Radio Skid Row 88.9FM 2022 Online Fundraiser

We believe in storytelling, community, the power of music and media justice!

If you believe in these things too, please consider supporting our fundraiser:

SUPPORT RADIO SKID ROW, YOUR COMMUNITY RADIO STATION!

Update: Please note that delivery of our merchandise will now occur in August, not July. This is due to the two week extension of our fundraiser. We thank you for your understanding.

WHY NOW?! Two years ago we asked you to Save Skid Row – our funding was cut and we were going to close. With the support of our community who rallied around us we raised over $100,000 in a massive show of support for independent and community-led media!

It’s been two years since our last fundraiser and we have been working on long-term goals to become more independent, radical and community-centred than ever. In the last two years, we’ve managed to not only survive the lockdowns, setbacks and funding challenges but have actually thrived. We did this by staying on-air, connected to our community through our amazing broadcasters who adapted to the challenges of remote broadcasting. 

This fundraiser, our focus is on growing our supporters – YOU! – whose passion for and belief in storytelling, media justice and community make what we do possible. In 2019 we had 469 supporters, in 2020 we had 899 and our target for 2022 is 1000 supporters! Radio Skid Row is a resilient organisation – we’re turning forty next year and we need your support to make sure we can thrive for the next forty years! 

Our minimum fundraising target for 2022 is $50,000, but we know that with your support we can well and truly beat this target, and in doing so continue to bring you diverse voices and stories from across the community, powerful music and progressive coverage of local and international issues. 

WHAT WE’VE ACHIEVED WITH YOUR HELP IN THE LAST 2 YEARS

WE ADAPTED: During the four months of lockdown in 2021 Radio Skid Row adapted quickly to remote broadcasting, one of the few community radio stations in Sydney to do so. With the goodwill, passion and talent of our trainer Rose Nakad and Raul Hernandez, broadcasters were able to use the tools necessary to bring you Radio Skid Row as never before.

WE KEPT THE COMMUNITY INFORMED: Our Community language programs played an important role in disseminating essential Covid information in a range of languages. In a time when misinformation was circulating and anxiety was high, our community language programs were a trusted and reliable source. We stayed connected with our broadcastersby having Sunday Station Zoom sessions.

WE CONTINUED TO CREATE: Throughout 2021 we launched innovative projects including The Lockdown Breakdown,  Breath of Revolutions and Pandemic Radio. Breath of Revolutions was a high quality series showcasing the music, poetry and speeches from uprisings and revolutions around the world. The Lockdown Breakdown scrutinised the increased police powers in the public health response, assessed the narratives of blame and criminality deployed by the state, and offered legal and community resources to help the community get through lockdown safely.

WE BUILT FOR THE FUTURE: We launched a new website and online shop which meant we could better tell our story, keep an archive of stories and projects and have an independent income stream. In the technical arena, we completed our NBN installation at both the Marrickville Studio and transmitter at Town Hall. These long term investments have helped set us up to better connect with our communities of supporters, listeners and members.

Support Radio Skid Row today by giving us a tax deductible donation. In 2022 we are excited to bring you new, limited edition Radio Skid Row t-shirts and tote bags produced by some of our brightest local designers; order a limited edition Hana Shimada print; make your donation on behalf of a loved one with a Radio Skid Row Gift Certificate; become a subscriber; become one of our fantastic business, local or non-profit station sponsors; or purchase a Radio Skid Row sticker, so that you too can Wake The Town, and Tell the People!

All donations to Radio Skid Row are tax deductible!

WHAT WILL YOUR DONATION HELP MAKE HAPPEN?

1. We will continue to increase the number of new media projects especially for young Indigenous and POC activists.

2. We’ll expand our courses delivering more critical media training to the people who are most marginalised in the media.

3. We’ll keep bringing you the best coverage of local community issues in the city and Inner West and international news you won’t hear in the mainstream media.

4. We will continue to update and improve the station itself, with new technology and our on-going operations.

5. Your donation will help us keep Radio Skid Row independent! 

WHAT WE STAND FOR:

We believe in a world where there is media justice. Where it’s not just about who is on screens or behind the mic, but also about who is in control of the stories we see and hear.

Radio Skid Row understands that any form of justice starts with the first nations of this land and media is no different to claims to land and language. We also know that most of the media plays a significant role in perpetuating injustice by overvaluing some while maligning and marginalising others. We are striving to create a new status quo which is not just about correcting misrepresentations in the media; it’s about changing the media from the inside out.

OUR HISTORY:

Radio Skid Row first went to air with test broadcasts to Long Bay Jail. The station’s first broadcasters included members of Redfern’s Indigenous community, migrant railway workers from the Everleigh St Railyards and just about every activist group in Sydney including Greenpeace, Anti-Apartheid activists, Prisoners Action Group, the Squatter Association and the Unemployed Peoples Union – to name a few.

Now, at almost 39 years old, Radio Skid Row has stayed true to its roots with the voices of the most marginalised communities on the airwaves 24 hours a day 7 days a week.

SERVING OUR COMMUNITY:

On Radio Skid Row you will hear 16 languages, including from refugee and migrant communities like Nepal, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Pakistan alongside our Pacific Island community which includes Niuean, Cook Islander, Tongan, Melanesian, Maori, Fijian and Samoan language programs. The station is also home to the longest running African program in Australia, Afrika Connexions, which began just one year after the station started and continues to broadcast pan-African news and music each week in the same Sunday lunchtime slot.

Radio Skid Row was the first radio station in Australia to deliver fully accredited media courses and since its training programs began thousands of people have earned nationally-recognised qualifications in media and broadcasting. Our training is world class and we have hosted people from all over the world including South Africa and the Philippines.

Radio Skid Row is the birthplace of Koori Radio in Sydney. It was back in 1984 when Radio Skid Row broke ranks with other community radio stations and increased its Indigenous hours until Radio Redfern was broadcasting 30 hours a week. Radio Redfern was so successful that most people today think it was a radio station in its own right. It wasn’t – it was a crucial part of Radio Skid Row which was a wide collective of activists. Radio Redfern eventually expanded into Koori Radio and continued on Radio Skid Row until finally the community got its own licence in 2001.

Radio Skid Row moves to the beat of music from around the world.

Pioneers of hip hop, reggae, soul and jazz radio – Skid Row was rapping when everyone else was still napping. Regular visits to the station included Chuck D from Public Enemy and Michael Franti from Spearhead. You won’t find your grandmother’s favourites here, it’s nothing but the latest and funkiest music from Nepal, Greece, Macedonia, and of course, the Pacific and Africa.

Please chip in to our fundraiser and share our campaign with your friends!

Thank you so much for supporting Radio Skid Row and for being instrumental in keeping diverse voices and perspectives on air.

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REWARDS

Supporter pack – Lizzy Nagy Tote and Bumper Sticker

$30AU

Lizzie Nagy t-shirt – Limited Edition

$50AU

Lizzie Nagy kids t-shirt – Limited Edition

$50AU

Hana Shimada t-shirt – Limited Edition

$50AU

LoveDavid Radio Skid Row long-sleeve – Limited Edition

$55AU

Radio Skid Row Hoodie

$60AU

Supporter Pack – Lizzie Nagy Tee, Tote Bag and Sticker

$80AU

Hana Shimada – Limited Edition Print

$100AU