WoW History

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Women on Waves Playlists

1995-2016

ABOUT “WOMEN ON WAVES” :
A SPECIAL HISTORY

RECENTLY, IN 2010, “WOMEN ON WAVES” PASSED YETANOTHER MILESTONE IN REACHING IT’S 400TH EDITION IN WHAT WE REFER TO AS OUR SECOND SERIES – SOMETHING OF A RECORD FOR A PROGRAM OF ITS TYPE IN AUSTRALIA. HAVING SPENT ALMOST TWELVE MONTHS PRESENTING THE FIRST SERIES, (ON WHAT WAS THE SPIRITUAL HOME OF WOMEN’S MUSIC – JOY MELBOURNE), AND TAKING FOUR YEARS AWAY PRESENTING A SIMILAR PROGRAM ON ANOTHER STATION WOMEN ON WAVES SECOND SERIES COMMENCED IN EARLY 2000. (At the Inaugaural "Ollie Awards" WOW received this Special Citation)
THE PROGRAM “WOMEN ON WAVES” FIRST CAME TO LIFE ON JOY BACK IN DECEMBER 1993, WHEN IT WAS PRESENTED BY BARBARA AND MADDIE OF LAVENDER MUSIC. MY OWN ASSOCIATION WITH WOW STARTED IN LATE FEBRUARY 1994, AND I WAS HANDED THE MANTEL OF PRESENTING THE PROGRAM FROM THE BEGINNING OF 1995 WHEN THE ORIGINAL PRESENTERS MOVED NORTH TO COFFS HARBOUR. AT THE END OF 1995 THE PROGRAM WENT INTO A LENGTHY RECESS WHILST I WENT OFF TO DO OTHER THINGS. AFTER A BREAK OF SOME FOUR YEARS I WAS ELECTED TO JOY’S COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT IN 1999, AND A NEW SERIES OF WOMEN ON WAVES RETURNED TO JOY FOR THE MIDSUMMA 2000 SEASON. THE PROGRAM ESSENTIALLY CONSISTS OF MUSIC AND INFORMATION ON KEY ‘OUT & PROUD’ PERFORMERS, SOME SPECIALIST SEGMENTS AND OUR UNIQUE ‘COMEDY SHOT’, FEATURING WORKS FROM THE RECENT SPATE OF SUCCESSFUL FEMALE PROPONENTS OF ‘STAND-UP’ COMEDY. OVER THE YEARS WE HAVE ALSO FEATURED GUEST SEGMENTS WITH SUCH HOME-GROWN TALENTS AS JO JO SMITH, MARIE WILSON, ROSIE BURGESS, PIPPA WILSON, MONICA WEIGHTMAN AND OUR VERY OWN INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED FOLK - SINGER/SONGWRITER JUDY SMALL TO NAME A FEW; ALONG WITH VISITING OVERSEAS ARTISTS SUCH AS: HEATHER BISHOP, SONIA, LUCIE BLUE TREMBLAY, CHRIS WHILE AND JULIE MATTHEWS HORSE, AND THE TOPP TWINS. THE PROGRAM’S ‘CULTISH’ FOLLOWING HAS ALSO TAKEN ON A GLOBAL ELEMENT SINCE GOING ON-LINE WITH ITS OWN WEBPAGE, NOW RECEIVING REQUESTS AND MAIL FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. THERE YOU CAN VISIT AND REQUEST MATERIAL AND INFORMATION ALONG WITH REVIEWING PLAYLISTS, ARTIST BIO’S. PHOTO’S, ARCHIVED SEGMENTS AND OTHER USEFUL LINKS.

A NUMBER OF CO-PRESENTERS HAVE GIVEN THEIR TIME TO THIS PROGRAM OVER RECENT YEARS: BETWEEN JULY 17TH 2000 AND FEBRUARY 2001, I WAS JOINED BY ANNETTE, AND FROM JANUARY 2001 UNTIL MAY 2002 DEE ALSO JOINED THE CREW! THEN FROM SEPTEMBER 2002 ROBBIE CAME 'ON BOARD'! IN ROBBIE'S ABSENCE FROM MARCH 2003, I WAS JOINED BY A CREW OF CO-HOSTS – INCLUDING HARRIET, JENNY AND KAYE, WITH JENNY REMAINING FOR ANOTHER COUPLE OF YEARS. FROM OCTOBER 2009 HARRIET RETURNED. UN TIL JUNE 2010. SINCE LATE OCTOBER CAROLINE BECAME A NEW PARTNER IN WOW AND EARLY DECEMBER SAW THE START OF A NEW SEGMENT "CAROLINE'S CLOSET". 2016 SAW ANOTHER MAJOR BREWAKTHROUGH AS JEFF JOINED AS A REGULAR CO-HOST!
I HAVE ENJOYED MANY HIGHLIGHTS SINCE BECOMING INVOLVED WITH THIS PROGRAM FROM SIMPLY MEETING LISTENERS AND HEARING THEIR FEEDBACK, TO THE TRULY MEMORABLE INTERVIEWS AS MENTIONED. HOWEVER I WOULD PROBABLY SAY THAT BEING SELECTED AS A JUDGE FOR THE PRESTIGOUS OUTMUSIC AWARDS IN AMERICA FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE YEARS HAS CERTAINLY BEEN ONE OF MY MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS. I BELIEVE THAT WOW HAS A SPECIAL MISSION IN GIVING VOICE TO A RANGE OF OUT & PROUD TALENTS THAT OTHERWISE WOULD STRUGGLE TO BE HEARD. THAT IS A TRULY HUMBLING EXPERIENCE THAT “I WOULDN’T MISS FOR QUIDS”

SO WHAT EXACTLY IS WOMEN'S MUSIC?

