Each year the station celebrates International Women’s Day with a line-up of exclusively female announcers, who present their take on a variety of shows. They will be celebrating the lives of women across the spectrum while playing a wide range of music and sharing tales, topics, laughs and interviews.

Many presenters will incorporate this year’s theme, #BalanceForBetter, giving it their own interpretation.

According to Dorin Hart – who has been involved with the station for the past 30 years no less – this practice has been upheld annually since around 1986. And in 2009 Dorin was the official coordinator of the day, ensuring that presenters were prepared for their program and ready to explain the changes to listeners, including why they were not going to hear the regular presenter or program scheduled in a given time slot.

On International Women’s Day in 1998 a group of female radio presenters and other women from our community marked the occasion with a ceremonial walk from the Magnolia tree near Bellingen’s monument on Waterfall way, to the station. The significance of this tree to IWD was in its planting back in 1947 to mark the life of Bellingen-born Sister Margaret Augusta De Mestre, the first Australian nurse to be killed in action during WWII.

March 8 is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. Celebrated for well over a century in Europe the first gathering was held in 1911, and prior to that groups such as the Suffragettes campaigned for women’s equality across America and the UK.

The all-women line-up of presenters invites the Bellingen Shire community tune in this Friday to enjoy the day’s programming. There is also the opportunity to SMS song requests or ask for a shoutout by texting the studio on 0427 588 837.