Live at the Mildura Country Music Festival 2016

The Mildura Country Music Festival is turning 30 in 2016, and the Good Morning Country crew are getting ready for their annual trip down.

Share your brekky with the team each morning as they broadcast live from Mildura, and stick with them to hear more of the Festival's activities. There will be special Overnight broadcasts and the annual Southern Stars Awards. It's all coming up Friday 23 September to Sunday 2 October.

Check out the full broadcast times at the bottom of this page and here.

We asked GMC producer Kevin Walsh about what to expect this year, and what makes Mildura such a special Festival year in, year out:

It's the 30th Mildura Country Music Festival. What has made the Festival so distinctive and special over its history?

I believe it is the best value festival in Australia. The diversity of acts that appear is a major plus - and on any given show the artists may be working with someone that is new to them. We get to not only see the more established acts but the new and sometimes surprise packages. Overall it’s true country fans that are each year continuing a Festival that provides many happy times.

What do you look forward to about broadcasting live from the Festival?

The Overnight radio broadcast is for those who for whatever reason cannot be in Mildura – there are guest interviews, daily festival news, and of course the best mix of country music on offer here in Australia. As for Good Morning Country each morning, it's about being part of a team that has built up a huge national following and giving back to them all the fun of the Festival. There’s also the regular album of the week and the ‘Unknown Guest’ stories. The Finale for each annual visit is live broadcast of the Southern Stars Independent Awards, the night-of-nights for independents artists.  Hear the awards live, and stick with us when we interview the night’s winners and hear some on the spot reactions.

You'll be hosting Good Morning Country, as well as nightly Overnight specials and coverage from the Southern Stars Awards. That's a lot of broadcast time! What will the Overnights cover?

Think of the Overnights as being under the banner of ‘My Kinda Country: The National Edition’. You’ll hear live interviews with artists in town for the festival, along with any visiting society or business, and even sporting or political identities. Country music broadcaster Max Thorburn will keep us up to date with festival happenings via his popular ‘Nightly Facebook Review’.  There will also be CD giveaways, and the phones will be open for calls and shout-outs. Importantly, the music featured will be Australian country, with a preference to those great artists in Mildura for the Festival.

Can listeners get in touch with you?

The phone will be open each night on (02) 9699 8845 – for regular Good Morning Country callers, that’s the usual number! We would love to hear from listeners telling us what station they’re a tuning in from and where they are. Otherwise feel free to email us at [email protected].

Tell us about the Southern Stars Awards and what to expect.

Saturday October 1 at 17:30 AEST we are live from the Mercy Theatre in Mildura. Your hosts will be the Good Morning Country team: Rod Thomas, Mike Stewart and myself (with a possible guest host!) for a half hour preview of the night before the Awards.

And at 18:00 AEST we cross to main stage for a star studded evening, this year hosted by none other than Adam Harvey.              

From 20:00 AEST after the main awards, stay tuned as we’ll be catching up with the winners and the night’s celebrities. It’s the 30th Anniversary Festival, so we’re expecting it to be quite a night!

For CRN subcribers:

• Find out who's playing at the festival
• Saturday Breakfast with Jeff Dunn live from Mildura (on CRN-1 and CRN-2): Sat 24 Sep, Sat 1 Oct - 06:04 to 09:00 AEST
• Good Morning Country live from Mildura (on CRN-1 and CRN-2): Mon 26 Sep to Fri 30 Sep - 05:04 to 09:00 AEST daily
• Overnight live from Mildura (on CRN-2 only VAST Channel 631): Fri 23 Sep to Sat 1 Oct - 00:04 to 05:00 AEST daily (to 06:00 AEST Saturdays; NO PROGRAM Sun 25 Sep)
• Southern Stars Awards live (on CRN-2 only VAST Channel 631): Sat 1 Oct - 17:30 to 21:00 AEST
• For more information contact CRN staff on 02 9310 2999 or email [email protected].

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