Page 54 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2013

Radio Australia forms
part of the Australian
Broadcasting
Corporation’s (ABC)
International division
with Australia Network
and International
Projects. Its pan-Pacific
music project Pacific
Breakis a success story
of engaging audiences
across more than 20
countries and five time
zones. As Radio
Australia's Head of
Marketing and
Communications Mark
Hemetsberger was
closely involved in the
journey of an emerging
Pacific musician and
the broadcasting
strategy behind it
elbourne in
the southern
state of
Victoria,
Australia is
notorious for
catching out
international visitors with an
unexpected cold snap, but 22
degrees Celsius is hardly the
depths of winter ‐ unless you’re a
Cook Islander wearing a T‐shirt,
shorts and flip flops.
This year’s Pacific Break winner ‐
18 year‐old Cook Islander Jaik Berg
‐ wasn’t in Melbourne long before
the weather prompted an
emergency dash to the shops for
more layers. Socks, shoes and a
pullover later, Jaik was primed to
bring his winning song “My Oh
My” to life in the studio.
UNEARTHING THEBEST
Radio Australiaʹs Pacific Break music
project started in 2008 – its aim is to
unearth the best original, unsigned
amateur musicians across more
than 20 countries and five time
zones in the Pacific. This is not an
easy task.
Apart from the obvious
logistical, cultural and financial
challenges faced in operating a
competition across the world’s
largest inhabited geographical
expanse, simply getting the
message to amateur musicians and
providing the right incentive for
action is an enormous challenge.
To overcome this first hurdle of
communicating the message to
disparate audiences across such
vast distances, Radio Australiaʹs
Pacific Break calls on a network of
more than 50 local media partners
including Australian embassies and
miscellaneous businesses. The
partner network takes in American
Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, French
Polynesia, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall
Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New
Caledonia, Niue, Northern
Marianas, Palau, Papua New
Guinea, Pitcairn Islands, Samoa,
Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga,
Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis and
Fortuna, Rotuma, Easter Island.
In order to motivate sometimes
laid‐back, amateur musicians into
submitting their best original
recording, an attractive incentive is
required. In the first four years that
we ran the Pacific Break contest, the
prize was the opportunity to
perform live at FestʹNapuan ‐ an
important 4‐day pan‐Pacific music
festival in Port Vila, Vanuatu.
PACIFIC
ENGAGEMENT
M
54 | ISSUE 1 2013 | THE CHANNEL
Getting the
message to
disparate
audiences
across
such vast
distances
is a huge
challenge
“
”