Launched in 2005, Sydney’s Vega 95.3FM is one of Australia’s youngest commercial radio stations. In this short time, they have grown a solid listener base by carving their own market with a focus on rock legends as well as “the 70s, 80s and the best new songs”.
Where do you see the future of radio?
Digital radio is unbelievably exciting. It’s going to open a world of opportunities. You can rewind songs and have a listen to it again and it is going to open up the opportunity to have more niche sounding formats. The other thing that is real exciting about digital radio is the sound quality. Digital radio is CD quality and that is definitely the future and super exciting for radio nerds like myself.
Jacqui, can you give us a bit of your background?
I did community radio in highschool, growing up in Coffs Harbour, and then I did the full-time course at the Australian Film, TV and Radio School.
What’s your role here at Vega?
Music director. I’m responsible for everything that goes to air pretty much, except for the talking and the ads and the other bits. But, basically, day-to-day I’m responsible for programming the songs.
What kind of feedback do you get from your listeners?
People are passionate about those songs and those artists and are very protective of them. And we understand that, too. For example, you won’t hear us talking over the intro of Hotel California because it goes for over a minute. It is a classic song and we are going to protect it.
What are the key properties of a classic song?
We like to call them rock legends here and I guess what makes that is a song that stands up to the test of time. I have worked on pop radio stations where songs come in and go. You’ll play a song for a couple weeks and then you’ll get rid of it. And that’s what that radio is for, those songs you can hear over and over again and not get sick of.
