Technorama Committee:
who we are

Technorama Incorporated:  the committee.

Your committee[1] is a team of eight elected people

  • five office-bearers:
    • President
    • Vice President
    • Secretary
    • Treasurer
    • Immediate Past President
  • three ordinary committee members

and, at the discretion of the committee

  • up to two appointed committee members

Committee members take office at the Annual General Meeting of Technorama Incorporated, with four members elected in even years (President, Secretary and two ordinary committee members) and three members elected in odd years (Vice President, Treasurer and one ordinary committee member).   If, as happens in some years, executive positions might be combined (eg:  Secretary/Treasurer) then the number of Ordinary Committee members increases accordingly so that the total committee is always at least eight people.

Under clause 14(1)(c), and 14(6) of the Constitution adopted at the 2022 AGM, the committee may appoint (and remove) up to two additional committee members to assist with the governance of Technorama Incorporated.

To give you some idea of the breadth of skill and background of your leadership team, here’s the rogues’ gallery.

Note:  the email addresses are clickable, but the visible address is changed to make life harder for web scrapers.

2022/2023 Committee

The current Committee members and officers of Technorama Incorporated are:

Officebearers

Josh Pearson   President   2022-2024

JoshJosh has been involved in radio since 2010; significantly at JOY 94.9 in Melbourne as Operations Manager from 2012-2018.  Along the way he has learnt how to provide assistance to other stations with their tech mishaps.

Josh’s background extends more to Information Systems  than Broadcast Engineering, but he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and learn new skills.   Coming from a corporate IT environment and having run his own consulting firm, he brings a diverse range of skills to assist with strategy development and future planning.

Josh lives in Melbourne and when he isn’t spending his time behind a computer screen he enjoys hiking and reading, and avoiding technology at all costs.  Josh is a broadcast engineer par excellence, and he knows dangerous amounts about AM, FM, Studio and  IT technologies.

Email: josh [AT] technorama.org.au
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Hannah Murray   Vice President  2025-2025

Hannah Murray’s passion for radio and broadcast technology started at a young age, assisting her father in technical projects in the garage at home and visiting him at Fordray, where he introduced her to the ins and outs of Broadcast Technology. In her teenage years, she completed work experience at Newcastle’s NXFM (now Hit106.9), and studied Entertainment Industry Music and Live Theater Production as part of her schooling at Hunter School of the Performing Arts.

Hannah is passionate about creating and developing opportunities for aspiring and established Broadcast Technologists to up-skill, share knowledge, and discuss what’s new in technology within the Community Broadcasting Sector. She is particularly focused on engaging with people new to the field and helping to generate interest in the sector.

Hannah currently works at Sports Entertainment Network where she runs the national Operations teams, having come from several roles in Community Broadcasting with the Community Media Training Organisation (CMTO), the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) and the Community Radio Network (CRN). Hannah currently volunteers at Eastside Radio in Paddington, presenting her weekly show “The Gypsy Hot Club” on Monday evenings.

Hannah holds a Master of Arts Management, a Bachelor of Music in Classical French Horn Performance and a Certificate II in Live Production. When not in the studio or the office, you can most likely catch Hannah performing on French Horn in Orchestras or Chamber Music Ensembles around NSW.

In her other life she has been known to “perform raucous Balkan, gypsy, klezmer music”.

Email: hannah [AT] technorama.org.au
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Stephen Wilkinson   Secretary  2022-2024

Stephen has been involved in community broadcasting as a volunteer and employee in Production and Technical roles for almost 30 years.

In his early days he gained experience with his local 200W community station by upgrading STLs, transmitters and rebuilding studios.

He also has an audio engineering background in multichannel recording and mixing in studios and live to air multi-microphone productions, as well as mixing for Live sound reinforcement. Experience was also gained by assisting ABC Radio with outside broadcasts and live recordings including the Opera House and Sydney Town Hall.

He has a post graduate degree in Design Science (Audio) from Sydney University.

Stephen was on the board of Radio Northern Beaches from 2009 for over 6 years and was Deputy Chair during the last 3 years of this term.

