3 separate occasions, and on-air announcer. During his on-air shows, Kevin has regularly conducted interviews, played a range of music genres and at the time of his retirement, was presenting three 3-hour shows during the week. Kevin produced the highly popular Sunday Country Music show and Sue-Ellen spent her Sundays handling requests from listeners. Kevin also spent many years working as a grants officer for the Community Broadcasting Fund and his general knowledge of the industry has been invaluable to the station.

Sue-Ellen and Kevin both worked at the monthly Tamar FM Market BBQ - the market being a major source of funding for the station. All the hamburgers were home-made and much-loved by market attendees as was Sue-Ellen's home-made sauce. In addition to the BBQ, Sue-Ellen always helped with the after-market clean-up which included packing away up to 80 trestles and dozens of seats.

Tamar Fm offers its sincerest thanks and wishes the best for Kevin and Sue-Ellen in whatever they now choose to do.

Tamar FM Annual General Meeting 20th September 2023

Board Members 2022-2023

Back row from Left: Retiring President, Kevin Ellis, Treasurer John Watts, Board member Wil Watts, Secretary Wendy Pearcey . Seated Board Member Richard Little.

The 2023 AGM was held at the Tamar FM station on Wednesday 20th September 2023.
The current joint Station Managers, Steve and Julie Fraser presented a comprehensive report of activities undertaken by the station volunteers during the year. The year's highlights included:

  • Continued 24hr, 7 day uninterrupted quality service delivery thanks to the efforts of a small but very dedicated team of volunteers.
  • Improved job sharing and upskilling opportunities for volunteers.
  • The Outside Broadcasting Van provided the music for the George Town Christmas Parade and the MC's microphone and the live broadcast of the George Town Anzac Day Ceremony.
  • Upgrading of equipment and wiring througout the station, including 2 microphones for Studio 2 to enable recording of interviews and proper backup for Studio 1.
  • Improved public awareness of the station through the 20th Birthday celebration and support in the Tamar Valley News.
  • Maintenance of full sponsorship by local businesses with a sponsor waiting list.
  • Very active involvement of the community in using the station to broadcast their events through free announcements and interviews.
  • The addition of 5 new volunteers to the team.
  • Involvement with local students in producing shows for Youth Week and for work experience.

Tamar FM 20th birthday celebration, August 29th 2023

Kevin with West Tamar Mayor

Tamar FM President, Kevin Ellis receiving a Certificate of Appreciation from West Tamar Council Mayor, Christina Holmdahl, August 29th 2023

Tamar FM celebrated 20 years of community broadcasting on 29th August 2023. The station first started in very small premises in Anne Street, George Town, before moving to a second Anne Street office and finally, into our current home in Macquarie Street, George Town in about 2015. The premises had previously been the Town's library before it was relocated to its modern new location also, in Macquarie Street.
Volunteers undertook major renovations to bring the station up to its current professional standard. Upgrading of the station and its equipment continues and this year has seen the complete upgrading of our second studio, enabling the recording of interviews and a complete back-up for our main Studio. Other upgrades to wiring, headphones, other computing equipment and networking have also been done.
The station is manned by 15 dedicated part-time volunteers who enable the station to operate 24 hours per day. On-air announcers are usually heard each weekday and twice on weekends and pre-recorded shows and automated programs are played at other times. A steady stream of Community Service Announcements are made on the half-hour by our announcers. The station frequently conducts interviews to let the community know what is happening around our locality.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of our sponsors and members and all those who help at the monthly Tamar FM market and BBQ. This support has enabled us to get the our current state and to continue to offer this service to our community.

ANZAC Day 25th April 2023

Attendees at Anzac ceremony

Tama FM van and attendees.

Steve at Van controls

Inside the TamarFM van

Tamar FM provided the public address system for the ANZAC Day ceremony, and live streamed the broadcast.

TamarFM at the Christmas Parade, George Town 2022

Manager, Steve Fraser, in the TamarFM Van

Station Manager, Steve, at the controls.

