Paul and Rachel Burns made a sea change from Sydney to Nambucca Heads in 2015 having spent a lot of time here on holidays prior to that. Paul’s family is based in Nambucca Heads.
They came to 2NVR with training by presenter Ceri Wrobel who mentored them through those first nervous moments in front of a microphone and “Two for the Money” was born in its Saturday timeslot.
“We like to have a bit of chat between ourselves to warm things up,” said Rachel. “In fact a few people have met us and said ‘Oh, you are that couple on the radio’.”
Paul loves radio and listens to it constantly so it was a natural transition for him to get behind the microphone and play his favourite old songs as well as some new. Rachel is more of a reader and this led her to take on some journalistic challenges including interviewing and the History Story series. Both of them took turns on the Nambucca Valley Roundup which honed their news reading and reporting skills.
“The Roundup was a national finalist at the CBAA Awards in 2017 and whilst we didn’t win it was great to go to the awards up on the Gold Coast and meet presenters from all over Australia,” said Paul.
Rachel was a finalist the following year in the hotly contested Excellence in Journalism category.
“I didn’t win but it was a red letter year with lots of controversy over the highway bypass. This gave me an opportunity to air the experiences of the communities that were adversely affected. I really learnt how important it was for community radio to give the unheard a voice.”
“I have interviewed a lot of people including the now Governor General David Hurley and politicians of every level and party. I have learnt to push my way through media scrums and ask the difficult questions. Not bad for a little radio station at Tewinga,” Rachel concluded.
Currently, Rachel can be heard on the Saturday Roundup at 3 p.m. and joins Paul on “Two for the Money” from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturdays.
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