DRASTIC ON PLASTIC

 A couple of posts ago, I promised to tell the story of Drastic on Plastic, a radio program of women's music that is still being broadcast on 6RTR-FM.

Once upon a time, in the late 1970s/early 1980s, I was a volunteer at community radio station 6UVS-FM. I presented programs such as a Drive music show, the Stupendous Stereo Stage Show (with friend Barry - all about theatre), and a show featuring women's music. When I was packing up to go to Adelaide to start an MBA, I was worried that the women's music show would disappear. There weren't many other female presenters to pick up the slack. However, there was a group of feisty ladies whose boyfriends presented programs so I decided to encourage them to take up the challenge. Somehow or other, radio was seen as a man's world, presumably because of the technology, but if I could run a studio, so could other women.

A group of women took up the challenge and created Drastic on Plastic and some of them are still presenting it. The program had its 40th anniversary in 2023 and here's a discussion with some of those original presenters: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/perth-drive/rtrfm-drastic-on-plastic-turns-40/102994544 

I'm so proud that my original intention - to ensure that women's voices were heard on radio - is still being implemented.