3BBR News

Special things always happen when the focus is on the music. Join us at the Oak St Community Hub in Drouin on Friday 20th November for another intimate music night with Damon Smith and Jim Williams.

Damon Smith is a multi-award-winning Melbourne-based singer-songwriter, pianist, multi-instrumentalist, filmmaker and entertainer. He’s renowned for his virtuosic blues inspired piano playing, rich vocals, quick wit and captivating stage presence.

Jim Williams is a singer / songwriter who has received a national award for best album from the Australian songwriting society.

The night also introduces some young local performers.

Door open at 6:00pm. Music starts at 6:30pm.

BYO snacks, and/or we can order pizza on your behalf (Call Jakks Pizza on 5625 4800 before 5pm on Friday, they’ll deliver shortly after 6 and we’ll keep it warm).

Tickets $25 in advance via HUMANITIX.com or $30 at the door.

The Hub is at 1 Oak St Drouin, just near the Royal Hotel.
Get Directions

Live at the Hub  is supported by Drouin and District Bendigo Community Bank  and Baw Baw Shire Council  and is an initiative of 3BBR-FM in collaboration with Off The Leash Theatre.

The 2026 3BBR Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday 22nd October where about a quarter of our Membership participated. The AGM is often a formal but vital part of shaping the future of community organisations like ours.

Retiring this year after four years of hard work in the role of President was Paul Strickland.  Paul’s connection to local community groups and key figures through his continuing program West Gippsland Week has been most valuable to 3BBR, and our heartfelt thanks go to him for his support of our 100% volunteer-run organisation.  Paul has been re-elected to the Board, but not as an office-bearer.

Meet the new 3BBR President, Evrim Şen.  Evrim has been a leader across various roles in community broadcasting for the last 10 years and was previously the station manager of SYN-FM.  They believe that 3BBR-FM is in a great position to keep expanding what we do and has been working with the Board over the past 10 months on reviewing our strategic priorities.  They are passionate about fostering a platform for independent media for all community voices to shine, and is looking forward to working together to move 3BBR forward and expand our impact.

Also retiring from the Board after several years was Ian Hill, who is prominent in our community for his advocacy of sustainability and common sense in our energy transition.  Ian will continue to assist 3BBR with his huge experience in the electrical trades and power industry.

Graeme Marriott continues in the role of Treasurer with our thanks.

Details of the ongoing makeup of the new 3BBR Board and key volunteers are available on our Contact page.

Please note that Jeff Thege had been co-opted earlier in 2026 to serve the remainder of the term of an ordinary Board Member. Jeff was unable to attend the AGM, so one position remains vacant, and the Board will soon seek to co-opt a 3BBR Member.

3BBR features local live performances on our showcase programs Gippsland Live and Concert Hall, with previews and artist features on West Gippsland Week too.

These recordings range from folk and acoustic to orchestral and chamber music, and are mostly made exclusively by 3BBR at venues like Wesley of Warragul, Yarragon Studio, the Drouin Community Hub  and the West Gippsland Arts Centre.  Our intimate monthly music night Live at the Hub  is a highlight, so if you can’t be there in person, your volunteer-powered community radio station is happy to share.

If you miss hearing our broadcasts on the radio, you can listen back from our website for up to 8 weeks after broadcast. You’ll find the audio player on individual program pages. Enjoy! Let us know what you like too.

Listen back to Gippsland Live from Fri 28th August at 2:00pm (replayed Sun 30th 5:00pm) for a recent concert by some of Victoria’s top brass players, recorded in a stirring concert of Americana at Wesley of Warragul on 31st July 2026.

• Fire Dance – Anthony Di Lorenzo
• Suite Americana – Enrique Crespo
• Summertime – George Gershwin arr. Luther Henderson
• Three Preludes – George Gershwin arr. Gary Schutza
• West Side Story: Maria / Tonight / I Feel Pretty / Somewhere / America – Leonard Bernstein arr. Jack Gale
• John Williams film scores medley arr. Dave Cushman
• Let it Go – Kristen Anderson Lopez & Robert Lopez arr. Adrian Wagner

Timothy Francis – trumpet, flugelhorn
Tristan Rebien – trumpet, flugelhorn
Andrew Young – french horn
Kieran Conrau – trombone
Karina Filipi – tuba
Benjamin Anderson – bass Trombone and MC

This concert was recorded exclusively for 3BBR by volunteer recording engineer Garry Havrillay.

Missed the broadcast? You can listen back online for up to eight weeks after broadcast.

Beginning 6 July 2026, there are major changes to our schedule, with new programs from the Baw Baw Sustainability Network, and about arts and music in Gippsland.  Download a PDF copy of the new schedule to keep or print. 

Some key changes:

