Local voices, art, memory, and skywatching.
921 is a community-radio snapshot built around gentle, plain-spoken interviews from OCRFM. Recent conversations move from Youth Art Futures entries and local theatre to Rod’s skywatching notes on clouds, stargazing, Artemis, light pollution, and the Southern Cross.
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921 preserves the texture of OCRFM’s community conversations. The show is modest in the best sense: direct questions, patient answers, and local detail that would be easy to miss elsewhere. Recent excerpts spend real time with Youth Art Futures artists. One artist talks about a spooky photograph taken at Elroy and the experience of having people vote on the work. Another describes a crocheted Avatar creature that took many hours and began as a first attempt after seeing the idea online. Isabelle Pilley discusses mixed media, pencil, acrylic paint, horse hair, portraits, horses, dogs, realism, and the pressure of wanting every detail right. These exchanges are not framed as grand career stories. They are snapshots of young people explaining what they made and why it mattered to see it displayed. The feed also includes a conversation with Victoria Mantonan about a Dame Vera Lynn tribute at Red Rock Regional Theatre and Gallery, with Anzac remembrance and wartime songs giving that interview a more reflective register. Then the astronomy thread changes the scale completely. Rod, described on air as the resident astronomer, brings the sky back to practical ground: what cloud might allow, where local stargazing can happen, how light pollution affects viewing, and why the Southern Cross helped navigators find south. The science stays conversational. Light speed, filters, star trails, Artemis, auroras, telescopes, and celestial poles are explained through everyday comparisons rather than lecture-room formality. That mix is what gives 921 its shape. It can move from a school art exhibition to a moon mission without losing its community-radio centre of gravity. The show suits discovery by detail, where a listener hears a place through its exhibitions, venues, Facebook groups, outdoor events, and regular voices. Its appeal is not a single subject. It is the way local culture, memory, and skywatching sit beside one another in ordinary conversation.
Made for: Suits a listener who likes calm community-radio interviews with local detail, practical astronomy, and conversations about small public events. It fits someone who prefers plain speech over polished performance.
What sets it apart: 921 stands apart by placing youth art, regional theatre, Anzac remembrance, and backyard astronomy in the same local frame. The result feels less like a niche science feed than a community record with a recurring eye on the night sky.
These podcasts feature interviews and special moments from 921, a community radio program on OCR FM (98.3FM Colac & District, 88.7FM along the Coast, streaming online at www.ocrfm.org.au) that plays listener song requests, community information and interviews local people about community groups, sporting clubs and community events. Leave song requests or book in for a community interview now by emailing [email protected] or by posting on the Facebook page. 921 airs 9am to 1pm Saturdays on OCR FM.
Colac's clouds get a forecast before Rod takes you to the stars.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A local sky forecast leads into aurora watching and a clear, grounded look at Artemis II.
Cloud cover sets the frame for this astronomy episode, as Rod moves through the week's unsettled skies before turning to the solar wind and the possibility of aurora.
A relaxed local astronomy chat turns light-pollution maps and camera tricks into practical reasons to seek darker skies.
Practical stargazing gives this astronomy check-in its useful shape. A local Earth Hour gathering at Colac Shire opens into a clear, grounded look at what city light does to the night sky, with the resident astronomer explaining how stacked photographs reveal more stars, how…
A local astronomy chat turns Earth Hour, lightning, and late-night walks into an easy guide to looking up.
Earth Hour Stargazing at COPAC gives the episode a clear, local reason to look up. Astronomy starts here with cloud, a free ticket, and the modest hope that the sky might still offer something.
A practical astronomy check-in that ties cloudy skies to the Southern Cross as a southern signpost.
Cloudy nights set the terms for this practical astronomy check-in, as Rod weighs the best possible sky-viewing windows before turning to small auroras, a couple of major coronal mass ejections, and the Southern Cross as a guide to south.
Rotating StarTalk scientist-hosts and a comedian co-host tackle listener-submitted cosmic questions.
Patient space coverage with real mission context.
Rodd discusses the Sun's activity, including a large sunspot group and a coronal hole that could cause auroras.
Astronomer Rod discusses the week's stargazing forecast and a potential aurora from a large coronal hole.
An interview with performer Victoria Mantonan about her upcoming tribute show to Dame Vera Lynn as part of Anzac celebrations.
An interview with artist Isabelle Pilley about her mixed media entries in the Youth Art Futures competition, including a piece with horse hair.
A radio host interviews young artist Evie Macdonald about her first crochet piece, an earcran from Avatar, entered in the Local Youth Futures Art Competition.
An interview with young photographer Sadie about her entry in the Youth Art Futures Exhibition, discussing her inspiration and experience.
Rod covers the April sky for 4 April 2026, including 143 sunspots, a coronal mass ejection that might bring auroras, Mercury at greatest elongation, and comet A1 maps near perihelion.
Rod’s March 28, 2026 astronomy segment on OCRFM opens with Earth Hour stargazing at COPAC, where he says the evening may still offer a 60% cloudy, 40% clear sky and asks listeners to register for a free ticket.
Rod’s 21st March 2026 check-in on OCRFM covers the autumn equinox, a likely aurora window, and why Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night look best for viewing.
Rod forecasts partly cloudy skies, with Wednesday the clearest night and Jupiter the only readily visible planet.
On OCRFM’s 21 February 2026 edition of “What’s Up?
Rod says comet C/2026 A1 MAPS was discovered on January 13 by a remote telescope in Chile and may become a bright southern-hemisphere sight.
Astronomer Rod discusses the week's stargazing conditions, sunspot activity, and potential aurora sightings.
Astronomer Rod discusses recent solar activity, including strong aurora forecasts that didn't materialize, a large sunspot rotating off, and a coronal hole producing solar wind.