4MBS is operated by the Music Broadcasting Society of Qld Ltd (MBSQ), a not-for-profit community broadcasting organisation established in Brisbane in 1979. MBSQ is a company limited by guarantee. The Board of Directors and Staff are shown below. MBSQ operates 4MBS Classic FM (since March 1979), Silver Memories (since 2007) and the digital service, MBS Light (since 2012).
MATTHEW FARRELL
4MBS Board Chair
A professional musician, Matthew was cellist with the Victorian String Quartet prior to becoming Principal Cello with the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra and after 2001 The Queensland Orchestra (now Queensland Symphony Orchestra). He has performed as soloist throughout Australia and is a founding member of the contemporary quartet, LOCANA, releasing their debut CD in 2004. Matthew has a long history of involvement with music, performing arts development and community engagement. He was appointed to two State Government inquiries investigating funding and administration of orchestras in Queensland and overseeing the merger of the Philharmonic and Symphony Orchestras in 2001. He was a member of the Australian Orchestras Taskforce in 2003, and in 2007 and 2008 co-directed the 4MBS Festival of Classics. Matthew was Director – Orchestra Management at the QSO from 2008-2020 with responsibility for the orchestra and commercial projects. He was also responsible for planning and implementing QSO’s community engagement program (2015-2017). Matthew has been Chairman of 4MBS since 2013 having been an active member of the Board since 2006.
COLIN RICH
4MBS Board Treasurer
Colin is a Chartered Accountant, a Chartered Secretary and a Justice of the Peace (QAL). Now retired, he has had 25 years’ experience in manufacturing and ten years in restaurant industries as Director and management accountant. He has spent the last twenty years specialising in systems accounting with computers, focused on Enterprise resources programs. Colin is Board Treasurer.
CLIVE PORRITT
4MBS Board Secretary
Clive arrived in Melbourne from the UK with his family in 1959. His first exposure to classical music was through his parents’ small collection of 78rpm records, an interest he followed at university by attending concerts there, and briefly trying to learn classical guitar. He trained as a lawyer and worked in private practice and then as a public servant for the Victorian, Queensland and Commonwealth governments, principally as a prosecutor. Clive moved to Brisbane in 1986 and after a few years of being a 4MBS subscriber, he became a Life Subscriber. He volunteers as a program presenter with 4MBS, joined the Board in 2018, became Board Secretary in 2019, and chairs the Broadcast Committee.
JOHN CAHILL
John Cahill is a Queensland Barrister. He is a Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner and a National Mediator. He earned his LLB and Bachelor of Business at the Queensland University of Technology and his Master of Laws at the University of Sydney.
ISOBEL FERRIER
Isobel is a musician and arts manager, and is currently the Queensland State Manager for Musica Viva Australia, where she also co-chairs their Reconciliation Steering Group. Her career during the last 30 years has included extensive performing, touring and recording as a violinist in Australia and overseas, as a conductor of community choirs, and as a business coach to artists and small organisations. Isobel enjoys lending her broad expertise and insight to the 4MBS board to support the important role the station plays in the Australian cultural landscape.
ALLISON KRUGER
Allison has a keen appreciation of the arts, in particular music, theatre and dance. Allison is a Queensland based Corporate Finance professional experienced in managing and optimising finance structures and businesses in particular with regards to capital and debt financing. Allison’s finance career has spanned Brisbane, Sydney and London. Allison has a law degree from the Queensland University of Technology and a Masters of Commerce from the University of New South Wales. Allison enjoys travelling.
GRAHAM ROW
Graham Row is a long-standing listener and supporter of 4MBS and particularly its community projects such as the Gothic Symphony project and tours of Amadeus. Now in retirement from medical practice, he realised that Silver Memories was much more than nostalgia radio but an extremely important, cost-effective weapon in the management of dementia. He helped to facilitate relationships with experts in the field to assist Silver Memories to achieve its full therapeutic potential with the best available professional guidance.
LOUISE STRASSER
Louise volunteers at 4MBS in a number of roles including 4MBS Shop Co-ordinator, Subscriber Support, Program Guide Copy Editor, Programmer and Presenter on MBS Light and 4MBS, Program Slotter, member of the Broadcasts Committee, Program Deliverer and has been a member of the 4MBS Board since November 2020. This affords her a broad understanding of the workings of the station.
She has been a choral singer for many years, singing with the Brisbane Chorale where she was Concert Manager 1997–1999, Brisbane Concert Choir, Bach Society of Qld, Chorus Oz and the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic Choir.
