JOY scoops awards

Gay and lesbian radio station JOY 94.9 FM has come up trumps, winning accolades for broadcasting excellence at the recent Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) Awards.

The station received two awards at the annual conference in Alice Springs last week for excellence in sports programming and in spoken word, news and current affairs programming.

JOY general manager Stephen Hahn said he was delighted with the results.

-œWe aim to represent the voices that are unheard in mainstream media. To receive awards at this level clearly indicates that we are doing well, he said.

The top gongs went to JOY for their coverage of the first Asia Pacific Outgames earlier this year, produced by Tanya Jones, an event scarcely touched on by the mainstream media.

News and current affairs series Out and About also won an award for most outstanding broadcast series, for recording a number of community discussion forums on current affairs produced by Tim Newton.

Hahn said it’s a -œgreat opportunity to have an independent assessment of the station’s output.

-œIt’s equally as important as audience statistics, because it’s about the message and the message doesn’t always correspond with the audience. However for a minority broadcaster like JOY it is very important.

JOY was nominated in four categories and also received a special mention in the Best Initiatives to Build Station Capacity for rallying against public homophobic remarks by beyondblue chairman Jeff Kennett.
Hahn said JOY was the second most successful station at the awards after the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association.

The CBAA Awards are designed to celebrate independent broadcasting and acknowledge the achievement of local stations, usually operating on small budgets to produce quality, diverse broadcasts which strengthen communities.