• West Gippland Week presents two distinct editions: Thursdays 3:00pm-6:00pm and Saturdays 8:00am – 10:00am.  Local issues, politics, news, arts and health. Paul Strickland keeps you in touch.
• Monday afternoons have a sustainability and science focus, as we introduce The Ripple Effect produced by the Baw Baw Sustainability Network, followed by Earth Matters and Lost in Science from sister-station 3CR.
• Our local live music showcase Gippsland Live will now be heard first on Friday afternoon at 2:00pm, repeated Sunday afternoon at 5:00pm.  With the 3BBR-FM Concert Hall already bringing you many exclusive 3BBR live recordings, Sunday afternoons become a feast of genuine music making face-to-face with appreciative audiences.
• Gippsland Arts every Wednesday at 5:30pm is a new half-hour feature drawing on many sources to bring you music, news and conversations from creative people across Gippsland.
• Marni’s Sounds of the Underground has moved to 6:00-8:00pm Wednesday nights, bringing you two hours of little heard music.  Featuring interviews and live performances, bringing the underground music scene to Gippsland.
• Jessielea’s Push The Envelope expands back to 2 hours from 8:00pm Friday, so Friday night will now focus on indie, Australian and hardcore music.
• For lovers of jazz and fusion Richard Rejmer’s Smooth & Cool, Rare & Spicy now has a replay on Saturday afternoon 2:00pm – 4:00pm.
• Tom’s delightfully quirky Serendipity moves to 12 noon Wednesday.
• Time for Terri moves to 12 noon Thursday, still bringing you great pop tunes from the 70s and 80s.
• Saturday morning includes an hour on books and writing from 7:00am with Final Draft and the award-winning Narratives Library where writers read and discuss their own work.
• If you’re an early riser on weekdays, you’ll soon discover a range of locally-made and Community Radio Network programs after the 6:00am News, with folk, easy-listening, jazz, blues/roots, and music from the screen.
• Farewell to Greg Lia with Wednesday Mix. Greg has been a long-time volunteer with Technical and Production help over many years. Thank you Greg.

 

---

Our full schedule is at https://3bbrfm.org.au/guide
Download a PDF copy of the latest schedule to keep or print.

As always, if you have feedback about our programming, please get in touch.  Visit our contact page for the many ways you can do that. 

On Sunday 26th July at 2:00pm, the 3BBR-FM Concert Hall presented the exclusive 3BBR recording of pianist Yundi Yuan in concert, with a world premiere work by Alisa Redmond.

Adelaide based international pianist Yundi Yuan presented a recital program of diverse piano works from the sublime J. S. Bach Toccata in E minor, to Debussy’s ever popular Clair de lune  and two Waltzes by Chopin. In the first half of this exquisite recital Yundi Yuan left the audience breathless with an amazing and moving Prelude and Fugue in D minor by Dmitri Shostakovich, taking us back to Bach but exhibiting his struggles under the Soviet Regime in his own musical terms.

Yundi Yuan’s first guest, was Australia’s finest baritone-saxophonist Sara Beale, who joined Yundi in an arrangement for saxophone and piano of Debussy’s Rêverie. Emotions ran high in this concert and continued with a very moving world premiere of ‘The Silver Shrike’ by Gippsland composer Alisha Redmond, performed by Yundi Yuan, piano and Niels Bijl soprano saxophone. This is certain to become a favourite work in the 21st century fine music repertoire.

Both saxophonists joined Yundi Yuan in a Tango by Igor Stravinsky, arranged for the two saxophones and piano, ending yet another full house concert at Yarragon Studio, recorded exclusively for 3BBR FM by volunteer Recording Engineer Garry Havrillay on Sun 12th July 2026.

• JS Bach — Toccata in E Minor BWV914
• Debussy – Clair de lune
• Chopin – Waltz No. 12 in F min Op.70 No.2
• Chopin – Waltz No. 14 in E min Op.Posth
• Shostakovich – Prelude and Fugue in D min Op.87 No.24
• Debussy – Rêverie, arr, for baritone sax (Sara Beale) and piano
• Alisha Redmond – Sliver Shrike, for soprano sax (Niels Bijl) and piano [PREMIERE]
• Stravinsky – Tango, arr. for trio by Andrew Schulz

Missed the broadcast? Listen back via our radio-on-demand service before 20 Sept 2026.

3BBR FM… proudly supports local Fine Music Concerts and new Australian compositions.

Listen back to the 3BBR-FM Concert Hall from Sun 5th July at 2:00pm for an exciting performance by the Melbourne Youth Orchestra with the West Gippsland Chorale recorded at WGAC.

This 95-piece orchestra conducted by Brett Kelly featured sweeping classical works from Tchaikovsky to Borodin, in a program titled Symphonic Romance . They were joined on stage by members of the West Gippsland Chorale.

With members as young as 12, this performance by one of the Melbourne Youth Orchestras was energetic and electric, and 3BBR-FM is thrilled to be able bring the joie-de-vivre  of this concert into your lounge rooms.

• TCHAIKOVSKY – Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique”
• DE FALLA – Three Cornered Hat Suite, No.2
• Ola GJEILO – Across the Vast Eternal Sky (with the West Gippsland Chorale)
• Morten LAURIDSON – Dirait-On (with the West Gippsland Chorale)
• BORODIN – Polovtsian Dances (with the West Gippsland Chorale)

This performance was recorded exclusively for 3BBR-FM by volunteer recording engineer Garry Havrillay on Sunday 21st June 2026, with thanks to the crew at the West Gippsland Arts Centre for their assistance.

Missed the broadcast? Listen back before 30 Aug 2026 via our radio-on-demand service.

3BBR-FM… proudly supporting local fine music with exclusive concert recordings in West Gippsland.

Listen back to the 3BBR FM Concert Hall proudly presenting a recent concert from Wesley of Warragul with Melbourne’s finest highly acclaimed Baroque ensemble Genesis Baroque, with two universally loved works for string sextets in a rare period instrument performance, enabling the deeply expressive, human colour palette of gut strings.

Featuring Mozart’s Grande Sestetto Concertante ; the 1808 string sextet arrangement of his famed Sinfonia Concertante , alongside the first string sextet by Brahms, Op.18, No.1.

3BBR-FM was thrilled to share this concert with you in the 3BBR FM Concert Hall on Sunday 14 June from 2pm, recorded exclusively for 3BBR by volunteer recording engineer Garry Havrillay.

Missed the broadcast? Listen back via our radio-on-demand service before 9 August 2025.

3BBR FM… proudly supporting local fine music.