Radio Reversal

Radiothon 2026!!

Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +1000

Happy Radiothon, Zedheads! Han's in the studio today with a Fiercely Independent playlist to encourage you to earn that warm fuzzy glow (TM) for another year and subscribe to your underground champions, local community radio station 102.1FM 4ZZZ!

Songs played
The Dø - Dust It Off
Silverchair - Straight Lines
Say True God? - Don't Worry feat. Stanley T
Lutalo - Daedalus
Sunny Luwe - Made Me Smile
Marika Hackman - No Caffeine
Rowena Wise - Blood Ties
Sycco - Look Up
Porches - I Wanna Ride
Dobby - Lessons
Jaguar Jonze - Half Devil

AI and fascism, with Dr Karen Crawley

Thu, 6 Aug 2026 10:00:00 +1000

Good morning Zedheads! Today on Radio Reversal we're continuing our conversation on AI, and continuing our conversation on fascism, by bringing you a conversation about - you guessed it! - AI and fascism! At last Friday's No Phones, No Phascists event, we were joined by the wonderful Dr Karen Crawley, in conversation with Radio Reversal producer Anna, who offered some great insights into the different kinds of AI and their different relationships to fascist movements, politics, and affects, and the range of different strategies we can use to intervene, contest, and go Full Ludd on harmful AI technologies.

Tune in to 4ZZZ 102.1FM from 9am for this and lots of new and local music, or catch up on demand via the 4ZZZ website, AND subscribe to the Radio Reversal podcast and newsletter to listen back whenever and keep up with what we're cooking up for your ears

Songs played
ALGBRA - Komodo Dragon (feat. Roman MC)
Worm Girlz - Kills Me Like You Do
Seeing Violet - Billionaire
Sereen - Philes
YINGURAY - wonderful
ssszlami - girl on the screen

Resisting AI... "in australia's interests" with Jathan Sadowski

Thu, 30 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +1000

Happy Thursday, Zedly ones! It’s Marissa in the studio today, bringing you an interview recording with friend of the show and critical thinker about all things tech, Jathan Sadowski. In this interview, we talk about AI and unpack Albo’s recent speech entitled “AI in Australia’s interests”. We discuss how resistance to AI and meaningful regulation of the powerful and exploitative AI industry is undermined by a politics of normalisation and “just embracing it”.

This episode features only part of the interview with Jathan, and it is the first episode in a mini-series on AI. Planned future episodes will feature interviews with the genuinely inspiring high school and university students organising to resist AI and its associated harms.

You can find out more about Jathan’s work on his website and by listening to the excellent podcast he co-produces called This Machine Kills.

You can catch the full interview with Jathan on the Radio Reversal podcast in a few weeks.

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Image credit: @strikesforairegulation, 16 June 2026, https://www.instagram.com/p/DZoWT85EtNI/

Songs played
YINGURAY - wonderful
Kurilpa Kiosk and Topology - Changing Seasons
Odette - AAAH!
Selve - Desire
Jaguar Jonze - Half Devil feat KIRE

NOlympics Committee #3 - Fighting Fascism & Olympics Fatalism LIVE from Barrambin

Thu, 23 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +1000

Hello friends & welcome to the third meeting of the 2032 NOlympics Committee! This week on the show, join Anna & Nat on an excursion to Ibis Island where they give a talk on fascism & olympics fatalism, and how we can resist it. We dig back into the concept of Event Capture that we've been exploring over the past few weeks, this time introducing the concept of "narrative capture" or "future capture" - the way that the storytelling and political discourses around the Olympics serve to fuel fascism, launder settler colonialism and obscure more radical possibilities for the city.

As always, we'll also be sharing loads of new local music and discussions about upcoming events - including the Paperbark Zine Fair which is coming up this Saturday 25th July from 12pm - 5pm at Jagera Hall. There'll be more details on the event in the comments below, but if you're in the mood for some DIY anarchist political literature, head over to see Radio Reverser Anna who'll have a bunch of new political zines, art zines & one-off pieces for your reading pleasure!

And a reminder that if you'd rather listen to our shows in podcast form, head to radioreversal.org and sign up as a subscriber! You'll get newsletter updates with links to new shows and the first chance to listen to our standalone series and investigative podcasts. Our first 50 paid subscribers will get a special intro pack with posters and zines...so get in quick if you want EVEN MORE Radio Reversal in your life.

