Canberra welcomes a new voice in community radio, Trust.FM

The government and university capital of Australia has a brand-new voice in community radio, launched over the weekend, Trust.FM.

Canberra has long been seen as a revolving door for music, both for better and for worse. The city’s bustling and dedicated university populations have ensured that the soul of Canberra has remained spiritually young and enthusiastic, but with that blessing comes an understandable temperance as much of its population moves on to arguably greener cultural pastures.

Trust.FM is all too aware of that kind of cultural risk, attributing it in part to a lack of cohesion among Canberra’s DIY communities and radio stations, which they now hope to directly address.

The digital-first station launched yesterday, following a party and a simultaneous online launch held at its new headquarters at The Gallery.

It welcomes a variety of people onto its roster, set to nurture its city’s thriving and multi-faceted DIY music, political and cultural communities, with a voice that accurately reflects the many people who make Canberra what it is.

Launching with over 70 shows already among its programming, the station has been the culmination of a long period of hard work by its founders and backers. In a statement shared on the announcement, Trust.FM emphasised the importance of community-run initiatives like theirs in an increasingly corporatised world, saying:

“Amidst the temptations of fear, control and greed, Trust.FM presents a non-commercial community-building and cultural identity platform that nourishes trust through collaboration, responsibility and collective growth… Trust.FM supports music as a form of resistance and protest that highlights social, political, or economic injustices, designed to mobilise, unite, and advocate for change.”

Given Canberra’s long history of experimental production and technologies, bush doof culture and punk roots, Trust.FM is set to add to and archive a part of Australia’s music culture that is too often forgotten.

You can get involved with Trust.FM at [email protected], through the station’s Instagram and via trustfm.live.

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Jack Colquhoun is Mixmag ANZ's Managing Editor. Find him on Instagram.