Tamarfm made its PA system available to the council MC

Tamarfm made its PA system available to the council MC

Crowd lining Macquarie St for the parade

Crowd lining Macquarie Street
for the parade

Santa Claus

Santa Claus ended the parade

TamarFM provided the music for the George Town Christmas parade down Macquarie Street and also provided the public address system used by the George Town Council MC to announce the floats.

Tamar FM Station Manager, Kaye Rawlinson and Treasurer, Dennis Rawlinson Retire September 21st 2022

Kevin, Kaye and Dennis

2022 incoming President, Kevin Ellis (left), with Kaye and Dennis

TamarFm Station, George Town, Tas. 21st September 2022

TamarFM is deeply indebted to Kaye and Dennis for their outstanding volunteer effort. Kaye has volunteered at the station for about 10 years and has been station manager for the past 8 years. During their time with the station, the couple initiated and drove major changes: The station was relocated from inadequate premises to its current professional premises in the Memorial Hall complex and they sought funding to resolved diffcult financial issues which threatened the station's future.

Kaye has underaken all aspects of station management, including assessing, training and managing our volunteer staff, seeing to the station's reporting responsibilities, producing pre-recorded shows, conducting on-air interviews and announcing, and was the regular presenter of the country show. Excellent relationships have been developed with the local community and all levels of government in the broadcast area.

Dennis has fulfilled many roles as well, apart from currently retiring Treasurer. Dennis has taken on major responsibility for the station's radio, communications, and computing equipment as well as remodelling and upgrading the station from time to time. He has had primary responsibility for the Outside Broadcasting Van which has provided radio and public address assistance to many local functions including the annual Christmas parade in George Town. Dennis has spent many hours as an announcer, notably in the 6am-9am slot 5 days per week. Both Kaye and Dennis were also great supporters of the monthly TamarFM market and barbeque, the station's primary fund raiser, with food preparation, assisting with arrangeing the hall and keeping the station open with live shows for the morning.

Kaye and Dennis leave the station in excellent condition: the station operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week with mostly "live" announcers from 9am - 6pm during the week as well as some live programs on the weekend; pre-recorded shows are all produced by the station's volunteers; the station runs from professional premises with a small dedicated group of station volunteers, it's financially viable and with a waiting list of sponsors.

Soroptimist International, George Town

Quiet Achiever Award

International Women's Day, March 2020

Kaye and Val

Announcer, Val Colgrave(left) with Station Manager/Announcer Kaye Rawlinson, with ther Quiet Achiever Awards

George Town, Tas. 3rd March 2020

Kaye and Val are two of the dedicated volunteers that keep Tamar FM 95.3 on air.

Kaye is an extraordinary hardworker who dedicates a large portion of each week to managing the station. Kaye has a wonderful, inspiring leadership style that brings out the best in the volunteers that assist the station. In addition to attending to broadcasting legislation and requirements, managing volunteers and sponsorhips, she regularly does announcer spots. Kaye is an active committee member on matters affecting the town and region and keeps abreast of important developments in the community.

Val, a former teacher and long-time music lover, is a regular announcer with a dedicated audience who call in many requests during her show. In addition to her volunteer efforts at Tamar FM, Val is a member of the George Town Soroptimist International who work tirelessly to improve the lot of women and girls around the world.

Australia Day Award January 26th 2020

Community Recognition - Tamar FM 95.3

TamarFM President, Warwick

President Warwick with the Community Recognition Award, George Town, Tas. 26th January 2020

The crucial ethos for the existence of Tamar FM is to serve the community as a voice that ensures information is heard by as many listeners as possible within our community and the northern region. Apart from the brilliant broadcasts heard each day, the volunteer team at Tamar FM assist the community at local events with live broadcasting, provide work placements for students, and importantly work with all levels of the community to promote our region and tourism.

Accepting the award was TamarFM President, Warwick Eldridge.