User:TheSource38/sandbox

In the year 2000 the Australian city of Sydney hosted two major events that remain talking points amongst the local population. The Summer Olympics were held in Australia for the second time from September 15-October 1. And Sydney's loyal radio audience said hello and goodbye to community radio program The EQ MIX.

The EQ Mix was a controversial three-hour community radio show that appeared on radio station 2RDJ-FM every Thursday morning between 9am and Midday. Hosted by stand-up comedian Martin "Earthquake" Lester and DJ Bob, the program's unorthodox and edgy style was not something the program committee felt Sydney radio would ever be ready for. Outdoing the Mick Molloy Program on Channel 9 which lasted only eight weeks on television, the EQ Mix was gone within a fortnight.

Production problems were evident right from the beginning. At the end of the first news bulletin Lester played 10 sponsorship messages in a row so he could get them "out of the way" for the rest of the show. Unfortunately for the host this violated community radio sponsorship guidelines which stipulate explicitly that only 5 minutes of sponsorships can be played each hour. Some listeners were not able to differentiate the program from the shopping channel until the intro music was played 9 minutes into the first hour. The sleepy inner west was soon having to wake up to inconsistent sound levels thanks to the vocal efforts of Metallica and Guns N'Roses as the host continued to place the fader too high on the studio panel each and every week. It was an audio engineers nightmare.

On the very last edition of the EQ Mix Lester aired a pre-recorded joke called "Methane Gas In A Can". The premise of the joke was you could buy a can of methane to impress your friends and make everyone think it was Grandpa "who farted in the corner". Station Management quickly took action to the disappointment of local listeners who enjoyed Lester's relaxed approach to broadcasting rules.

Lester would retain his high profile presence for several years while he attempted unsuccessfully to lobby the program committee to allow him to fill in for regular presenters on vacation. However his audition tapes never got the green light and after five-years of pleading his case he finally conceded his career in community radio was over.

In 2016 a sequel program to the EQ Mix was launched online when "In St Mary's Tonight" premiered. The show was a parody of morning breakfast tv featuring a cast of characters and segments including Giggles the Pony. But after four episodes the program was discontinued.