Starting February, Checkpoint will broadcast nationally via CRN

Checkpoint is levelling up! Beginning in February, our team here at Checkpoint will be broadcast nationally all around Australia via the Community Radio Network (CRN). This means that Checkpoint will hit the airwaves in every state and territory of Australia via the CRN family of broadcasters.

This news is huge for our team here at Checkpoint, and we can’t wait to share with you exactly what this means for our team and our listeners!

A bit about us:

Checkpoint is a weekly video game radio show that has been broadcast from the JOY studios in Melbourne for over 5 years. As a proud part of the JOY family, Checkpoint’s mission was not only to inform and entertain listeners on the topic of video games, but to be an important voice for queer and gender diverse gamers as well. With a big team of passionate, knowledgeable, fun and diverse hosts and guests, we’ve been able to tackle important topics that other gaming media don’t talk about enough. Now that we’ve been acquired by the CRN, we’re incredibly excited that our messages of positivity, inclusion, and representation will reach people all over Australia!

Back in October of 2019, we won a national broadcasting award for “Excellence in Innovative Programming and Content” from the Community Broadcasters Association of Australia (CBAA).

When talking to the CBAA about being acquired by the CRN family, producer and founder of Checkpoint, Luke Mitchell, had this to say:

“In today’s generation we’re finally seeing more people open and comfortable to talk about being themselves, and we’re seeing that come into the gaming culture as well, with diverse content creators and a generally loving community of gamers who just want to play together without judgement.” 

“There’s something universal about playing a video game and talking about them which transcends sexuality and brings everybody together, and it’s important that we continue to provide safe spaces and highlight positive diversity in the industry so that future generations feel accepted and part of a family, much earlier than us older generations ever did.”

On top of our weekly live broadcast, Checkpoint also hosts additional podcasts available on iTunes and Spotify, and publish daily news, features and reviews to checkpointgaming.net

What does this mean for Checkpoint?

The short answer is it means we have a much bigger audience listening to our show. It also provides the opportunity for other broadcasting networks to pick up our show in the future. Additionally, it will hopefully provide us with more opportunities to report on the stories and cover the topics that are important to our listeners and readers. We have a passion to make the video game industry a more inclusive place and to bring more amazing Australian-made games into the spotlight. Being syndicated nationally will help support these goals and make Checkpoint the best it can possibly be.

When does it all start?

Checkpoint’s next live broadcast on Saturday February 1st will be our first nationally broadcast program. We will still hit the airwaves live around Melbourne on JOY 94.9, with an edited version of the show broadcasting around Australia via the CRN on Tuesday February 4th at 7pm AEST/AEDT. Can’t catch the broadcast? All of our shows are podcast via Apple, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts! And the show is streamable live too.

A big thank you from us

To anybody who has been on this journey with us as a listener, as a friend, as a contributor, as a guest, or as a supporter – Thank you. This move to a national broadcasting network means a lot to our team. It means we can share our love and energy for video games with a wider audience whilst pushing for better standards of equality. It means we can highlight worthy causes, local developers, and important issues with a nation-wide audience. And we couldn’t have done any of it without you.

If you’d like to read more about Checkpoint’s acquisition by the CRN you can head to this link.