Stephen joined Hope Media in 2004 and shortly after became Technical Operations Manager overseeing the Production and Technical Departments. In his time at Hope Media (Hope 103.2 a metro FM station in Sydney & Inspire Digital on DAB+), he has overseen and implemented a new transmission facility, a total refit of the studio facility to digital and continuous upgrades of IT infrastructure. As part of a management agreement with Hope Media, Stephen also oversees the tech management of other stations, 96five in Brisbane (2016), Salt 106.5 on the Sunshine Coast (2019) and Juice 107.3 on Gold Coast (2022).

Stephen has consulted to a number of organisations including TAFE NSW, regional Christian Media Hub and Waverly Council on equipment upgrades and studio designs.

He has helped a number of community stations around Australia with technical assistance, content direction, fundraising, sponsorship and board governance and earned the ‘Most Valuable Person in Christian Media’ Award in 2014 from CMAA.

He has been fortunate to attend international conferences such as NAB in the USA and IBC in Europe.

In 2015 he joined the Committee of Technorama and sat as Vice President from 2016 to 2019.

Stephen lives in Sydney, and moonlights doing front of house audio on Sundays.

Email: stephen [AT] technorama.org.au
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Jim Parish OAM   Treasurer  2023-2025

jim-2016-nov-13Jim’s radio career started with the ABC, where he spent 38 years in various technical and non-technical roles.

He trained as a Broadcast Technologist and then spent time in television and radio working in studio and outside broadcast environments. Jim then moved into the Training section, preparing and presenting technical and operational courses at a state and national level.   He spent a number of years in Local Radio as a program producer and technical operator in News, studio and outside broadcast areas.

Beyond the ABC, Jim Parish has been involved in the community radio sector since 1981.    He has built and maintained studio and transmitter sites, run training courses, served on committees and managed outside broadcasts.

Since retiring from the ABC Jim has increased his commitment to the sector and currently provides technical assistance to ten stations across Tasmania.

Jim Parish was awarded an OAM for services to Community Broadcasting.  At the 2016 CBAA Community Radio Awards ceremony, Jim received the award for Excellence in Technical Services for his work with Hobart FM 96.1 and other stations across Tasmania.

Jim lives in suburban Hobart and, although not actually a fan of the Goon show, answers to polite calls of “Hello Jim”.   He looks after ten radio stations, and that’s why the boat stays  on the front lawn.

Email jim [AT] technorama.org.au
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John Maizels  Immediate Past President

john-maizels-smpte_radioJohn Maizels was a founding member of Technorama Incorporated, and served as Chair/President from its inception until retiring from that position in 2023.  Under the constitution, he became the Association’s first Immediate Past President.

John started his radio career as a teenager, teaching himself to build consoles and studios, developing announcing skills and running radio stations at school.   He entered the Broadcast Industry as a tech at 3XY in 1970, moving to 3CS as an announcer in 1972, then back to Melbourne to study at RMIT – which turned into Chief Technical Officer at 3ST, Australia’s first landline station.  Since then he has worked professionally in radio and television in a variety of creative, production and engineering roles.

He co-founded and built 3MU at Monash Uni, was first on-air presenter at 3CR,  and in 1976 became founding Chair of 3PBS-FM, helping to craft organisational policy and build the first on-air studios.   John spent 11 years as Director of Engineering at 2NSB, introducing IT, an OB unit and  full broadcast automation, and anchored the Friday Breakfast show for several years.  He has also volunteered and contributed to many more metropolitan and submetro stations, and is frequently consulted on technical and regulatory matters.

In parallel with Community Broadcasting, John has had a long career in the IT industry.  He developed TV-based interactive education systems and a broadcast facility using compressed digital video for IBM, and was a Senior Engineer at Foxtel with the team that launched the Digital platform.   In 2009 he consolidated Entropy Enterprises to provide technical, operational, creative and consulting services to the media industry.

John currently works as a freelance technical director and engineer in television, teaches TV in TAFE and Higher Education, is a voice-over artist and audio editor, and moonlights as a Technical Writer.

He formerly has held multiple roles locally and internationally with the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), sat on the Board of the Society as Governor from 2008-2017 and was promoted to the grade of Fellow of the SMPTE in 2006.   He is a life member of 3PBS-FM, and was awarded the “2003 Chairman’s Award for Outstanding Commitment” at 2NSB.