In a previous life she was a Primary School Teacher for Education Qld for over 40 years, teaching all year levels and classroom music, but specialised in Early Education. She also taught in Abingdon, England via a Teacher Exchange Program.
DR KERRY VANN-LEEFLANG
Kerry Vann-Leeflang is a versatile musician who maintains a busy schedule of performing, teaching, examining and adjudicating. She is the principal percussionist with the Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra and Corda Spiritus and also plays with the Brisbane Excelsior Band.
She sang with Opera Queensland for 10 seasons and has sung several principal roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. She teaches piano, percussion and singing and is a music examiner with ANZCA and examines throughout Australia and Asia. She holds ten degrees and diplomas: eight in music, one in languages (French, German and Japanese) and one in education. These include a Ph. D. in music from The University of Queensland and she is a Fellow of the Trinity College London in voice. While at university, she was awarded a Mitsui Educational Foundation scholarship as part of her study of Japanese and a DAAD scholarship to study in Wagner’s manuscripts in Germany for her Ph. D. on Lohengrin.
ANNE WARREN
Anne started as a volunteer at 4MBS in 2005 after completing postgraduate study in Arts and Cultural Management. She later become a member of staff, gaining experience in virtually all aspects of 4MBS, from broadcasting to events management, marketing and PR. Since then Anne has worked with other arts organisations in Brisbane as well as in communications in the public sector and as a freelance project manager and copywriter. Anne joined the Board of 4MBS in 2009. She plays cello and was a member of the Brisbane City Pops Orchestra prior to the arrival of her young children.
Staff
GARY THORPE OAM
General Manager 4MBS Classic FM, Silver Memories, Classic Arts and MBS Light
Gary Thorpe is the General Manager of Silver Memories Nostalgia Radio which he founded in 2007. He is also General Manager of two other radio stations – 4MBS Classic FM and MBS Light digital radio. He was Executive Producer of the first performance outside Britain of Havergal Brian’s Gothic Symphony, is Artistic Director of the Annual 4MBS Festival of Classics which is the largest classical music festival in the country, Producer of the 4MBS Brisbane Shakespeare Festival and Vice-President of the Havergal Brian Society. He was awarded an OAM in 2009 for his services to music and community broadcasting and in 2011 a Churchill Fellowship to study the use of music in management of dementia. Other commitments include being Deputy Chair of The Queensland Choir, Secretary of the Board of Broadcasting Park Pty. Ltd. and Treasurer of the Queensland Community Broadcasting Association. He has also been a Board Member of Jupiter’s Casino Community Benefit Fund, a Member of the Arts Faculty Board of Studies, University of Queensland, Chair of the Broadcasting Committee of the Music Council of Australia (MCA), Secretary/Vice President of the Australian Society for Education Through the Arts and Chairman, Music Broadcasting Society of Queensland Ltd.
MAGGIE FINDLAY
Administration Manager
Maggie has been with 4MBS since 1999, and began her involvement as Director of our annual Festival of Classics, making it a highly successful major festival in the Brisbane festival season. Since that time, Maggie has overseen a broad range of events and festivals, managing the engagement of prominent artists and venues across Brisbane. Maggie’s background in music is deeply ingrained, and whilst ever-modest, we have on good authority that Maggie has previously sung with prestigious international organisations including the D’Oyly Carte Opera Company and English National Opera. Maggie was married to the late international opera conductor John Matheson.
PETER MCCAHON
4MBS Broadcasts and Sponsorships Manager
Peter has been with 4MBS Classic FM since 2001. Prior to joining the station he was in senior positions with several of Brisbane’s leading commercial radio stations. His wealth of experience in radio advertising enables him to match clients to suitable programs and promotion packages.
NICK GUROVIC
Editor, Program Guide
Born in ex-Yugoslavia, Nick worked for 19 years for TV Sarajevo: public broadcaster, during which time he covered politics, culture and arts, and foreign affairs. His work was referred by The Economist weekly in 1992. Following eight years in Prague, Czech Republic, Nick spent a semester in Washington DC working for the US Congress, sponsored by Radio Free Europe, and broadcasting in 28 languages. Since joining 4MBS Classic FM in winter 2007, Nick has written more than 300 feature articles about renowned Australian music makers and young emerging artists.
JOHN CARRIER
4MBS Ticketing, Music Diary & Performance Studio Manager, MBS Light Broadcasts Manager
WENDY LANG
Marketing Officer and Events Coordinator
JEANNETTE ZUNIGA
Accounts Administrator (part-time)