All The Best

This week, lots of jumping, diving, falling and some bold decisions.

On your bike! by Jeffrey Khoo 

In this story, your ultimate bike tutorial (absolutely not!)

Trying something new in one’s adulthood may feel like a fish out of the water. Jeffrey felt the same way, too.

From curving out chaotic zigzags in the grass, tipping over, giving up and back-pedalling through self-doubt, the bicycle has become the love of his life.

Now the fish knows how to bike — just in time for Amsterdam’s bike lanes and Berlin’s questionable late-night decisions.

Produced by Jeffrey Khoo

 Supervising Producers  Evana Ho and Mel Bakewell.

Just jump by Alannah Vidic-Worth

In this story, Matt overcomes his acrophobia as he jumps off a waterfall in Samoa during a study trip.

All it takes is a leap and perhaps… a scream off a Samoan waterfall.

Produced by Alanna Vidic-Worth.

Special thanks to Janak Rogers and Dan Semo.

In the Deep End by Catarina Fraga Matos 

After being dragged out by a rip at a dangerous Australian beach, Craig avoids the water for 15 years.

Then, a move to Timor-Leste pushes him back into the water.

Sometimes the scariest water leads you straight to the most beautiful reefs.

Produced by Catarina Fraga Matos

Supervising producer Mel Bakewell 

And a special thanks to Craig Garrett for sharing his story.  

Nathan’s Comedy Failings by Nathan Roach

Nathan went in search of a comedy duo and found a community instead.

Produced by Nathan Roach

If you want to know more about what’s happening at All the Best, check out our Substack! It’s a round-up of all our activities ... with a little bit of BTS.

All The Best Credits

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Cover Art: Ray Vo

Special shout-out to all our volunteers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we go analogue by exploring how to document memory through physical media. And to pull back to back from the interconnected digital world and just ... sit with art.   

You get to hear why some of our friends at fbi.radio are stepping back from digital. Also fbi.radio is awesome. Please give a little love by being a supporter. 

Special thanks to Tommy, Benny, Jasmine, Lindsey and Catarina for being a part of this episode.

The Analog-ish Revolution by Kwame Slusher

Kwame even made a 7 minute  story about paring back the digital and going analog ... ish. 

 Produced by Kwame Slusher

Tintypes by Maya Fawaz

In an age where everyone has a high-quality camera in their pocket and a cloud claiming their photos, people are going even more analogue than a digicam. And then some people - like Cole Caswell - are going even further than that.  

Produced  by Maya Fawaz

Supervising Producer was Persephone Waxman. 

Year 2537 by Sepehr Jamshidi Fardi and Eugenia Zoubtchenko 

This one is from the archives!

On his shelf in Sydney, Sepehr has a camera from the future. Sepehr's father’s camera allows him to reflect on a pivotal moment from the past of the country he was born in … Iran. 

That story was produced by Sepehr Jamshidi Fardi and Eugenia 

If you want to know more about what’s happening at All the Best, check out our Substack! It’s a round-up of all our activities ... with a little bit of BTS.

And the deadline for our first Audio Club challenge is on 23 March.  And we plan to have a little listening party.  🎉 🥳 🎈 

All The Best Credits

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Cover Art: Ray Vo

Special shout-out to all our volunteers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we explore stories from the coastline. 

The Beach That Grew by Joanna Beard

Have you ever been to your favourite beach and noticed that a rock face, or a dune, looks different? 

This story explains how erosion isn’t just about loss, but about shifts and transformation, and how this change makes a beach into a resilient landscape that sustains itself. 

Produced by Joanna Beard.

Supervising Producer was Craig Garrett.

Special thanks to Tito Ambyo, one of Joanna’s lecturers at RMIT, who helped shape the story focus for this piece early on. 

 Trepang by Bridget Chappell

Bridget Chappell interviews Yolngu cultural leader Timmy Burarrwanga of Yirrkala about his community’s connection to Makassan sailors from Sulawesi, Indonesia, connected through the sea cucumber, or trepung trade, that began in the early 1700s. 

Produced by Bridget Chappell

Supervising Producer Mell Chun. 

If you want to know more about what’s happening at All the Best, check out our Substack! It’s a round-up of all our activities ... with a little bit of BTS.

All The Best Credits

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Cover Art: Ray Vo

Special shout-out to all our volunteers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ring ... ring ...

Would you answer a call from a number you don't recognise?

What if it was a wrong number? Would you keep talking?

I'm Just Gonna Listen by Emma Lehman

Olive Brazill starts receiving calls from strangers who just want someone to listen. And she does. 