John has promoted the interests of Technologists in Community Broadcasting since the sector began.  After years of agitation, in 2008 he was appointed as a founding member of the CBAA’s Technical Standing Committee, and led the charge to create the first Technorama Conference.

In November 2018, John was announced as the recipient of the 2018 CBAA Michael Law Award, the Hall of Fame of the Australian Community Broadcasting Sector.

John commutes between Toowoomba and Sydney; he holds (but rarely uses) amateur radio callsign VK2JPM, and has passions for pipe organs,  good coffee, and skills recognition.

Email: john [AT] technorama.org.au.
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Ordinary Committee Members

Chris Deacon OAM  BSc (Hons)   2022-2024

chris2

Chris Deacon has over 40 years’ experience in the communications field. Since the early 1970s when he became a technical guru at Radio ANU, he has been a radio presenter, broadcast and recording engineer, and has amassed experience in constructing AM and FM stations, while maintaining a distinguished professional career in international telecommunications at Government and private levels.

Currently Manager Technology of both Canberra’s ArtSound FM and 1CMS (Canberra Multicultural Service), Chris brings an extensive working knowledge of broadcast audio, IT and RF design, acoustics and business development.  He designed and built the analogue studio consoles used at Artsound (design available for home constructors), and more recently did a design-from-scratch of the acoustic and construction  planning for Artsound’s music recording studio.  He is often sought to provide advice and guidance to established and fledgling stations and aspirant licensees.

Chris holds a number of awards, and in 2009 he was awarded the Order of Australia for service to community radio.

He was a founding member of the CBAA Technical Standing Committee, and has been part of  Technorama since its inception.  He has also recently joined the ranks of CBF grants assessors.

Chris plays a mean boogie-woogie and lives in Canberra.

Email: chris [AT] technorama.org.au
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Anna Italiano   2022-2024

Anna, a newbie in radio broadcasting, became the accidental tech volunteer at 6TCR in September 2020, stepping up at a critical period when all the technical staff had departed the station. It has been a steep learning curve since then.

Anna’s previous experience varied in many roles such as a computer programmer (many languages and platforms), Tech support, computer and network installations and training, IT and Systems Admin, Test Engineer, amongst other roles.

Anna has learnt some of the systems and programs in place at 6TCR with the help from current and previous volunteers and is teaching others while she continues her research and advances her knowledge on the systems. “I know there is a lot I don’t know”.

The Technorama team has helped in many ways already, and there is so much more expertise to tap into.  Anna looks forward to this new opportunity and working with knowledgeable and passionate techies.

Anna lives in a suburb north of Perth, and in her spare time has baked and decorated Christmas cakes and mini–Christmas Puddings to help fundraise.
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Mick Kerr   2023-2025

Mick is a relative new-comer to the radio scene having worked at 96five in Brisbane since April 2020. However, he brings over twenty years of IT and AV experience from working in print media, IT service management systems, and education, as well as volunteering in local churches and music festivals. He describes himself as a technical generalist.

In his current role, Mick supports 96five in Brisbane, Salt106.5 on the Sunshine Coast and Juice 107.3 on the Gold Coast across IT, Studio, and Broadcast operations. In that time Mick has been involved in upgrading transmitters at all three stations, installing transmitter control systems, refitting the studios at 96five with current generation Axia consoles, running tech for numerous fundraising appeals and outside broadcasts and day to day staff support.

Mick enjoys getting his teeth into gnarly problems and understanding all sides of the issues. Coming up with a solution that works for everyone involved is particularly satisfying.

Outside of radio, Mick’s hands are generally full with books if his two daughters and two dogs let him. If asked, an e-book reader was the best present he ever got. He also bakes a mean cinnamon scroll.

Email: mick [AT] technorama.org.au
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Committee Alumni

Ian McOwan   2022-2023

Ian McOwan has been involved with Community Broadcasting since 1993 having started at JOY Melbourne as a Technician. An experienced history of Announcer’s Radio School, Electronics, Computer System Programming, and being a vinyl, … yes vinyl, record collector, soon propelled him into the Committee of Management at JOY and he eventually became President.

