Nick Marvin talks about Perth Wildcats

May 20, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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Perth_WildcatsLogo.jpgA lot has been said in the media recently about the survival of the NBL, Australia’s premier basketball competition. A restructuring of the league had several clubs opting out which threatened to cause the whole competition to collapse. In a country where basketball isn’t high on the sporting ladder, it’s important to make sure that the game grabs the attention of Aussie sports lovers.

Things have started to turn around over the past few weeks but in the middle of the confusion came rumours that the Perth Wildcats could be facing extinction. Thankfully that’s not the case but they are seeking extra corporate sponsors to sure up their future. The Perth Wildcats is the most successful professional sporting team in Perth, Western Australia with 4 national championships and 20 consecutive finals appearances over the last 25 years.

The developments and progress towards the 2009/10 NBL competition is progressing well. Whilst the Wildcats have outlined some key criteria for participating, we are very committed to playing this season.

However, as we seek to build a sustainable club, we can not rely solely on the generosity of our owner and chairman Jack Bendat.

The Wildcats do more than play basketball. We pride ourselves on our community engagement at schools, hospitals, juvenile detention centres and work in remote and regional communities.

Whilst we seek sponsorship for the high-profile activities on game night, we also want WA companies to sponsor our community work.

Over the last week, I have witnessed first-hand the great support we have across our state and the vacuum our absence would leave.

I hope what we do is important enough for Western Australians to get behind us in a real and meaningful way through corporate sponsorship. – Nick Marvin – CEO Perth Wildcats

Yesterday during my morning programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM I spoke to the Chief Executive Officer of the Perth Wildcats, Nick Marvin, who outlined where the competition is heading and spoke about the future of the Perth Wildcats.

One of the most impressive aspects of the Wildcats is the culture that is evident in the team members and support staff. In a time when we continue to hear about the bad behaviour of sports people both on and especially off the field, it’s extremely refreshing to hear about the values that drive Perth’s premier basketball team.

If you’d like to hear what Nick had to say about basketball, Perth Wildcats and the responsibility of modern sports people, just click the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.



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One more reason

April 16, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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I had to stop for a few minutes during my ride to work this morning.

As I was cycling over the Swan River across Windan Bridge I noticed a guy leaning over the railing watching something in the river below. I looked out to see a few dolphins splashing about in the water.

I continued across the bridge and once I got down to ground level beside the river I stopped to watch for a few minutes. Another cyclist stopped beside me and told me that he’s seen the dolphins at various places in the river three times in the past three weeks.

It was a marvellous opportunity to see these wonderful creatures enjoying the perfect conditions.

There are certainly a lot of reasons that I enjoy cycling to work – and this morning I added one more.



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Dancing with Flapper

March 23, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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Many years ago, in a studio in Tuart Hill, there lived a character named Flapper.

If you were a kid growing up in the 80s in Perth you might remember Channel 9’s Flapper and his show Flapper’s Factory.

Yesterday, during an outside radio broadcast for Activ at McCallum Park, we saw Flapper return to the stage in a one elephant show. Seeing him brought back memories but how could we have ever prepared ourselves for the absolute thrill of being invited to dance with the little blue elephant?

The video below shows fellow 98.5 Sonshine FM announcer and broadcast engineer Ash Wright, Flapper and myself dancing up a storm.

I did a little research on Flapper and found this recent article at Perth Now. Here’s part of the article talking about Flapper.

Jen Dunstan, creative director of production house, Elephant Productions was at Channel 9 with the Young People’s program department which was created by fellow director Keith Woodland in 1977.

“Keith came to the station with drawings of Flapper the elephant – so he is the father of Flapper,” said Ms Dunstan.

“This new creation was opposite to Fat Cat and Percy Penguin who were quite tall and on Channel 7.

“Some of the little children were finding these characters large and ominous in height, so he created a character which was more kid level.

“The head of the animator for five year-old Flapper lived inside his top hat and operated his eyes – the first time ever in Australia that had a character with moving eyes.”

Flapper became the Nine mascot and had his own show Flapper’s Factory, then came Flapper’s Super-heroes and at the demise of this program came Clash of the Creatures.

I love my job. Where else would you get paid to dance with a blue elephant?



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Human Nature with WASO

March 3, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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Human_Nature.jpgLife is starting to settle down to normal after a long weekend in Western Australia.

We headed out to the magnificent Kings Park and Botanic Gardens on Saturday evening to see Human Nature with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

There were a couple of rain showers before the guys made it to the stage so there was a little concern that the weather would set in and the concert would have to be cancelled. Thankfully nothing more came of it so we were able to stay dry for the rest of the night.

WASO is great no matter what they’re playing and having Human Nature singing their hits with the backing of such a superb orchestra made for a magical evening. All in all it was a fabulous family night out.

As I was sitting on our blanket I realised that I just can’t sing like those guys, I don’t look that good in a suit, and I certainly could never manage the moves that they do. I guess that’s why they sell truckloads of albums and I don’t.



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A slice of history

February 3, 2009
by Rodney Olsen
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On the 26th of January 1988, while most Australians were gearing up to celebrate the country’s bicentennial year, a new FM radio station started full time broadcasting in Perth. Australia Day 2009 marked the 21st anniversary of 98.5 Sonshine FM and the official opening of the brand new studios in Como.

An opening ceremony was held at South Perth Church of Christ (adjacent to the new facilities) bringing together community leaders and listeners of the radio station.

Around 500 supporters attended the ceremony, featuring a message from Western Australian Premier, Hon. Colin Barnett, before touring 98.5 Sonshine FM’s new home. Perth media personality Graham Mabury officially opened the complex, reprising the role he undertook 21 years ago when Sonshine FM began on-air.

The new building houses state of the art digital broadcasting equipment as well as the Sonshine FM CareLine, a confidential help line that provides a listening ear to the community.

The video in this post, put together by Sonshine FM’s Ash Wright, gives a short history of the radio station. It runs about 19 minutes and don’t worry about seeing a black screen for the opening seconds of the video … it’s meant to start that way. (Look out for a somewhat younger Rodney Olsen at about the 10:30 mark.)



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