By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
IT’S the radio show putting Casey on the map in Tamworth and it’s got just the right amount of country glitz and glamour to be broadcast around the world.
‘Casey Radio Rocks Tamworth’, hosted by Bob Halsall and local councillors Wayne Smith and Louise Berkelmans, has become a hit at Tamworth Country Music Festival in the past three years.
Broadcasting insightful interviews about anything but country music from a conference room in Tamworth, Cr Smith said, the out-of-towners are becoming big names themselves.
“We’re getting a reputation, we have high profile country musicians asking us if they can come on our show,” he said.
“It’s pretty special – they give us a one-on-one concert.”
The trio broadcast three hours of music and interviews over the five-day festival from Friday 15 to Sunday 24 January.
“We spoke to 52 acts for 15 minutes each and some of those included big names like Troy Cassar-Daley, Adam Brand, Adam Harvey and Lyn Bowtell,” Cr Smith said, along with at least six Casey musicians lucky enough to play alongside country music greats.
And having gotten to know the stars over the years, Cr Smith said, the interviews are casual and fun.
“In our first year we knew nothing about the festival or country music so we’d chat to them about them – Louise, Bob and I are not country music fans,” he said, laughing.
“But the performers loved talking to us because of that and Troy Cassar-Daley said it was the best interview he’d done in Tamworth because we wanted to hear about his family and kids.”
Casey Radio is the only out-of-town station to broadcast from the event.
“It’s hard work but we love it – hundreds of thousands of people go up for the festival, and Casey is definitely on the map in Tamworth,” he said.
