A SOUTHERN Highlands initiative for seniors has gained international acclaim.
An aged care radio program broadcast via the internet has been the result of 10 years of trial and error by seasoned radio announcer Don Hutchings and his team of loyal supporters.
However, the program - www.agedcareradio.com.au - has now attracted a following from residents of more than 2000 Australian and New Zealand aged care facilities as well as 1.1 million private listeners around the world each month.
Mr Hutchings, 73, has spent his adult life working in the automotive industry and as a radio announcer, including producing a car valuation program on 2KY in the 1960s.
He has put his vocal and radio skills to scripted voice advertising for radio and television and even established youth radio station, Southern Star 92.5 FM in the Southern Highlands at the turn of the century.
The station, established after Mr Hutchings recognised the high incidence of youth suicide in the Highlands, was later handed over to Moss Vale High School for its ongoing management and broadcasts.
Mr Hutchings, who happily refers to himself as “an old bugger”, was looking towards retirement in 2000 and had wound down his used car dealership at Moss Vale when his own life took a detour.
The outcome of that altered path still amazes him today.
“My partner, Margaret, was working in aged care and made me aware of the lack of radio programs that specifically targeted older people,” he said.
“We researched the situation and learnt that the elderly were completely left out of media targets, not only in Australia but around the world.
“We found only one aged specific program broadcast three times a week in Los Angeles.
“The announcer on the LA Yesterday program is now an avid listener of our station.”
Mr Hutchings said his first move was to record weekly radio-style entertainment on compact disc (CD) which were then distributed to aged care facilities around the country.
“The demand became so great that we couldn’t keep up and we began to look at ways to broadcast exclusively to homes through the internet,” he said.
The internet option came up against financial and technical barriers in the early days.
However, Mr Hutchings eventually gained support from a Melbourne-based business, australianonlinedirectories.com.a u and agedcareonline.com.au, a partnership was formed and the future of radio broadcasts with a focus on seniors evolved.
“Online Directories already had aged care facilities around Australia on their directory list so that helped in our efforts to reach the right audience,” Mr Hutchings said.
“It was still a process of trial and error but eventually we established a system that enabled us to broadcast through televisions at the aged care facilities.
“We have even introduced some world first technology with vision facilities on television.
“Individual households can also pick up our program through computers on broadband internet.
“Good speakers are important so that listeners can truly appreciate all our programs have to offer.”
Mr Hutchings is proud of the achievements of the station, which has forged ahead in the past two years.
He said working radio studios set up in Bowral, Moss Vale, Goulburn and Moruya, along with seven broadcasters, has helped to enable www.agedcareradio.com.au to offer programs 24 hours, seven days a week to listeners around the world.
Mr Hutchings said listeners were treated to a mix of hit music from the 1920s-80s as well as jazz, blues and country music from around the world.
“We also have a females-only music program, quiz shows and some of the old favourite serials such as Dad and Dave and Blue Hills,” he said.
“A variety of documentaries such as overviews of World War II (WWII), with real sounds from the time, and the Battle of Britain are also popular.
“These programs have even become popular with schools that choose to download them for ongoing studies in history.”
Mr Hutchings and his team keep listeners up to date with News Reviews, which highlight all the events of the week, and a chat time about news items.
And as far as Mr Hutchings is concerned, growing popularity of aged care radio is a “certainty”.
“There is a huge future for media that targets the older people in a community,” he said.
“People are living longer, so there are more seniors around.
“I’m thrilled with the success of our station, but it beats me why a station that specifically targeted senior listeners didn’t happen sooner.”
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