Songs played
Dobby - Free Your Mind
Emma Donovan - Take Me To The River
Joan and the Giants - Mama Don't Cry
Miss Kannina - Handout

Jayson Gillham on arts, censorship, & music for two pianos

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +1000

Good morning Zedilanians! Han in the studio with you this morning, bringing you a conversation with acclaimed Australian-British concert pianist Jayson Gillham about arts, censorship, and music for two pianos. Jayson is returning to Australian stages from next week, performing at QPAC Wednesday, 22 July, alongside his friend Palestinian-Jordanian pianist Iyad Sughayer. We chat about this concert program, and about the importance of being your whole self and standing up for what is right, even in the face of repression and censorship such as he has faced in the form of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's choice to cancel his performances in August 2024. Tickets to Jayson and Iyad's show available here.

Songs played
mui zyu - the mould
Connor D'Netto - Witness
Emma Donovan - BIRDS OF A FEATHER ft. Drifting Clouds
Saint Levant - SABAH EL WARD صباح الورد
Spencer Krug - I'll Believe in Anything

Kurilpa Commons & building solidarity through defences of stolen land

Thu, 9 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +1000

Good morning Zed-legends! It’s Marissa and Rosh (and Theo!) in the studio this morning. Today, we’re talking about Kurilpa Commons and the government’s recent destruction of the common farm and enclosure of the site behind fences to “prepare” the site for sale, likely to a private developer. Thinking about the Kurilpa Commons alongside the recent fences going up at Barrambin and the police presence and action over multiple days to remove Yuggera land defenders and allies, we reflect on what it means to defend public space under settler colonialism, and how we build solidarity through and across these struggles.

Happy NAIDOC Week! Don’t forget you can get along to the Family Fun Day at Musgrave Park on Friday, 10 July from 9am-5pm. This weekend, you can also get along to the Free The Park event to protect Barrambin on Saturday, 11 July from 2pm at Ibis Island. On Sunday, show up to protect trans rights against attacks proposed on anti-discrimination legislation. The counter protest for an event featuring Pauline Hanson is happening at 9.30am on Sunday, 12 July at King George Square.

Photo credit: West End Community Association, Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/WECA4101/posts/kurilpa-commonsanother-day-another-piece-of-publicly-owned-community-land-is-bei/1448265517339837/.

Songs played
Thelma Plum - The Brown Snake
Charlie Needs Braces - This Land
Kev Carmody - Thou Shalt Not Steal
Kurilpa Kiosk and Topology - Mother Stew
King Stingray - Lupa
Dobby - Dirrpi Yuin Patjulinya
SOLCHLD - Tread Lightly

Han's Queer Reads 2026

Thu, 2 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +1000

Hi Zedpals! Just outside of Pride Month, but all year is a good time for queer reads -- here's Han's latest bookstack for you. Featuring:

—No God But Us (Bobuq Sayed)

—Son of Sin (Omar Sakr)

—Let Us Play: Winning the Battle for Gender Diverse Atheletes (Harrison Browne & Rachel Browne) -- also mentioned, Personal Score (Ellen van Neerven)

—Hot Girls with Balls (Benedict Nguyễn)

—The Shots You Take (Rachel Reid)

—The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi (Shannon Chakraborty) -- plus keep your eye out for the sequel!

—The Pairing (Casey McQuiston)

—Ruby's Web (Ellen van Neerven)

—How Queer Bookstores Changed the World (A.J. West)

—Making Love with the Land (Joshua Whitehead)

—Dysphoria Mundi (Paul B. Preciado)

—Theory (Dionne Brand)

Songs played
Myles McCormack - The Rip
Selve - Heaven's Open
Mitski - Stay Soft
Jem Cassar-Daley - Cool Girl
Wet Leg - catch these fists (FDC DJs remix)
DOBBY - Free Your Mind
Ão - Aren't You Tired
Kurilpa Kiosk and Topology - Changing Seasons

The Second Inaugural Meeting of the NOlympics Committee 2032

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +1000

This week on Radio Reversal, join us for the Second Inaugural Meeting of the NOlympics Committee 2032. In this episode, Anna and Nat are continuing the conversation from our first NOlympics show to consider why exactly the Olympics is such a bad proposition for host cities (and what we could be doing about it!)