But it’s not just a random connection with strangers. Ten years earlier, Jack - someone Olive once knew - had received the same kind of calls as a social experiment. 

Producer: Emma Lehman

Supervising Producer: Lawrence Bull

Audio Club

If you’re in Sydney, don’t miss our upcoming in-person Audio Club at fbi.radio on the 23rd February.  

Substack 

If you want to know more about what’s happening at All the Best, check out our Substack! It’s a roundup of all our activities with a little bit of BTS.

.... And Happy Lunar New YearI 🐎

All The Best Credits

Host: Gabriella Accaria

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator: Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Mixed & Compiled: Emma Higgins

Cover Art: Ray Vo

Special shout-out to all our volunteers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Love is in the air … Or at least it's in the airwaves.

In this episode, we are going to be playing two stories about love, whether it's love overcoming language barriers or love helping us to overcome physical barriers and how to make the most out of the little things. 

Love In Translation by Katie Stokes 

So for this first piece, you’ll be taken on a journey through the complexities of a multilingual love story.  You’ll hear Ellie and Lucas navigate learning about each other, meeting each other's families and a little extra challenge of a communication barrier that makes it that much harder.  

Produced by Katie Stokes

Supervising Producer was Mark Yin

It’s the little things by Carey Scheer 

This next piece explores love shaped by disability. From catching the train from Campbelltown together, to sitting in marshland together, Trudy and Chris explore how they’re connected by life’s ordinary ... explore the intimacies of touch and talk … and ultimately … their love for one another transcending life together. 

Produced by Carey Scheer from the Purple Orange Podcast. Def worth a listen!

And your All The Best host, Kwame, passes the mic on to your new host, Gabriella Accaria! Hurray! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Listen to the episode to learn a little bit more about your new host!

Audio Club

If you’re in Sydney, don’t miss our upcoming in-person Audio Club at fbi.radio on the 23rd February.  

All The Best Credits

Host: Gabriella Accaria & Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator:  Catarina Fraga Matos 

Production Manager: Kwame Slusher

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Mixed & Compiled: Emma Higgins

Cover Art: Ray Vo

Special shout-out to our volunteers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we continue our literary theme with part two (See part one here) of a showcase of the stories that came out of a collaboration between All the Best and WestWords.

This week's stories in this episode deal with space beyond and within us.

Whether it is literally outer space or the complexities of navigating an emotional space.

Here by Siham Dalila 

Our first story begins with navigating the complexity of inner emotional spaces. It features a woman trapped somewhere between reality and a dreamscape.  And she is forced to make a decision about which reality she wants to stay in and which one she wants to escape from.  

Written and performed by Siham Dalila

Production and Sound Design by Felicity Weaver. 

From Beyond the Karman Line by Myra A

Our second story takes us to outer space.  

When the first female astronaut to undertake a solo mission is sent to the moon, she finds solace in recording her own voice clips. But alone and far from earth, she is forced to confront a haunting past. 

Written and performed by Myra A.

Supervising Producer was Kwame Slusher

Sound Design by Thomas Lu. 

Octo by Tabitha Laffernis 

Our third and final story takes us into that space of unrequited love.  

Too many legs. Too many eyes. Too many feelings. Unrequited love hurts, but interspecies unrequited love hurts harder.

A spider falls for her housemate, hoping that one day her housemate will see her. 

Written and performed by Tabitha Laffernis

Produced by Mel Bakewell 

Sound Design and original composition by Suzanne Derry

If you'd like to get involved this month, we are having our first Audio Club meetings for the year!

All skill levels are welcome!

And if you want to keep what is happening behind the scenes at All the Best, check out our Substack.

All The Best Credits

Production Manager & Host: Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator:  Catarina Fraga Matos 

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Mixed & Compiled: Emma Higgins

Cover Art: Ray Vo

Special shout-out to all our volunteers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall ...

This week, we have three stories from the 24 radio race in November of last year.  

The way it worked is that the audio producers received a prompt a week out from the radio race. 

On the day, there was a little bit of a brainstorm. And then the audio producers had 24 hours, working alone or in teams, to complete their stories.   

The theme for this year was ‘mirrored’.

The theme for the 2025 Radio Race was mirrored in this episode, producers themselves mirrored in other people,  imagining what would happen if your own reflection took over your life, or all the ways that we might actually fail to recognise our own reflection.

R2 Detour by Ramon Briant

Our first story is from Ramon Briant. You’re probably familiar with all the use cases or how AI will supposedly make our lives more … efficient. But what are you willing to sacrifice for this efficiency?  

