MIX 106.3 breakfast host Kristen Davidson was front and centre of celebrations at Parliament House on Thursday to mark 100 years of commercial radio in Australia.
The first commercial radio broadcast went to air in Australia on the evening of November 23, 1923 when people across Sydney gathered in their homes to hear the new technology.
That historic first broadcast was of the St Andrew's Choir performing The Swan on 2SB.
The 100th birthday was celebrated at Parliament House with the cake and the release of a new report which showed commercial radio contributed $1 billion to the nation's annual GDP, including a $320 million boost to regional Australia.
Commercial radio stations also broadcast 1.1 million hours of Australian content, 2.7 million Australian songs, 42,000 hours of news and 2200 hours of emergency service content in 2022, the study by Deloitte Access Economics found.
Industry body Commercial Radio and Audio commissioned the report to show that video hadn't killed the radio star and the sector was, in fact, alive and thriving. There are now more than 260 commercial radio stations across Australia, with 220 located in regional areas.
For Davidson, a 16-year veteran of commercial radio, the connection to listeners was the thing that brought her the greatest joy.
"The intimacy of radio - next to my husband and my two children - is the other love of my life," she said.
"That's the thing I love the most - that you feel connected to community. That it is about Canberra and it is about what's happening in our backyard, whether it's a Raiders' win, whether it's a Raiders' loss, whether it's a new stadium in Civic, whether it's not. Whether it's just a little boy who lost his bike and we helped the community find it. The little stuff is the big stuff to me. And that's what local radio is.
"I love that we can plan an entire show and get one call at 6am and then wipe everything off [the whiteboard] because the show just takes a completely different direction. Not because that's what we wanted, but because that's what the listener wanted.
"And next year I will have hosted the breakfast show for 10 years and every morning it's a privilege."
Davidson worked in other markets from Taree to country South Australia to Newcastle before she secured her dream job in breakfast radio in Canberra. She said covering the life and death of local breast cancer campaigner Connie Johnson had probably had the greatest impact on her. As well as seeing radio helping to solve a problem, a need in the community, sometimes all within the space of a single show.
"You don't get that in Sydney, you don't get that in Melbourne, you don't get it on a podcast, you don't get it on a syndicated show and that's why I love here [in Canberra]," she said.
Communications Minister Michelle Rowland, meanwhile, said radio was "the great adapter".
"I look forward to uniting, informing and entertaining us all for another 100 years," she said.
Commercial Radio and Audio chair Ciaran Davis said the industry was also looking for the support of government.
"It is critical that radio remains free and easy to access on platforms such as connected cars Smart speakers that are now controlled by digital gatekeepers," he said.
Centenary celebrations will continue at the 2023 Commercial Radio Audio Awards in Sydney on October 14.