During his time at JOY Melbourne they conducted many O.B.’s, including a 2 week stint in a shop window complete with mixer, cart machines, turntables and a collection of microwave links, landlines and more to events at local venues. Greg Segal of 3CR exclaimed they were nuts to take on such a demanding O.B. … but they did it.

Skipping ahead to 2015 Seymour FM recruited Ian as a Technician and, again, he was elevated to President for 6 years. During that time Ian guided the station towards getting their Analogue Community Broadcasting Licence, held O.B.’s of 3 consecutive days each year, and covered a multitude of sports and other O.B.’s.

Ian is delighted to join the Committee of Technorama and bring an interesting variety of disciplines. Having been instrumental in developing and presenting a myriad of training courses, written more Policy and Procedures than he cares to think of, and having made several enhancements to constitutions, he is well versed in administrative activities. However, the technical arena is where he hangs his hat. Ian gets highly involved with Broadcast Audio, I.C.T. specialties (Servers and Comms), Electronics, and RF, “but not those pesky antenna thingies”.

Ian’s other interests include Aviation: he has a Commercial Licence, a Night Rating, and an Instructor Rating.

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Frank Wilcox   

Frank commenced in the broadcast industry in 1972 as an announcer at 2XL in Cooma.   He worked at a couple more stations as a breakfast announcer until ‘crossing the tracks’ and becoming an Engineer in the mid ‘80’s (still doing some on-air work!).

He was Chief Engineer at various stations around Australia until 2000 when he became Group Chief Engineer of the Australian Radio Network. After completion of the new studios at North Ryde, he then moved to the Macquarie Radio Network and constructed their new studios at Pyrmont – for which he won the Australian Commercial Radio Engineering Excellence Award for the new 2GB/2CH Studios.

Then in 2005, Frank moved to New Zealand and joined The Radio Network as Group Chief Engineer where he won the New Zealand Commercial Radio Engineering Excellence Award for the new Christchurch Studios (as part of the TRN Engineering Team – after the earthquake).

Frank moved to Mount Gambier in 2013, helped the local community station, 5GTR, and then in 2015 joined Southern Cross Austereo as the local station Engineer.

Frank lives in Mount Gambier, and is regularly seen on several industry Facebook groups.

Email: frank [AT] technorama.org.au
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Trent Geddes   


Trent began his interest in broadcasting after a childhood of eager listening to radio across the country.

The first days of his involvement in the community sector was with youth broadcaster Switch1197 in Brisbane, producing a night show and dabbling with news.

While a temporary distraction provided by the glow of a computer screen from High School took him down the path of Information Technology and owning his own IT business, the bug ensured his return to the true love of broadcasting.

After completing a Diploma Of Broadcasting and getting a job in the Commercial Radio industry, the beacon call of a local station having tech problems enabled a return to Community Media involvement.

Since then Trent has completed a station move, a new studio build, conversion of studios to IP along with a few terms as President of Greater Hume Radio based in Holbrook NSW.

By day he is involved with the production, management and support of audio assets in playout systems across the regional units of Southern Cross Austereo from Albury/Wodonga, along with lending a hand (and brain) to the teams locally.

Trent lives in Holbrook and likes to use the small amount of spare time outside of living radio enjoying a fine local wine and cooking.

Email: trent [AT] technorama.org.au
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Ren Cuttriss   

Ren has been involved in the world of community broadcasting at 3MDR in Melbourne’s Dandenong Ranges since 2014.  Prior to joining 3MDR she worked for many years in the areas of community services and education.  Ren loves to learn new things and has been known to partake in her fair share of hair-brained schemery.

As 3MDR’s Engagement Coordinator, she gets to do anything ‘engaging’ at the station. This usually encompasses sponsorship, training, community engagement, digital marketing, volunteer management and everything in between. Ren also co-hosts a weekly show on 3MDR called “The Dotted Line“.  Her focus has been on show production, managing musicians (for weekly live music programs) and using social media to grow the audience for both the show and the musos.

Ren is a member of the technical team at 3MDR, and was instrumental in the construction and fitout of the station’s second studio.  She is passionate about the technologist community and is keen to broaden its profile and membership.

