Stranded Conversation #1: Independent media

Stephen Stockwell

Stephen Stockwell is a podcast host, audio producer and manager who has been hanging around a radio station since high school. He cut his teeth at 4ZZZ in Brisbane before taking roles in commercial radio and the ABC, where he worked for almost a decade across RN, Rural, triple j and ABC News. He was also a board member at 4ZZZ. In 2021 he left The Corporation to return to community radio, working as 4ZZZ's station manager from 2021 to 2023. He has since moved to Naarm/Melbourne, working for the ABC across Audio Studios, ABC News and triple j. He is currently the presenter of The Case Of podcast after hosting Mushroom Case Daily during Erin Patterson's trial. 

Stefan Armbruster

At 17, Stefan Armbruster walked into 4ZZZ on the St Lucia campus in 1987, beginning a whirlwind four years as a broadcaster, flyposter, station chauffeur (using his mum’s car), and a clueless company director. Reports that he was on-air during Victoria Brazil’s 1988 raid were exaggerated, as was much of the mainstream media coverage of Zed and its community. Protests during the Bicentenary and the final days of Joh Bjelke-Petersen’s corrupt regime were formative for him as a journalist. Stefan left Australia, worked for Radio Fiji, the BBC in London, and became a long-time award-winning correspondent for SBS. After the closure of Radio Free Asia’s Pacific bureau due to Trump-era funding cuts, he now works with Torres Strait and Pacific Islander news organisations.

Dan Rennie

Dan Rennie is the Queensland Correspondent for NITV News, reporting on stories, voices and issues shaping First Nations communities. With over 20 years’ experience in radio, television and digital media, Dan has built a career on listening deeply, reporting truthfully and amplifying overlooked stories. His work spans health, justice, culture and enterprise, focusing on lived experience and community-led solutions. Passionate about highlighting strength and resilience, Dan amplifies the voices of Elders, young people and grassroots changemakers. Known for his calm on-camera presence and genuine connection with mob, he brings cultural sensitivity and care to every story. Whether in community or Parliament House, Dan believes in the power of storytelling to heal, inform and transform. 

Moderator - Dr Heather Anderson

Associate Professor Heather Anderson is a media studies and journalism scholar at Griffith University’s School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science. Her research explores how media can promote social justice, focusing on community radio, citizens’ media, media diversity, and alternative journalism, including prisoner radio. Heather has been involved with community radio since the early 1990s, starting as a volunteer at Brisbane’s 4ZZZ. She now contributes to Triple Zed’s long-form interview program Talking Zeds, curating special shows for the station’s upcoming 50th anniversary. Heather is also a station historian, with her book People-Powered Radio: Fifty Years of Australian Community Radio Station 4ZZZ set for release in December 2025. Her first book, Raising the Civil Dead (2012), examined community radio and incarceration.