Hansen’s hand in local radio

John Phelps

While she doesn’t present her own program, Noelene Hansen’s is one of the best known voices of Meander Valley Community Radio.

Her distinctive, bubbly tones can be heard as she reads promos, station IDs and tags – the oil that keeps the shows rolling along.

That does not mean, of course, that she doesn’t have preferences when it comes to music.

She enjoys rock ‘n’ roll music, and that started during the excitement of waiting for “Six O’clock Rock” and “Bandstand”.

Noelene grew up in Sydney where she had exposure to many different music genres.

For instance, Segovia and Gonzales playing classical guitar and Don Burrows, George Golla and the like with their cool, wonderful jazz.

And, of course, the Sydney Opera House provided lots of other exiting experiences in music.

Noelene recalls hearing Peter Ustinov narrate Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” and falling in love with classical music.

She also loves the blues.

So, with this breadth of music enjoyment, it’s not surprising that her choice of radio station is our own local MVFM.

There have been lots of changes of direction in Noelene’s life.

She left school at 15, worked in an office for a while, gained a Diploma of Optical Dispensing and became one of the first female opticians in Sydney.

She enjoyed wearing the starched white medical coats complete with instruments at hand in the top pocket.

Then, Noelene’s life changed again; she turned to gemmology.

She opened a shop, gained a Diploma in Gemmology and had a great life in her hometown and in Canberra.

As well as gems, she dealt in coins and stamps.

The old Roman, Greek and Medieval coins particularly fascinated her, especially the “hammered” coins of Viking, Tudor and Stuart Britain.

After those halcyon years, she moved to Northern Tasmania - yet another change.

And a chance to be involved in her community, including her contribution to the local radio station, both on-air and on the Committee of Management.

And, most importantly, a listener who enjoys all that music.

But Noelene has now retired and says that she enjoys the pleasures of being an old codger railing against “progress”.

She remembers her parents and her grandparents railing in a similar manner.

Perhaps, not much changes after all.