Producer: Ramon Briant

It's Meant To Be! by Aya Salah and Mohammed Samir

Do you find new social situations stressful?

Maybe you are caught up in how anxious you are that you miss the fact that other people around you might feel the same way.  

Aya Salah and Mohammed Samir tell a story of what you might find if you can get over that awkwardness.

Producer: Aya Salah and Mohammed Samir

A Polished Tale by M. Cristina Marras
This is a tale about self-reflection, or you being able to recognise your own reflection.And just in case you're not familiar with Cristina’s work, she has a way of taking listeners to places they never expected to be.  

Producer: M. Cristina Marras

All The Best Credits

Program Manager & Host: Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator:  Catarina Fraga Matos 

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Mixed & Compiled: Ramon Briant 

Cover Art: Ray Vo

Special shout-out to our volunteers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Clatter Tongue by K.A Ren Wyld 

You’ll hear a live reading of a short story written by Ren Wyld and performed by Katie Becket for Story Saloon – a live storytelling show and podcast. The story itself comes from the First Nation Anthology of speculative fiction, titled This All Come Back Now, edited by Koori and Lebanese writer Dr Mykaela Saunders. 

This interplay between voice and voicelessness. The juxtaposition of the fantastic with the real world. Tackles the larger question of empowerment and disempowerment. 

Written by K.A Ren Wyld,

Read by Katie Beckett.

It was performed at the Vanguard in 2025 for StorySALOON, a live storytelling show and podcast that combines Australia’s best written storytelling with electrifying live reads. 

StorySALOON’s executive producer is Jane Messer, audio recording by Martin Gallagher at Echidna Audio. 

Find out more by heading to storysaloon.com.au 

Also, a link to the last time we featured a StorySALOON live reading.

All The Best Credits

Program Manager & Host: Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator:  Catarina Fraga Matos 

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Mixed & Compiled: Emma Higgins

Cover Art: Ray Vo

Special shout-out to our volunteers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the Editorial to Debris Magazine Issue 06, editors Jon Tjhia and Cher Tan write, "Everywhere you look, the word is no—a word that stakes a powerful foothold as it pushes the walls closer around you. No time for ambivalence or ambiguity. No! And then you wake up."

This episode features three excerpts from the Debris Magazine Issue 06: NO!

No Dogs by Luca Demetriadi

 Luca's story is about a town that bans dogs after an incident, and how that changes the town forever.

Written and read by Luca Demetriadi 

Sound design by Mel Bakewell 

Grand Theft Autism by Alex Creece 

Alex Creece is openly neurodivergent, but their poem is not interested in confirming your suspected Autism diagnosis.

Written and read by Alex Creece

Sound design by Felicity Weaver 

Personal by Claire Cao

 An actor’s personal assistant wades through the blurred boundaries of life, work and performance on the day she’s going to quit.

Written and performed by Claire Cao

Sound design by Catarina Fraga Matos

Substack 

f you want more of what’s happening at All the Best, check out our Substack! It’s a roundup of all our activities with a little bit of BTS.

All The Best Credits

 Host: Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator:  Catarina Fraga Matos 

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Mixed & Compiled: Emma Higgins

Cover Art: Ray Vo

Special shout-out to our volunteers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we dive into the archives to learn about the long history of pianos, a very unique guitar and maybe why we should start thinking of record stores as more than just places to buy music,  but to be a part of a community.  

Donmo by Benjamin Erin

It’s not quite the Delta … but our first story takes us to South Australia to meet Don Morrison… to talk about guitar making and why it’s so hard for musicians to break the pub ceiling.  

That story was produced by Benjamin Erin in 2019 for the Transom Travelling Workshop. Special thanks to the CMTO. 

Greg by Thomas Matijevic

Our next story takes us into the story of a particular record shop in Naarm.  Thomas speaks to Greg, owner of Hub 301 Records and the founder of the Now Legendary Rhythm and Soul, about how the culture of consuming music has changed.

That story was produced by Thomas Matijevic. Special thanks to Dan Semo and Janak Rogers.

Joe Leaver by Olivia Rosenman
In our next story, we are asked to see that instruments are more than just things to be used to make music, but they have their complicated histories.  

The next story is about pianos and a man who has made a career of tuning and restoring them.

Substack 

If you want more of what’s happening at All the Best, check out our Substack! It’s a roundup of all our activities with a little bit of BTS.

All The Best Credits

Program Manager & Host: Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator:  Catarina Fraga Matos 

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Special shout-out to our volunteers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.