Category: News

Join us on 3BBR from 12:00 noon on Christmas Day for a special broadcast of the recent concert by the West Gippsland Chorale under the direction of Nathan Byrne recorded at Wesley of Warragul.

The program features Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria, Benjamin Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols Op.28  plus a diverse selection of songs to celebrate Christmas.  3BBR-FM is proud to record and support local live music performances.

Missed the broadcast? Listen back to GippsLand Live for up to 8 weeks after broadcast.

Also on Christmas Day, Garry Havrillay hosts a special Quiet Hour of ambient and serene music on 3BBR from 6:00am.

Sadly we said goodbye to Toby’s Arrhythmia on Fri 19th Dec, with huge thanks for a night of great music on 3BBR.  Best wishes Toby, who’s off to do some travelling.

In its place, Jessielea is set to break out of Monday Breakfast and present a grittier second show…

• FRIDAY 8:00pm -10:00pm / PUSH THE ENVELOPE — Jessielea brings you a combination of heavy, electronic and fusion music to get your Friday night started, beginning BOXING DAY DEC 26.

Tuesday afternoon shuffle from January 6:

• John Fromhold’s MORE THAN A GAME moves later to Tues 3:00pm – 6:00pm.  John will cover a wider range of sport news with interviews live from Studio 2.  The new time gives him better access to key players in local sports.  Great music from the 70s and 80s is standard fare too.
• 45RPM moves earlier to 12 noon Tuesday with everyone’s favourite vinyl tunes from the 60s, 70s and 80s.
• IT’S TIME with William and Barry (5:00pm Tues) will drop off our schedule for now.

Sadly, Dave Howell is no longer making his blissful program MUSIC FOR BEACHES available to stations beyond 2SER. We’ve replaced it with DEADLY BEATS every Wednesday night from 10:00pm featuring indigenous urban music (RnB, soul, hip-hop & rap).

Also, look out for

• a special quiet hour from 6:00am on Christmas Day with Garry
• a special edition of Gippsland Live at 12:00 noon on Christmas Day featuring the recent concert by the West Gippsland Chorale
• and a New Year’s Eve Countdown Special from 11:00pm with Tom B and friends

 

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Our full schedule is at https://3bbrfm.org.au/guide
Download a PDF copy of the new 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. 

In the 3BBR FM Concert Hall at 2pm on Sun 21st December 2025 revisit this inspirational performance by one of Australia’s finest symphony orchestras, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Chorus with the West Gippsland Chorale, performing Handel’s greatest oratorio ‘Messiah’. This concert was recorded by 3BBR at the West Gippsland Arts Centre in December 2024.

The highly acclaimed Australian conductor, MSO Artist-in-Residence, and baroque music specialist Erin Helyard conducted from the harpsichord with an energy and spirit rarely witnessed in the annual Messiah performances, creating a truly memorable start to the Christmas Season.

It was heart-warming and a joy to see our own West Gippsland Chorale sharing the stage with the MSO Chorus, capping off a special 40th anniversary year for the Chorale.  What an honour for the Chorale to have this opportunity.  The smiling faces of the choristers made this palpable, with choral singing of the highest order.

An impressive cast of equally matched soloists, delivered their arias with perfect diction full of meaning, with ringing quality notes in every aria.  They are young Australian-based singers establishing domestic and international careers; Melbourne-based soprano Stacey Alleaume and tenor Michael Petrucelli, along with Sydney-based mezzo-soprano Helen Sherman and baritone David Greco.

The trumpet soloists in the final aria, ‘The trumpet shall sound’ was one of the most thrilling.

Conductor Erin Helyard said of this iconic work, which features one of the most famous pieces of Baroque choral music in the Hallelujah Chorus, “a wonderful evocation of Christmas”.

Messiah is a true masterpiece written more than 280 years ago yet still inspiring joy and wonder to all, from first-time listeners to the many who make the work a Christmas tradition.

This performance was worthy of any major world concert hall, and was produced and recorded by Garry Havrillay for 3BBR as a proud supporter of local fine music concerts.

Missed the broadcast? Listen back via our radio-on-demand service before 18 Jan 2026.

On Sunday 14th Dec at 2:00pm, the 3BBR-FM Concert Hall presented the exclusive 3BBR recording of the Wattleseed Ensemble in concert.

Wattleseed’s music is an invitation to the the rawness of bowed strings and eucalypt forest; to connection. They weave together music of the baroque period with folk music and contemporary Australian music in a confluence of styles, finding cohesion in the telling of a story. The musical journey in this wonderful program is testament to that.

