Get To Know Us: Joshua Kreusler

Amrap Support Officer, Joshua Kreusler 

Joshua has recently joined the CBAA as Amrap Support officer. As a musician himself, Joshua brings with him excellent production skills, music industry admin, as well as extensive workshop, and creative writing experience.

What drew you to community radio? 

I have listened to community radio religiously for the past decade. I am a jazz musician by trade from Melbourne and have been engaged in the music and radio community down south since having moved there. I adore radio in general because I’m finding that though modern streaming outlets provide convenience for the user, the algorithmic nature of streaming services has made it increasingly difficult for listeners to form a relationship with the way in which we curate music. It is certainly a far step away from crate digging and record collecting. Human music curation draws upon unique family trees and similarities between artists and genre that is informed by their own experiences and interpretations.

What is something you have learnt about the sector since commencing your role at CBAA?

I didn’t quite realise that this organisation has connected with broadcasters across the country to the degree in which there is a rapport and contact with individual program makers. It is interesting having been a musician for so long to see the inner working of the broadcaster’s side. That there are databases such as AMRAP to distribute Australian works nationally.

You are offered a radio show - you can have any timeslot, play whatever music you like, discuss whatever you feel is of interest - what is happening today on the Josh Kreusler Variety Hour Radio Show?

I have two thoughts:
One of them is that I would like to create radio shows that integrate tiny portions of field recordings and off-the-cuff interviews to contextualise the pieces. I wrote a thesis on the ways in which a microphone is a collaborator and the mechanisms of establishing an auditory diegesis/mimesis. The ways in which we can blend acoustic territories with sound can provide a deeper sentiment and context to the music in which we are listening to much like cinema.

My second idea is I would like to host a show that engages contemporary/new released music and builds a family tree to demonstrate its forbears. This could be done in a linear fashion or with some jumping between time periods. I feel as though this would be a good method of contextualising the releases of new artists within the scope of their genre/aesthetic and would likely demonstrate to inexperienced listeners of a particular scene an understanding as to where they’re coming from.