Healesville resident Michael de Oleveira enjoys running a radio program where he shares his lifetime hobby with listeners.
Mr de Oleveira hosts The Beat’N Track between 10am and 12pm every Wednesday at Yarra Valley FM.
He brings the songs from his music CD collection at home each week to the radio, plays them, and provides background information.
“I play a mixture of music from the ‘50s until the modern stuff right up to 2025,” the radio presenter said.
“The Beat’N Track is about music and I’ll give a bit of background on the songs, when they were recorded and who recorded them.”
The love for music came to him naturally as a kid through listening to his older siblings play music on their record player.
The music lover said he’s always collected music and has always been interested in music.
“I listened to (my siblings’) music through the ‘50s and became very much interested in music through the ‘60s, and I travelled to America and saw a lot of bands,” Mr de Oleveira said.
“Through the ‘70s, I’ve always gone to concerts and listened to music.”
Like other people in his generation, Mr de Oleveira grew up listening to the radio in his childhood.
Mr de Oleveira began his journey as a radio presenter about 18 months ago with The Beat’N Track, the first radio program he’d ever done.
The opportunity of being a presenter of the platform he grew up with appeared to him out of the blue when he met Greg Carrick, the radio station manager.
The retired man was looking for something different to do at the time and stepped into the world of radio within a week after he’d met Mr Carrick.
Mr de Oleveira said he was always interested in being a radio presenter.
“When (the radio station) was located in Woori Yallock, I made inquiries, went over there and looked at the studio, but the times that were available were nighttime shows, and I didn’t feel like driving from Woori Yallock back to Healesville over nighttime,” the Healesville resident said.
“When it moved here and I retired from work, I thought it was a perfect opportunity.
“I’ve got a huge collection of vinyl and CDs. I’ve got plenty of music to play. I can cross a whole range of genres, covering rock, country and world music. I play English music, American music, African music and South American music.”
Looking back on his past 18 months of adventure, he said it’s been very interesting.
“I was very nervous when I first started, and now I’m completely relaxed about it,” the radio presenter said.
“Hopefully, it’ll develop in time, and I’ll get some guests in the future.
“I’ve had one guest in, and that worked well. He came from Jamaica and lives in Healesville, and we played reggae music.”
You can listen to The Beat’N Track at yarravalleyfm.org.au/listen.html or 99.1 on your FM dial.
