Perth’s RTRFM says goodbye to Matt Perrett

Matthew Perrett. Image supplied

Perth community radio station RTRFM is on the lookout for a new Music Director, with the station’s current musical steward Matthew Perrett signing off at the end of February.

Perrett began volunteering with RTRFM in 2018 and took up the mantle of Music Director in 2021.

During his time in the role, he has hosted Drivetime and the new release program Out to Lunch, and has been instrumental in the development and curation of RTRFM’s online-only sister station RTR2, which launched in 2024.

He has also spent the past four and a half years championing local artists and alternative music from around the globe, spotlighting more than 200 feature albums from WA and countless individual acts and songs.

“RTRFM and community radio has been a fundamental part of my life for the past eight years and I loved every minute of it,” says Perrett.

“The privilege of being the station’s music director for four and half years is something that was never lost on me; the West Australian music scene is one of the most unique, resolute and creative communities I’ve had the chance to support.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever truly leave RTRFM and look forward to watching the station support grassroots musicians, bands, DJs and promoters and artists, no matter where I find myself.”

“Matt’s going to be seriously missed, not just here at the station, but in wider Boorloo, where he has helped foster an incredibly rich music scene, as a performer, promoter, broadcaster and music director,” adds RTRFM’s General Manager Simon Miraudo.

“His contributions to the station cannot be understated, and I’m grateful to him for always reminding us to answer, in everything that we do, ‘Why is it alternative?’

“It will be difficult to find someone to step into his shoes and blaze their own trail at RTRFM, but I am heartened that we live in a state with such an incredible breadth of talented artists and music-lovers from which to choose.”

Ahead of its 50th anniversary in 2027, RTRFM is now seeking a new Music Director who has an innovative imagination when it comes to the future of the station.