Radio 4EB and 4ZZZ teamed up again after a two year hiatus, to once again bring the wonder and eccentricity of the Woodford Folk Festival to the listeners of Radio 4EB and Global Digital with a two hour breakfast show each morning of the festival!
Wake Up @ Woodfordia is a variety breakfast program where volunteer broadcasters from two of Brisbane’s longest running community radio stations team up to bring the highlights of the festival outside the festival grounds. The team this year consisted of Bill, Liz and Gracia from 4ZZZ and Carl, Makareta and Monica from 4EB; all of which braved the mud and slurry to produce the program this year.
Now I would have included myself in this list, however I had the lucky fortune of testing positive, for the very first time since the pandemic I might add, for COVID-19 on the first day of the festival! At this point, I had to leave the festival (or stay in tent quarantine!) which is where now we need to introduce Marek, the convener of the Polish broadcasting group at Radio 4EB but also one of the festival photographers. Marek stepped in to assist the broadcasting team with technical support, setting up the broadcast van, panelling and even jumping in to assist on the broadcasts! I did my best to assist from home, but to be honest, the team was so well organised and bloody good at radio they didn’t even need me!
The diversity of characters at Woodford Folk Festival cannot be conveyed with words, but the team did an amazing job to get a little bit of everything; from live music, interviews with artists, discussion panel talks and thoughts and opinions from punters! From Gardening Australia legend Costa Georgiadis to Dya Singh, Local Councillor for Woolloongabba Jonno Sriranganathan, Minister for Indigenous Affairs Linda Burney, Alysha Brilla, Tim McMillan and Rachel Snow, Jaguar Jonze; the list goes on! It really is a program that has a little bit for everyone!
A big thank you to both the festival organisers for letting us share their festival with our listeners and of course to the amazing volunteer broadcasters who despite the challenges; made sure the show went on!
You can listen to all of the broadcasts here: https://www.4eb.org.au/shows/wake-up-at-woodfordia/
By Alex Nagl