Friday 14th May / posted by Simon Miraudo
RTRFM (or 6UVS as it was once called) and WA women in music go hand in glove.
Before the heady days of file sharing on the internet, women listened to important vinyl that took weeks to arrive via snail mail in lounge rooms with their friends.
That is, until Drastic on Plastic began in 198,3 which was borne of the need to hear more women in music. Anne Tonks, who was the Manager at the time, had done a couple of shows of women in music and she was dead keen to get this up and running . There was eight of us originally. In the first Drastic on Plastic we all played something, we all had choices and we all had . slightly different musical tastes. We were all so nervous, some of us had the shakiest voices. - Drastic on Plastic co-founder Lorraine Clifford.
Friday 14th May / posted by Simon Miraudo
It was during the days of protest that RTRFM was formed (then as 6UVS), and it was the women s movement that helped inform the station s early days of programming.
From Burning Down the House to Drastic on Plastic, RTRFM has been the home of women who love to kick up a stink, and been a key launch pad for women broadcasters and artists.
We interviewed Drastic on Plastic co-founders Lorraine Clifford and Jane Armstrong in 2021, who shared their recollections on this incredible era. Listen below (and hear their full interview here).
In May of 2021, RTRFM takes over the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery at UWA to highlight the amazing, trail-blazing and defiant women who have made the station and WA music what it is.