‘Beautiful community of nerds’: The fight to keep a beloved radio station alive

Bindi Mutiara used to sit in her bedroom listening to FBi Radio, dreaming of having a place in Sydney’s alternative music scene. Then a push from a friend gave her the courage to sign up for a free presenter training course at the station – she’s been on air ever since.

“I remember being in this existential period of my life in high school, not knowing what the heck I wanted to do. So I applied. I remember sitting in that interview space, and it felt so surreal to be part of this community that I had admired for so long,” Mutiara says.

Bindi Mutiara in FBi’s CD room at their Redfern studios.Credit: Sam Mooy

For countless creatives in Sydney their journey is identical. There is life before FBi, and life after.

The independent Redfern radio station – which Mutiara calls “a beautiful community of nerds” – has become an incubator for countless musicians, DJs, presenters and journalists who have gone on to shape Australia’s media and entertainment landscape since the station went live in 2003.

However, like many community radio stations across the country, FBi is facing the existential threat of prolonged economic downturn and changing patterns of media consumption.

“I don’t think people realise that FBi Radio, as a station, and a training ground, and educational platform, is genuinely one of a kind,” Mutiara, who now sits on the station’s board, says.

“If FBi was truly to go fully lights off, it would ripple into every sector within media, and every community space.”

Early this year 10 staff were made redundant from the station, cutting almost half of the permanent workforce at FBi. Behind closed doors, insiders are saying the station needs at least $1 million to stay operational.

This month FBi asked supporters for $30,000 to keep the lights on through the end of the financial year. Station staff said the fundraising push was successful, but structural issues remained.

According to its most recent annual report, between 2023 and 2024 FBi’s operating deficit jumped sixfold, from $41,000 to $276,000 on a $1.6 million budget. Sponsorship revenue fell by $184,000 in the same period.

Between 2021 and 2024 station membership declined by 36 per cent.

FBi president Angela Stengel pointed to investments in the station’s digital presence, as well as declining sponsorships and memberships to explain the jump in the deficit. Stengel says the fall in sponsorships was tied to economic pain being felt by “cultural organisations, hospitality, and other community-based groups”, which make up a “significant portion” of partners.

The financial struggles faced by the station are not new. In 2009, FBi ran a campaign targeting Virgin Group billionaire Richard Branson, seeking a million-dollar donation to support the struggling station. The campaign resulted in an interview with Branson, in which host Alison Piotrowski requested the funds live on air.

“We didn’t get the million from Branson, but we did live to fight on, and fight hard. I just hope FBi is able to do it again,” says Piotrowski, who went on to serve as Nine’s US correspondent, and is now a senior reporter for the network and presenter on Weekend Today*.

“FBi gave me the opportunity to find my voice, but most importantly it gave me the space to make mistakes on air, to fail … and I became a better broadcaster as a result,” she says.

“When I look around the industry today there are very few places that nurture young talent, give them communities and networks for their future careers, and provide on-the-job experience without a paid internship – which just isn’t realistic for most music and media companies.”

Journalists Alison Piotrowski and Marc Fennell both got their start at FBi Radio. Credit: Instagram and SBS

Another darling of the station’s alumni is globetrotting journalist and presenter of SBS’s Mastermind, Marc Fennell, who got his start at FBi as the station’s film critic. He said the station “utterly and completely changed” his life.

“I was a 17-year-old who walked in the door with no skills, I didn’t know anybody that worked in media, music, culture … they genuinely taught me broadcasting from scratch,” says Fennell, who later met his wife at the station.

“It’s an incredible place for creativity. You can come, there’s equipment there, you can play, you can create new things, you can try new things. I think having environments were people can play and find partnerships is really crucial. Without those spaces, we become much poorer as listeners, as a community, as a city.”

Fennell says in the 22 years FBi had been on the air, social media had fundamentally changed the way people start media careers. He says, however, the emphasis on teamwork and the focus on audience were crucial elements that were reinforced by training in the station environment.

“In radio and television and publishing it’s extraordinarily rare to do anything by yourself. What you have to learn is how to work in teams and find your tribe. I work now with people that I met at FBi because of the creative partnerships we formed back then,” he says.

“It doesn’t seem very obvious, but that’s actually a crucial component to what FBi offers. It creates creative partnerships that have now proliferated what people watch, what people read, what people listen to … if you take that away from Sydney, in particular, you end up with a very different-sounding media that I don’t think serves the audience.”

Newly minted managing director Tyson Koh, who made a name for himself by leading the Keep Sydney Open movement during the city’s controversial lockout law period, has been tasked with keeping the station afloat – a job he says is both exciting and daunting.

Exciting because of FBi’s cultural importance in Australia’s music scene; daunting because “the station is going through a tough time, and it’s been a struggle to get the message out”.

Managing director Tyson Koh said it had been “a struggle to get the message out” on the station’s financial hardship.Credit: Sam Mooy

“Whilst the station has been around for a long time, it relies on people’s financial support in order to stay on the air. Especially with a new generation of community radio listeners who might not be aware of the model that FBi operates under,” says Koh, who first volunteered for the station in 1999, before it had a broadcasting license.

Koh says that FBi’s financial issues are reflective of a “wider struggle” creatives and art lovers are experiencing across the city.

“People these days are overextended with their financial obligations, whether it’s rent or mortgages, but also the litany of subscriptions that we’re being funnelled towards on a daily basis. I think what I would like people to be aware of is that FBi isn’t a multinational tech company. It’s an organisation that has a very tangible effect on the cultural life in Sydney,” says Koh.

FBi was an early champion of Australian artists Flume, the Kid Laroi, Nina Las Vegas and Genesis Owusu, and there is concern among the station’s faithful that a weakening of the business may hurt upcoming talent.

With ongoing costs such as rent, broadcasting fees and staffing expenses continuing to pinch FBi’s bottom line, Koh said that “nothing is off the table” in ensuring the station’s sustainability.

“We’ve already had to make staff redundant, unfortunately, earlier in the year. So we’re doing the best that we can to tighten our belts … we do need to look at our revenue model and see what can be developed and what can be improved, and we’re doing all those things.”

Koh says the situation FBi finds itself in offers an opportunity for the station to broaden its listener base and “position itself as being a go-to resource for anyone in Sydney, around the country, or even internationally, who wants to know what’s going on in Sydney”.

Despite the issues facing the station, Mutiara says she is confident FBi will survive.

“People will come together for a place that has given them so much. This place has made me who I am today. I’ve been able to bring my teachings to my students, and that will continue. All those connections will eventually be given back by the people that have gotten support through FBi.”

* Nine is the owner of this masthead.

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