• Hildegard von Bingen (arr. D Nicolson) — Ave Generosa
• JS Bach (arr. D Sitkovetsky) – Goldberg Variations: Aria, var. 1, 6, 9 & 5
• Anne Cawrse – Sanctuary
• Jakub Jankowsky – The Orchid and the Wasp (Victorian premiere)
• Trad. Bulgarian (arr. Wattleseed Ens.) – Aleni Zvezdi
• Missy Mazzoli – Lies You Can Believe In
• Trad. Swedish / Annlaug Børsheim (arr. Katie Yap) – Vals efter Lasse i Lyby / Da Lounge Bar

Meg Cohen – violin, co-artistic director
Katie Yap – viola, co-artistic director
David Moran – cello

Missed the broadcast? Listen back via our radio-on-demand service before 8 Feb 2026.

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

3BBR recently recorded the 140th Anniversary Celebration Concert at WGAC, and you can re-live it on Gippsland Live in early December. The concert was the result of many months of rehearsals and volunteer planning, as well as marking 140 years of continuous service to our community, even through world wars and pandemics.

The Warragul Municipal Band concert under the musical direction of Geoff Coote included tributes to past and present Members with MC Mark Ford OAM guiding us through a night of popular tunes, classic and brass band favourites.

Notably the audience was treated to the premiere performance of the march “Warragul – Blue Gum Country” specially composed and conducted for the occasion by Nat Pollard. Other highlights included the band’s longest serving continuous member, trombonist Tim Armstrong treating us to “Stardust”, guest piano soloist Darryl Coote performing Handel, Schubert and Benjamin, with the second half opening with a few short pieces by the Training Band, likely future players in the Warragul Municipal Band.

Join us on 3BBR for Gippsland Live to re-live this concert celebration.

• Part 1: Wednesday 3rd Dec 2025 from 8:00pm (replayed Friday 5th Dec 2:00pm)
• Part 2: Wednesday 10th Dec 2025 from 8:00pm (replayed Friday 12th Dec 2:00pm)

Missed the broadcast? Audio-on-demand is available for 8 weeks after broadcast.

3BBR — Supporting live music and volunteering in our community.

Has your FM reception improved?
Let us know by leaving a message on (03) 5625 1103.

Thanks to the Community Broadcasting Foundation, earlier this year 3BBR was granted substantial funds to buy a brand new transmitter, and it’s now on air as of Wednesday 5th November 2025.

This gives us the opportunity to retire some very old equipment we knew was beginning to decline with age, and we now have a reliable backup in case lightning strikes (both literally and figuratively). Your faithful volunteers still have more work to do to complete this upgrade project, and we hope to avoid any further on-air disruption.

We also hope that FM reception on the fringes of our broadcast area will be a little more robust e.g the hills behind Leongatha, central Pakenham and Moe.

Our next urgent project is to replace the broadcast mixing desk in our main studio. Argghh!

On Sunday 28th July at 2:00pm, the 3BBR-FM Concert Hall presents the exclusive 3BBR recording of the NZ Trio during their Australian tour.

Three exceptionally talented musicians, pianist Somi Kim, violinist Amalia Hall and her brother Callum Hall as guest cellist thrilled the audience with a ravishing and exciting program of NEW and not so old works.

• Joachin Turina — Circulo Op.91
• Chen Yi – Tibetan Tunes
• John Psathas – Angelus (Australian premiere of a new NZ Trio commission)
• César Franck – Piano Trio No. in F sharp

The Australian premiere of ‘Angelus’ by Greek/New Zealand composer John Psathas was a sparkling chamber composition of dazzling proportions, in a spellbinding performance by the NZ Trio.

Also ‘Tibetan Tunes’ by Chinese female composer, Chen Yi, was an inspiration of the East meeting West, in the use of the oriental sound colour with use of the traditional piano, violin and cello.

The two older works were equally pleasing to a very appreciative audience listening to ‘Circulo’ by the Spanish composer Joachin Turina, and the final work, a rare outing of the Piano Trio No. 1 by the Belgian/French composer, César Franck composed when he was just 19.

This concert added to the ongoing highlights of Fine Music offered in our region and was recorded exclusively for the 3BBR-FM Concert Hall by our experienced volunteer recording engineer, Garry Havrillay.

Missed the broadcast? Listen back via our radio-on-demand service before 23 Nov 2025.

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

On Sept 24 & 26, 3BBR is excited to replay our exclusive recent concert recording of local Drouin singer/songwriter/guitarist Ethan Calway, recorded at 3BBR’s Last Friday Music Club  in May.  He deservedly created a lot of excitement on stage during The Voice  competition on TV.

Ethan writes thoughtful original tunes with a country flavour. His brother Seth Calway adds soaring harmonies playing bass too, with Jonothan Bishop on drums and backing vocals. The captivated audience at our Last Friday Music Club  absolutely loved it!

We will encore this top performance on Gippsland Live at 8:00pm Wednesday 24th September 2025, replayed on Friday afternoon 26th at 2:00pm and to be available as audio-on-demand until November 19.

Live sound, recording and mixdown by volunteer Garry Havrillay, made exclusively for 3BBR.