The past 25 years of experience on Yarra Valley FM have been “fantastic” for Mark Riddell.
The opportunity of being a radio presenter came to Mr Riddell out of the blue while he was setting up the stereo.
The tuner was scanning all the channels, and it locked onto 99.1, which he’d never heard of before.
“I put it on, and I liked the song it was playing. It turned out it was by a man called Chris Rea and the song was called Deltics,” Mr Riddell said.
“The guy who was playing it was Mark. He gave out the phone number of the station. I rang him … and he said, ‘Why don’t you come and join the station?’”
Mr Riddell took the training course at the Yarra Valley FM and came on board in 2000.
The radio presenter currently runs three different programs.
One of the shows is called The Christian Experience.
He took over the show in 2001 from the previous presenter who had a health issue.
“I became a Christian while I was living in Woori Yallock, and then I started doing a Sunday morning program called The Christian Experience,” Mr Riddell said.
“I thoroughly enjoy doing it and still do it on Sunday mornings from 7am till 9am.
“I share Bible verses and play Christian music.”
Apart from The Christian Experience, Mr Riddell runs two more music shows on Tuesdays and Saturdays.
He runs both remotely from his home, using his laptop.
Rise and Shine, previously known as Let It Shine, is on air from 7am to 9am on Tuesdays, playing his music collection.
The other music show, Terry Meets Julie, named after a line from The Kinks’ song Waterloo Sunset, plays music from the ‘60s, including advertisement and TV theme music.
Terry Meets Julie is on air every Saturday from 9am to midday.
Mr Riddell said even people who cannot come to the radio station all the time can host a program on the radio remotely from home, like him.
“I do (Rise and Shine, and Terry Meets Julie) remotely from home,” he said.
“I’ve just got a laptop which plays the audio. I link through a system, and I have audio coming out.
“I’ve got an Apple iMac screen and have the image up on the screen so I can just load up things.
The radio presenter said community radio is open to everyone of every age.
“We’ve been very blessed with the people who have come through the Yarra Valley FM,” he said.
“They teach us so much. When they come, they bring all their little gifts with them.
“They bring all the stuff they’ve grown up with, which is fantastic.”
You can listen to Mr Riddell’s shows at yarravalleyfm.org.au/listen.html or 99.1 on your FM dial.