Email: ren [AT] technorama.org.au
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Michael Tobin  Dip Ed,  Dip Tr   2009-2020   

Mike Tobin was a founding member of the CBAA Technical Standing Committee and in conjunction with the CBAV was the local arrangements manager for the first Technorama Conference, held in Melbourne in 2009.  He was a founding committee member of Technorama Incorporated.

Mike Tobin’s interest in electronics began at the very young age of 10, with his first foray into theory of high power mercury-vapour rectifier and thyratron gas-filled tubes used as a high-power electrical switching controlled rectifier. Mike read through his father’s RAAF course notes, and quickly showed an aptitude for the subject.  After serving his Telecommunications Apprenticeship with the Electricity Commission of Victoria, he then spent 20 years as a freelance RF technologist with projects including:

  • Tullamarine airport landing system
  • Design and installation of the Sydney Opera house sound system
  • Installation and commissioningof the  Ceduna and Carnarvon satellite stations
  • Project manager for the OTC Seaphone service
  • Panel Operator at 2CH Sydney
  • NASA ground support for Apollo missions

Whilst working on the Opera House project, the opportunity arose for Mike to do the sound desk for the musical Hair – with an opportunity to get first hand experience of mixing and production techniques.

In 1989 Mike relocated to Bendigo in central Victoria to leave the hands-on experience behind him, and commence teaching at TAFE.  However due to budget cuts the role didn’t happen.  He started his own mobile two-way radio business, and visited the local Radio Inspector to let him know what he was doing commercially.  In conversation, the R.I. asked if Mike would be interested in assisting a local Community radio station that was having their first steering meeting that evening.

As a consequence, Mike became a founding member of KLFM and has been with the station since, notching up 25 continuous years in September 2014.   As well as being responsible for station engineering, Mike is now the presenter for the Morning Mix from 9–12 daily, Irish every 3rd month on a Monday night 1900-2100, and fill-in when necessary.

Mike is also a member of the board of the Community Broadcasting Association of Victoria (CBAV), and for 7 years served as CBAV President.

In 2014 Mike returned to school at Chisholm institute, to complete Certificate IV in Training and Education, a Diploma of Education, and Diploma of Training.

Mike holds amateur call VK3AHA, and is married to Heidi Tobin VK3FHID.

Email: mike [AT] technorama.org.au

Julie Spencer   2018-2019

Julie Spencer is a senior broadcasting engineer with an impressive range of career credits, and a hands-on transmission specialist and project manager.

Julie started her Community Radio involvement with a station in Canberra, her home town, and connected with the CBAA during her first role at the Australian Broadcasting Authority. She also facilitated introduction of community broadcasting legislation and was involved in the project planning for Digital Television.

After building the telephone network for Lucent/OneTel, she moved to Broadcast Australia where she rolled out AM, FM and DTV across Queensland and Southern WA. In this role she led a team of engineers which rolled out up to 60 operational sites per year.

As Engineering Manager at SBS, Julie built the new DAB system, assisted with upgrade and fitout of the new studios, and ran the Transmission team. She currently works for Geoscience Australia, where she built two 9m satellite tracking antennas.

Julie has formal qualification in project management as a practitioner and trainer, and has already participated in Technorama training activities.

Julie is passionate about the promoting involvement of women in technology careers, and any activity that improves gender equity. In her spare time she sings and leads choirs.

Julie Spencer was Special Guest of Honour at Technorama 2018.

Email: julie [AT] technorama.org.au
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Tim Borgas

Tim is a former Chairperson of Three D Radio in Adelaide, and a former Board Member of the CBAA.  He is the current Treasurer and Technical Advisor of the South Australia Community Broadcasting Association (SACBA), the most active of Australia’s regional CBAs.

Tim joined the Technorama organising committee following the first Technorama event in Melbourne in 2009, and was instrumental in guiding and managing the funding process which enabled Technorama conferences to be run in the period prior to incorporation.  Through SACBA, Tim was convenor and organiser of  two Technorama conferences held in Adelaide.

