James “Monte” Irvine hosts #MonteFamous on Monday nights and each week he interviews three independent or unsigned Australian musicians.

“I am very excited and incredibly humbled,” Monte said. 

“I have always tried to make the show all about the artists and their music, so I'm not used to being the one getting the recognition. 

“It has really made me determined to work harder at my studies at AFTRS, improve the show even more and look at other avenues such as podcasting to give the independent musician another avenue to showcase their incredible talents,” he said.

Monte thanked the local community radio station for all of their help.

“I’m very grateful for the support and encouragement I have received from the management committee and all of the announcers at Valley Fm.”

President of 2LVR Valley Fm, John Berger, said since the shows inception, under its former name “Uncharted Wednesdays”, Monte has interviewed 197 Australian artists or bands and played their music on 2LVR.

“It was my pleasure to nominate Monte and his show for the 2017 CBAA Radio awards,” Mr Berger said.

“Monte and his show are a great contribution to new and unsigned Australian artists who wouldn’t necessarily get interviewed or airplay on other radio stations.”

A number of the artists have debuted their music on “Monte’s” show as well as bands playing live in the studio. Each week, Monte also has guest hosts who take part in the interviews.

“Over 190 artists and bands have featured on the #MonteFamous and Uncharted Wednesday shows,” the Valley FM president said.

“Not many small community radio stations such as Valley Fm could boast an impressive record like this. 

“It’d be great for #MonteFamous to be picked up by the Community Radio Network (CRN) and syndicated around Australia,” Mr Berger said.