🎉A Night to Remember - ATB's 15th Birthday & JCAF 2025 Listening Party. 🥳
Time to share with you the highlights of All The Best's 15th Birthday Party & The Jesse Cox Fellowship for 2025!
Streamers were dangling, balloons flying, and snacks in platters as countless attendees arrived at fbi.radio last Tuesday for a night of celebration. Whilst festive joy and mingling were high on the to-do list, this occasion marked many incredible milestones.
From the very start of 2010, a passionate trio from fbi – featuring Jesse Cox, Brigitte Dagg and Eliza Sarlos – looked to launch a space on radio dedicated to diverse local stories made by Australian storytellers. This one vision would build a lively radio show fostering passionate writers, artists and producers with countless tales to share. 15 years on and All the Best now stands strong in the hearts and minds of those who make it and support it.
It is why the 14th of October saw the station flooded with visitors standing shoulder to shoulder – food in hand and countless memories to share. Many alumni like Eliza Sarlos returned to fbi after years of absence – astounded by how much has changed since those early years. Others like the program’s current EP, Mel Bakewell, would travel from South Australia to visit the station for the very first time.
For those needing a bit more to break the ice, pens and sticky notes supplied in the meeting room gave attendees the opportunity to write prompts that would be placed on a pitch board. Helping to narrate one continuous plot powered by the collective imagination.
After some needed socialising, visitors turned their attention to the glistening lights that bathed the stage in the pastel tinge of Periwinkle. Awaiting everyone’s attention was ATB’s very own host, Kwame Slusher, in the flesh as he welcomes all in the same soft and reserved manner that begins each episode of the series.
With all guests comfortably seated, the next hour became an immersive journey. Guided by the voices that make the show’s past, present and future.
We first hear a historical relic of the show’s beginnings with a snippet of the original 24-Hour Audio Race titled First Impressions. In this blast from the past, one can hear the preppy voice of Eliza Sarlos alongside Jesse Cox as they discuss the accidental circumstances that formed a now long-running tradition for the show.
Following a brief photo montage capturing the show’s growth, words of personal reflection was shared by the likes of Phoebe, Eliza and Mel. All shining a light on the profound impact All the Best has had on them and the broader community.
Once these heartfelt messages were addressed, it was time to showcase the incredible projects made possible through the Jessie Cox Audio Fellowship. The audio pieces that came out of the program’s 2025 season was nothing short of enriching. The featured stories included the search for an allusive marsupial that hides in the sandhills, a blossoming video game romance challenged by the immigration process, the emotional journey to well-being that defies masculine expectations as well as a final entry exploring voluntary assisted dying. JACAF’s members were Xanthe Smith, Wing Kuang, Ben Haywood and Miles Mazzocato respectively, with mentorship from Sam Loy, M Cristina Marras, Karla Arnall and Miles Martignoni. All received their well-earned applause.
You can listen to the full length stories here:
With 6 months of hard work finally shared to all, this marked the closing of 2025’s JCAF. But with the end of one chapter came the start of another as Phoebe and Mel gleefully announced application openings for next year’s program.
As the remainder of the night returned to social matters, the vibes filled the air with optimism. Especially with knowing how far All the Best has come through the passing of time. These 15 years has seen a dedicated community continue to breathe life into this incomparable piece of radio programming. The smiles, laughter and energy seen that night was the best sign that another 15 incredible years was yet to come.
In the Jesse Cox tribute episode of ATB, former co-producer Belinda Lopez recounts a thought that popped into Jesse’s mind when first meeting him, “He started talking to me about legacy. And I think back now, what kind of 25 year old talks about legacy? … I had to work that out…he’s not speaking about himself. He was talking about the show and how the founders had set up the structures and the funding necessary so that this show could continue and could be passed on from generation to generation of radio makers. And that continues today. All the Best is still around”. Whilst this prediction became all too accurate, this one show continues to preserve Jesse’s own legacy and vision of a flourishing audio community. Maybe that’s what makes “The Best” in All the Best.
2026 will see another season supporting emerging audio storytellers and that could be anyone – including you! If you yearn to tell a compelling story of your own or aspire to produce a piece for others, don’t hesitate to apply for next year’s JCAF. Entries are open until the 18th of November. Learn more on how you can be part of the future of Australian Audio Storytellers in the link below.
All The Best,
Lindsey