Tim’s experience with RF and transmission systems means that he regularly consults with stations across South Australia, and he is heavily involved in helping stations to put together winning grant applications.  As part of a Sector documentation project, Tim has visited many extremely regional stations, and helped them fix long-standing problems.

Tim was founding Treasurer of Technorama Inc, and stepped down in 2016 to bring additional focus to the more than 30 members of SACBA that are under his watchful eye.

Tim lives in Peterborough SA (look it up), and we hope that some time in the future he will convene the first Technorama conference (maybe the first conference of any type!) to run in Woomera.

Email: timborgas [AT] gmail.com
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Emma Couch    

Emma has a strong history in Community Radio. She started out volunteering at Koori Radio and spent five years at Radio Skid Row in various roles including Board Member and Producer.

At the CBAA Emma was responsible for organising many events, including the CBAA Conference and Awards and the CBAA Webinar Program.

At the Community Media Training Organisation, Emma Couch is the National Training Manager, responsible for managing the CMTO’s webinar program and the pool of CMTO trainers, and she also spends time on the road teaching pathway and accredited training topics.

Email: emma [AT] technorama.org.au
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Chris Holliday

Chris Holliday started life as a Secondary technical school teacher, and discovered radio as a volunteer tech and technical coordinator for 3CR.

Chris was Founding Secretary for the Victorian Public Broadcasting Association (now the CBAV).    He was on the Board of the CBAA as Vice President, Radio.

During a stint as an elected member of the CBF General Grants Advisory Committee, Chris worked to establish the satellite distribution and playout system in the early nineties. He initiated CBAA policy for inclusion of the community sector in DAB, and coordinated the Telstra industry trial of Digital Radio in Melbourne in 1996.

Chris has worked in the industry as a contract technician for Melbourne stations 3MBS, 3ZZZ, and 3RRR.  He also contracted to the ABC, SBS, and many commercial radio stations.

He also was employed for many years as a broadcast technician with Broadcast Australia.

Chris has provided voluntary technical assistance and  “get back on air” support for  most Victorian sub metro and regional stations.

Chris lives in southern Tasmania, where he sails, enjoys life, and listens to a lot of radio.

Email: chrisholliday [AT] ozemail.com.au
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William Martin

williamWilliam was Executive Producer, Production Manager and Traffic Manager at 2BAY in Byron Bay. Over the last 5 years he has written and produced on-air and online sponsorship materials, developed the backend technology for segmented list development, produced award-winning radio shows for national and international audiences, initiated the podcasting operations, provided in-house training, and developed the Outside Broadcast division, which resulted in some of the largest national audiences ever for the live multi-day broadcasts from Bluesfest, Byron Writers Festival and more. William was the 2016 Walkley-Google innovations in media winner, and serves as executive producer of the NewsHub, the Walkley’s Community Newsroom and podcast initiative.

As a digital marketing specialist, William has developed a branded campaign package called YourStation Everywhere, utilising a suite of cloud-based apps for content management across multiple platforms, online course builders for training, social media scheduling tools, sponsor management tools, online booking/calendar system, mail list builders, online video creation, survey and quiz builders, Facebook integration, google analytics, payment gateways, subscriber database management, banner makers, and landing page tools for targeted audience development. With the support of the Community Broadcasting Foundation, William developed the station smartphone app, and has pieced together an integrated station package for branded digital campaigns, targeted email segmentation, content discovery, app-based loyalty program and invisible mini-funnels to display personalised content recommendations for BayFM website visitors and app users.

Email: production.bayfm [AT] gmail.com
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Contact?

Comments on this page via [email protected].

[1] Officially, the correct term is “Committee” per the constitution and the definitions contained within the Act.  You will sometimes hear the term “Board” used interchangeably, to differentiate from created subcommittees.  While Technorama has in the past adopted the convention that the governing unit will be known as the “Technorama Board” in non-legal documents, the Act requires that any public reference is to a “Committee”.  We’re still aware that where the context is clear, the term “Board” helps and simplifies the conversation.  Consider that “Subcommittee of the Committee”, which is syntactically and legally 100% correct, sounds a heavy and hard to say, compared to “Subcommittee of the Board” which just rolls off the tongue.    Your leadership is nothing if not pragmatic.  However the law is the law.

Updated 230411