After years of hard work and prayer, Radio Maria Italia officially launched its first Sydney-based studio in Leichhardt with a Mass and blessing on 8 December at St Fiacre’s parish. Unlike its Melbourne counterpart, which broadcasts English programs, the Sydney studio will offer an Italian-only based broadcast, with hopes of broadening to English in the future.
The president of Radio Maria Italia in Australia, Felice Montrone OAM, said its establishment has been “many years in the making”. He said Radio Maria leadership overseas had long viewed Australia as “the last outpost,” given the station’s presence in more than 100 countries, including East Timor, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
Montrone said yes to leading the new Italian-language effort in September after retiring from full-time work. “They’ve approached a number of people over the years to make it work… So I thought, okay, I’ll give it a go.”
Present on the day were Bishop Richard Umbers, who officiated at the launch, and Fr Mirko Integlia who celebrated Mass, assisted by Fr John Iacono.
Other dignitaries present were the Italian consul general in Sydney, Gianluca Rubagotti, the director of the Italian Institute of Culture, Marco Gioacchini, and Guy Zangari from Sydney Catholic Education. Representing the World Family of Radio Maria was the Asia and Oceania coordinator, Joseph Nassar, who travelled to Sydney for the launch from Italy.
Local programming began on 17 November with a three-hour block featuring Mass on Sundays, rosaries, Vatican News and Fr Mirko. He hosts the first program of the day, an entertaining and educational morning show, Buongiorno Australia.
“I say good morning, make a few jokes as there are many people who are at home isolated or sick, so I want to cheer them up,” he said.
“I then talk about the saint of the day, including stories and quotes that can inspire daily life.”
Once the station begins to accept talkback, he plans to introduce a second program with call-ins, prayer, and conversation.
“My point is not just to talk, but to talk with them, where people can call me, pray with me and ask any kind of question.” Fr Mirko believes this will help respond to a deeper need within the Italian-Australian community for connecting the younger generation to their roots and faith.
“After a few generations, the temptation to leave behind the connection with the roots is there,” he said.
“When we talk about Italian roots we don’t talk just about language, food, culture, we talk about faith.
“The first generation is rich in terms of connection with the truth, but the following generations are less attached. The radio is not the only way, but certainly a way to get them connected.”
Radio Maria began in 1987 as a parish radio station in Erba, Italy, based on the apparitions and messages of Our Lady of Medjugorje. With a strong adherence to Catholic Church teaching and a focus on evangelisation and community, every Radio Maria around the world aims to create connection. While some stations employ a small team to help run the station, many throughout the world are run solely by its volunteers.
Community response in Leichhardt, where the station broadcasts next to St Fiacre’s parish, has exceeded expectations. In a neighbourhood which is “probably 70-30 or even more atheist than Catholic,” says Montrone, “we’ve already got 40 volunteers.”
“The Leichhardt community has reacted with affection. Being anchored by Fr Mirko, the Capuchin Friars, and the St Fiacre’s parish community gives us great strength and comfort.
“It’s taken from 4 September to 17 November to get local content on air – it’s a great achievement.”
While it’s a long process, Audio engineer Nick Lavermicocca says it’s well worth it.
“It’s another dream come to reality… we actually were the first radio to be able to rent space from a commercial network when we secured digital space for Sydney and Melbourne,” he explained.
“So we rent space from Nova in both cities, because without that, it was only going to be available via streaming.”
When asked about why he felt called to help he said that “once he saw the support from Radio Maria Italy – from the software and the hardware and the way they’ve set it up,” he knew he could help make it work.
“I said, yep! We’ve got a lot of support from Italy and the program comes from Italy 24/7. And so basically we now are just bedding in and increasing our hourly input from Australia. It’s a nurturing baby at the moment which is exciting.”
Radio Maria in Australia operates as two entities – Radio Maria Italia in Australia, which Montrone chairs and is currently Italian-only, and Radio Maria Australia, where he serves as deputy chair and broadcasts in English. The next goal is to expand Sydney’s local content from three hours to five and eventually to spend extended time in Melbourne to help establish an English-language model based on the Sydney structure.
Working hand-in-hand with Melbourne is also essential. “Absolutely, that is a must,” Montrone said.
“Having a combination of Sydney and Melbourne, that’s a dream – that finally our community can engage great communities.”
With the enthusiasm of volunteers, the support of the parish and strong ties to both the Italian and Australian communities, all three leaders believe the station is only at the beginning of what it can become.
“I’m really grateful I made that decision to be involved because I can now see that I can make a tangible contribution to the Catholic community in Australia,” Montrone said.
Radio Maria Italia is available on its website, www.radiomaria.org.au/ita/. Radio Maria Australia is available on www.radiomaria.org.au. Both English and Italian stations can be accessed via their app, Radio Maria Play, available from Google Play or the Apple App Store.