OVER THE YEARS I HAVE OFTEN BEEN ASKED WHAT WOMENS MUSIC IS ALL ABOUT?? - INDICATING THAT SOME LISTENERS STILL SEEM UNAWARE THAT THEY HAVE, IN FACT, BEEN ENJOYING A VERY SPECIFIC KIND OF MUSIC. WOMEN’S MUSIC AS IT HAS COME TO BE KNOWN INTERNATIONALLY, HAS OFTEN BEEN ASSUMED TO BE MUSIC PRESENTED BY FEMALE ARTISTS, WHEREAS IN TRUTH IT IS ACTUALLY MUCH, MUCH MORE THAN THAT. YET WHENEVER I AM ASKED TO DEFINE JUST WHAT IT IS THAT IS SO UNIQUE ABOUT SO CALLED ‘WOMEN’S MUSIC’ I OFTEN FIND MYSELF VERGING ON THE TAUTOLOGICAL; OR AT THE VERY LEAST MAKING SOMEWHAT BUMBLING EFFORTS TO DESCRIBE THAT WHICH IT IS NOT. AS LAURA POST, (A FREELANCE JOURNALIST IN THE US) HAS POINTED OUT IN HER BOOK ‘BACKSTAGE PASS’: “WOMEN’S MUSIC IS ACTUALLY A CULTURAL CONSTRUCT, ENCOMPASSING MUSIC AND OTHER ARTS, BUILT UPON THE FOUNDATION OF WORLD MUSIC, AND ULTIMATELY CONNECTED TO THE GAY AND FEMINIST MOVEMENTS.” IN AN EFFORT TO TRY AND CLARIFY JUST WHAT WOMEN’S MUSIC REALLY IS I HAVE PUT TOGETHER SOME SPECIAL PROGRAMS OVER THE YEARS, IN WHICH I HAVE ATTEMPTED TO FOLLOW IN STRUCTURE, THE EVOLUTION OF WOMEN’S MUSIC.
WHILST TODAY WOMEN’S MUSIC TRANSCENDS ALL MUSICAL STYLES, ITS GENESIS IN THE EARLY 70’S, EMERGED FROM A FUSION BETWEEN THE FOLK MUSIC THAT WAS SO POPULAR IN THE LATE 60'S/EARLY 70'S AND THE EMERGING SECOND WAVE OF THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT. ITS HISTORY IS BEST ENCAPSULATED BY ARTISTS SUCH AS MEG CHRISTIAN, CRIS WILLIAMSON, JUDY SMALL, SUE FINK AND HOLLY NEAR. YET UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF A RANGE OF TALENTED SOUL SISTERS IT HAS, OVER THE YEARS SPREAD TO LEAVE ITS IMPRINT ON MUSICAL STYLES AS DIVERSE AS COUNTRY, JAZZ, BLUES, ROCK, CLASSICAL, TECHNO AND NOW EVEN REGGAE AND HIP-HOP. THE MAJORITY OF WOMEN SINGER/SONGWRITERS WORKING WITHIN THIS IDIOM HAVE CHOSEN TO REMAIN TRUE TO THEIR ROOTS, WRITING, PERFORMING AND GIVING US MUSIC THAT SPEAKS OF THE LIVES OF WOMEN IN POSITIVE AND EMPOWERING WAYS.
THEY ARE ALTERNATIVE IN THE SENSE THAT IN A WORLD WHERE MAINSTREAM RECORDING LABELS WERE DOMINATED AND CONTROLLED BY MEN WHO DID NOT RECOGNISE A MARKET FOR MUSIC WHICH DEFINED WOMEN AS STRONG OR INDEPENDENT BEINGS, HENCE THEY WERE MOST OFTEN FORCED TO RECORD FOR SMALL INDEPENDENT RECORDING COMPANIES. (THIS WAS ALSO A TIME WHEN RECORDING COMPANIES DID NOT HAND OUT MERIT BADGES TO GAY ARTISTS, WITH MANY BEING “OUT” LESBIANS LONG BEFORE THIS TREND BECAME FASHIONABLE - COURTESY OF K D LANG AND MELISSA ETHERIDGE). BY FAR THE MOST INFLUENTIAL OF THESE HAD BEEN OLIVIA RECORDS IN THE USA, WHICH WAS ESTABLISHED AS THE 1ST NATIONAL WOMEN’S RECORDING COMPANY IN 1973. THIS COLLECTIVE AIMED TO PROMOTE AND ENCOURAGE THESE FEMALE ARTISTS AND EVEN THOUGH OLIVIA DEPARTED THE RECORDING BUSINESS IN 1996, THEY HAVE LEFT THE LEGACY OF A HEALTHY INTERNATIONAL GENRE OF MUSIC WHICH TODAY CONTINUES TO GROW!! in 2009 - Anita was Awarded Life Membership of JOY!

I HOPE THIS NOTE OFFERS SOME INSIGHT INTO THE PHENOMENON OF WOMENS MUSIC AND THEREBY ENHANCES YOUR ENJOYMENT OF THIS PARTICULAR PROGRAM WHICH PROVIDES SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT TO THE “SCHMALTZ” SO OFTEN DISHED UP IN MAINSTREAM MUSIC.

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