He doesn’t golf.
Never even thought about bowls.
But Retravision, his family business, had been involved as an EMFM sponsor, and John had often said if he had some spare time he would like to get involved.
Selling the business and retiring, in most people’s minds, equals a bit of spare time.
So as good as his promise from those years ago, John signed on the dotted line.
His only regret today is that he didn’t get involved earlier so he could have hit the ground running, with a much better understanding of how it all worked.
“I knew a lot about the technical side of radio and TV, but looking at things from the other side of the counter meant I had to sort it all out and get on with it,” John explained.
“And the biggest challenge the station was facing then was financial – we needed a fair bit of money, and we needed it last week,” he said.
“So, my first job was to get out there and tap into my business network across Echuca-Moama and started to sign up more sponsors.
“Fortunately, quite a few of them were happy to be part of the station’s future – they were all there to get an advertising result, I’m sure, but many of them were also happy to back a community asset.
“And EMFM gives them the best of both those worlds.”
There was, John said, another learning curve for him to deal with – you can’t just tell volunteers what to do.
He said the station currently has 14 on-air presenters, and with 100-plus members, there are regularly 30 or so who are active helpers when and where required.
“But managing volunteers means encouraging, mentoring and making sure we can spread the workload around, so everyone is happy,” he said.
“We have plenty of presenters, although we are always happy for more, and a couple of tech specialists who keep it all working, and I still do my gig guide every Thursday, which is my one show for the week.
“Now as the station manager and sponsorship manager, it is sort of my responsibility to make sure we keep functioning – when I took this on, the board offered to double my salary so yes, like everyone else here, I am paid what I’m worth,” the chief volunteer laughed.
“I also specialise in bright ideas, so I never understand why everyone runs like buggery if I ask them to hang on a minute and listen to what I thought of.”
While John reckons he’s still good for a few more, he is still working on trying to offload just a few of his jobs (cue more people running in every direction when they see him coming).
As well as recruiting more volunteers to join the team and ensuring the station continues to maintain its outstanding record of service to the twin towns.
“We are looking for passionate people, who want to contribute, on air or off – we have roles in admin, in presenting, for the technically inclined with editing skills or getting more sponsors – we always need those,” he said.
“I also love to see how people who get involved blossom and learn new skills. A fantastic example of that is William Pel, who joined us five or six years ago after graduating from Echuca Specialist School and is now our irreplaceable digital librarian – and he has gone on to be a finalist in the Young Victorian of the Year.
“William also runs his heavy metal show every Thursday at 8pm – so if you are asking, that’s what I get out of it.”
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