Local youth radio a springboard for young presenter

ROAR! Youth Disability Radio is an hour-long show which broadcasts every Monday evening on local community radio station CoastFM 963.

In its three-and-a-half-year residence on the airwaves, the show has become known across the region as a rare significant platform for people with disabilities, and for organisations and event planners to have their voice heard.

ROAR! has also been a great opportunity for its young production team to get vital behind-the-scenes experience of putting a radio show together.

Assembled and supervised for the most part by presenter Angus Hamill, the ROAR! team consists almost entirely of young Central Coast residents living with disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy and even visual impairment.

Together they take part in a variety of roles ranging from editing pre-recorded audio to planning and recording interviews themselves to be used on the show.

Hamill said the importance of having a production team with lived disability experience added more authenticity to the show’s themes and topics.

Hamill himself lives with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as well as ADHD and his routine-dependent lifestyle almost derailed the show completely before it even began.

When station manager Sarah called him in to be the host of ROAR! back in mid-2021, he initially turned the offer down because the show’s Monday night timeslot meant that he would be unable to go to schnitzel night at his local bowling club.

Thankfully, after some careful consideration, and some much-needed common sense from his mother, he ended up changing his mind.

Since then, ROAR! has gone on to be nominated for a CBAA Award for Best New Program after a well-received first season and Hamill’s beloved local schnitzel night has also been moved to Tuesdays.

Earlier this year, an opportunity arose for Hamill to put his skills built up from being a part of ROAR! to good use on a much bigger stage.

One afternoon, he received a text message from station manager Sarah about an ad she had seen for an experimental journalism foundations course being offered by Macquarie University aimed specifically at students living with autism.

The application also stated that the classes would be filmed for usage in a documentary series.

Hamill successfully applied and became involved in what would end up being known as the ABC’s The Assembly.

On this show, Hamill and 14 others were given the chance to interview a handful of Australia and New Zealand’s biggest names including Sir Sam Neill, Delta Goodrem and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The educational part of the show remained, and he left the experience with a shiny new Journalism Foundations Certificate from Macquarie University.

The Assembly was incredibly well-received with overwhelmingly positive feedback from the Australian public as well as a plethora of well-known figures.

While the show was still in the midst of its on-air run, through the connections made at the ABC, Hamill also successfully applied for an eight-week internship at youth-focused radio station Triple J.

Hamill truly believes that if he didn’t get his start working in media at CoastFM, experiencing both an on-air and behind-the-scenes perspective on a community serving show like ROAR!, he would not have had the confidence to pursue the career opportunities he has taken on since.

Another success story to come out of ROAR! Youth Disability Radio is that of Bradley Martin, who worked as an editor, producer and occasional interviewer on the show for just over a year.

His experience volunteering at CoastFM has led him to being employed full-time as a content producer at commercial radio station PowerFM based in Nowra on the South Coast.

He has been in this role for just over a year and is already a highly valued member of the team.

ROAR! Youth Disability Radio continues to be a prominent weekly fixture on the CoastFM programming schedule, and with no sign of slowing down anytime soon, it will hopefully keep providing vital production and on-air experience as well as further employment opportunities for the youthful Coasties who make the show happen.