Long-time host of Pokey’s Garden, John Poke, is celebrating his final show to air this week after a decade on Vision Australia Radio.
Vision Australia Radio’s Sam Colley recently had the opportunity to catch up with John to discuss what inspired him to become involved with Vision Australia Radio, and how it all came about.
“I was working as a fundraiser with Vision Australia, and had a lot of fun raising money. One year I was doing a tray table at an expo and the radio personnel, Dale [Simpson] and Mark [Ridoutt] approached me and said, ‘you’d be good for radio,’” John said.
“We talked about all sorts of stuff and they said ‘what do you like doing?’ and I said ‘I don’t mind my garden,’ so I was given the opportunity to do Pokey’s Garden. We started it then, and from there it’s moved on for a lot of years, it’s been a lot of fun,” he said.
John also had some encouraging words of advice for aspiring show hosts who were looking to jump into community radio, but aren’t sure where to start.
“Anyone wanting to get involved, step up and have a go, you never know where it might lead, you never know who’s listening to you,” John said.
“With Vision Australia Radio you’ve got expertise available for tutoring and teaching, then you learn your game and away you go. It really is wonderful, I recommend it,” he said.
On behalf of Vision Australia Radio we would like to thank and congratulate John for his invaluable contribution to not only our radio network, Vision Australia more broadly. We wish him all the very best for his future endeavours, as he moves into a new chapter in his life.
If you’d like to hear more about John’s experiences and adventures, like the places the show has taken him while doing research and interviewing for Pokey’s Garden, you can visit the podcast on Vision Australia Radio’s website.