We are continuing our conversation using John Rennie Short's theory of "event capture" to express the many and varied ways that these kinds of mega events work to reorganise the city around the needs and interests of global capital rather than local people. Towards the end of the show, we also introduce the idea of "narrative capture" to consider how mega events work by reinvigorating and operationalizing repressive forms of nationalism; and how this goes hand in hand with rising fascism and new forms of colonialism and colonial violence.

Songs played
SAMARA - Woman
Council Grounds - Doubt
Worm Girlz - Kills me like you do
Clover Love - Quarter Life Crisis

Palestine Activism Roundup

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +1000

Happy Thursday, Zedly ones! It’s han and Marissa in the studio with you today for an extended Radio Reversal show (we’re taking over the Talking Zeds slot from 10am-12pm too). This week, we’re bringing you a roundup of reflections from the struggle for Palestinian liberation in so-called australia, from folks resisting Palestinian censorship and oppression.

First up, we’ll hear from Dana Endelmanis, dear friend of Radio Reversal, proud unionist and trans justice organiser, about her experiences at the Palestine solidarity protest last Sunday in Magandjin - Six Words for a Free Palestine. In particular, Dana will be talking to us about her arrest under Queensland’s current anti-Palestine speech laws. After that, we’ll be speaking with Rouba Rayan, an organiser with Justice for Palestine Magan-djin about the High Court challenge to those same laws. Finally, we share an interview with Jordy Silverstein with some early reflections on the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. The federal government established the Royal Commission following the Bondi attack and a concerted lobby campaign by Zionist organisations and their supporters. Or as Nick Reimer's piece in Overland names it: zionism in real time.

Today’s extended show is a reminder of the power and magic of community radio. Making the connections between action on the streets, in Parliament, and in courtrooms is important, even as we work hard to build a world outside the constraints of colonial, racist and carceral systems. The violence of settler colonialism is international, from Palestine to so-called australia, and so is the resistance to it. Always was, always will be! Palestine will be free!

You can donate to support Justice for Palestine Magan-djin's High Court challenge here: https://chuffed.org/project/173177-justice-for-palestine-legal-defence

Image credit: @smilingalexb on Instagram (collab with @stronghearts4palestine & others), https://www.instagram.com/p/DZTqPArCVMO

Songs played
Phil Monsour, Ethan Enoch, Sophie Nishizawa, Matt Hsu - Which Side Are You On?
Byrd of Paradise & Lil Mase - Sky's The Limit
Phoebe Bridgers - Scott Street
Kiss Facility - Qamar 14

NOlympics 2032

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +1000

This morning on Radio Reversal, Anna and Nat discuss the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games, and why being a host city is, overwhelmingly, a bad thing for the city and a worse thing for a city's poorer and more marginalised inhabitants. We draw on John Rennie Short's idea of "event capture" to look at the ways hosting a mega-event redirects urban processes (further!) away from more just modes of planning and transformation, the ways mega-events drive further dispossession of First Nations Peoples and displace poorer residents, and the ways even fairly limited checks and balances around social and environmental protections, and transparency and accountability in the planning and governance system get dodged, or overriden. All in service of an event that will cost billions and that will not even break even. We want to dig into the extensive evidence-base for why hosting the Olympics is a bad idea for cities, and why our refusals of specific venues should be coupled with refusing the Olympics anywhere.

Songs played
Isabelle Skye - Subaru
Sarah Guppy - Alice Says
Cygnette - Old Friend
Sophie Nishizawa - on the seventh day

Updates from the Goori Camp Embassy

Thu, 4 Jun 2026 10:00:00 +1000

On today's show, we've got plenty of great new music to play for you, plus some updates from the Goori Camp Embassy at Barrambin (Victoria Park) ahead of construction of a stadium for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. You can support Goori Camp Embassy here. The removal of First Nations Peoples and supporters from the Goori Camp site is especially aggregious as it has taken place during so-called "Reconciliation Week". We reflect on the project of Reconciliation as one that prioritises settler comfort over meaningful action in service of recognition, reparations, restitution, and responsibility towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, as identified by Dr Innez Haua from the Centre for Global Indigenous Futures.

Songs played
Feist - Borrow Trouble
Jaguar Jonze - Naked
Serebii - Bends Not Breaks
Sophie Nishizawa - when will our bodies feel like our own
Gurridyula - Running Out Of Time
TIAHN - More
Lykke Li - Happy Now
Grace Cummings - My God
Isabelle Skye - Subaru
Ethan Enoch - I Express