Shane Elson

Program: Public First Program on Thursdays from 11:00am - 12:00 noon

              Alternative Radio Program on Fridays from 11:00am - 12:00 noon

 Length of time in radio: 15 Years on air.  Before that, technical and audio production

Reason for getting in to radio?: Was part of a youth and community development job I had.  When that ended, I stayed on

Personal Likes: My partner.  Sunny days.  Community media.

 Personal dislikes: People who can't merge into moving traffic

Favourite Music: ???

Hobbies: One day I'll have enough time to get back to model plane making

Brief Bio: 

 By way of background, I was born in Tasmania in 1959 (you do the maths) and grew up in the northwest coastal town of Ulverstone.

After completing high school I did an apprenticeship in Fitting and Machining at the now demolished Tioxide Australia.

In 1980 I married my sweetheart, the child bride, and we embarked on an entertainment industry odyssey that took us first to Brisbane and finally to Sydney.  Our three sons were born in Sydney and I swapped from being a drummer in a band (quick aside - How does the band tell when the stage is level?  The drummer is drooling out of both sides of his mouth) to becoming more involved in the production of concerts and shows.

In 1982 I moved from the stage into the production arena where I spent the next 20 years working and touring all over Australia and internationally.

For the best part of the 80's I was involved in large-scale corporate communication events as a technician and producer.

In the early 1990's our family moved to Morwell in the Victorian region of Gippsland to take up positions as community development workers.  I kept my involvement in event management by helping to organise community events and managed to fit in some touring as well.

I eventually got into Monash University to study Sociology, Mass Communications and Psychology, graduating in 2002 with first class honours.

In 1997 I took up the offer to become the Australian Producer and Distributor of Alternative Radio, the award winning, unembedded independent radio program heard throughout the US, Europe, Canada, South America and in over 100 countries on Radio for Peace International - and on Gippsland FM at 11:04 on Friday mornings.

I'm currently the chairperson of the Latrobe Valley, Uniting Care Foodbank, have been a past Chairperson of Gippsland Community Radio, am a director of the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) and that body's Acting President.  I have also been the Chair the CBAA's Satellite Advisory Committee.  In November 2005 at the first Asia Pacific regional conference of AMARC I was elected as Treasurer for the Asia Pacific Regional Board.

I'm a past Chairperson of the Baringa Special School Council in Moe and have been the Assistant Secretary of the Gippsland Carers Association and had involvement in a raft of other community groups in each area we have lived.

In my working time (as opposed to having spare time) I teach Radio Journalism at Monash University's Gippsland Campus, Broadcast Journalism at Monash's Berwick and Caufield Campuses and Radio Production and Criticism at Swinburne University's Hawthorn Campus.

For the last 15 or so years I have been producing community radio programs locally (The Public First Program) and nationally.  This work has seen me become involved in the technical, management and broadcasting aspects of outside broadcasts for local and national events.

Now that you have some idea of who I am, I hope you proceed to the Public First Program editorial page( www.shane.araustralia.org ) to view some of the material I have written for it and, perhaps, gain an understanding of where I sit philosophically.