“It’s been a tumultuous journey”: 30 years of Channel 31
The road to 30 hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the community TV station that has produced some of the biggest stars. But with a strong viewership and an exciting slate of programs, the future for Channel 31 is bright.
On October 6, 1994, the station, located today on Douglas St in Southbank, began broadcasting for a few hours three to four days a week. However, it was quick to become a breeding ground for Australia’s up-and-coming television personalities and expanded into a seven-day-a-week service.
However, the livelihood of Channel 31 wasn’t always guaranteed after a tumultuous eight-year period starting in 2014, where consecutive Coalition governments announced countless switch-off dates that they would eventually backtrack on.
With the dust now settled and the future of the station looking strong, 30 years is on, Channel 31 remains the community pillar it has been since the first day that “lights, camera, action” were called.
It offers Melburnians local programs that are often overlooked and missed by the bigger networks, from The Multicultural Football Show to The Beer Pioneer. Channel 31 has something for everyone and anyone.
For comedian and former accountant Dilruk Jayasinh, it was the place where he was able to stand in front of the camera and practice his stand-up routine for the first time.
It’s an experience that would prove to be as equally formative for his comedy career as it was detrimental to remaining an accountant.
Having starred in Utopia and I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Dilruk has come a long way from the humble studios of Channel 31, but he said that it was one of the most transformative experiences that he’d ever had.
When gearing up to perform on the Live on Bowen program for the first time, he remembers having a desire to veer away from his usual stand-up routine and try something different.
The then up-and-coming comedian pretended that he was there to meet fellow Channel-31 alumni Rove McManus and was disgruntled by the fact he wasn’t getting paid.
“It was a big moment for me purely because I didn’t know I had it in me to write to a specific kind of moment or audience. I thought I only could do my stand-up and that’s all,” Dilruk said.
He recalls that when performing the set his mic wasn’t on for the first minute so only people’s laughter could be heard on the broadcast.
But it is the willingness for Channel 31 to provide opportunities to developing performers, hosts and technicians that makes it so special, according to Dilruk.
It was where he learnt how to read a teleprompter and be comfortable in front of the camera; skills that have followed him throughout his career in the television industry.
The opportunities that Channel 31 provides are something that the station manager Shane Dunlop is extremely proud of.
“Over the last 30 years, there are probably very few people who have wanted to have a career in screen and television in Melbourne, who haven’t at some stage touched community television, whether that’s in front of the camera or behind the camera,” Mr Dunlop told Southbank News.
The station manager is optimistic about the future due to the current federal government showing more support for community broadcasting and not announcing switch-off dates like the previous Coalition governments.
In March this year, the Community Television Bill 2024 was passed, which open-ended the licence condition for the station into the foreseeable future.
“We have a much more stable environment to operate under and a lot more scope to plan for the future, which we haven’t had for such a long period of time,” he said.
“Get ready to celebrate our 30th anniversary! We’re sort of doing it knowing that we probably at various points in time never thought we’d get there.” •

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