Some of the crew who gathered on the Marvell Hotel’s rooftop. Photo: @mala_snaps

April Fools Day 1990. That was the date of BayFM’s very first test broadcast. No joke! 35 years on we gathered for a celebration with around 60 legendary radio heads.

Nancy Jo Falcone (seated centre) was there right from the start with her show called the Bored Housewives Hour. She still works with the Multi-Cultural Nation team and joined us as did Brett Diemar who was also in the presenter’s chair three and a half decades ago. He is still with us on Cafe D Mar.

Mayor Sarah Ndjaye joined us too. She once hosted a late night show on BayFM called ‘The Master Plan’, a reggae, dub, drum ‘n bass slot with Timbo Parsonage and Trent Morris, before taking over Red Terra’s show and launching her own magazine show ‘Under Construction’ with Gina Baker. Mayor Sarah and Councillor Aunty Delta Kaye both had a boogie to the tunes of Si Clone and Gez which thankfully seemed to keep the rain at bay.

Former Byron Shire Councillor Cate Coorey, whose late partner Philip Shine was the our first Station Manager, also celebrated with us, and there was even a guest appearance by Murray Bartlett from White Lotus who came with Brett Solomon, a featured guest on Roadtrip each week.

BayFM’s first program grid April 1 – April 7 1990

It was actually a few years before April 1 1990 that a bunch of radicals decided that locals needed to hear the eclectic, eccentric electric voice of their community broadcast across Bundjalung airwaves. BayFM, the entity, was established at the Community Centre in 1987 and after the station’s first test transmission there was a further 3 years of fundraising before we got a licence to broadcast full time. That happened in 1993. “We’re a bit like an old girl who magically lowers her age by adding a few years to look younger.”

There’s a whole lot more history on our website where you can see photos of the old mobile studio van up at the lighthouse and the Love Shack which was built behind the Community Centre and then moved over to Butler Street. Scrolling through all those news clippings really makes you feel part of something pretty special.

Here’s to another 35 years broadcasting locally and now globally via bayfm.org