This week's story is streaked with the glittering rainbow of magical realism. 

Atul Joshi queers the fabric of reality in Sydney on the 40th anniversary of Mardis Gras by opening portals and cruising paradise for another state of being.  

That story was written and performed by Atul Joshi, with sound design by Ramon Briant and production assistance by Phoebe Adler-Ryan. 

 

All The Best Credits

Host Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan

Editorial Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Artwork: Ray Vo

Mixed and Compiled by Ramon Briant

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird 

This week's story is streaked with the glittering rainbow of magical realism.&nbsp;
Atul Joshi queers the fabric of reality in Sydney on the 40th anniversary of Mardis Gras by opening portals and cruising paradise for another state of being. &nbsp;
That story was written and performed by Atul Joshi, with sound design by Ramon Briant and production assistance by Phoebe Adler-Ryan.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
All The Best Credits
Host Kwame Slusher
Executive Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan
Editorial Producer: Melanie Bakewell
Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie
Artwork: Ray Vo
Mixed and Compiled by Ramon Briant
Theme Music composed by Shining Bird&nbsp;

All The Best is for new Australian storytelling. Hear from a Melbourne-based cannibal, how the Australian Wallabies used theatre workshops to improve their game, anxiety attacks in a Tantric sex class, and what the shopping centre Santa Claus is really thinking, all on All The Best. 


We're a weekly radio show and podcast produced at FBi Radio in Sydney in association with SYN and Triple R in Melbourne, and broadcast nationally via the Community Radio Network. We’ve been telling stories in a variety of forms since 2011, picking a theme each week and using short form documentary, personal narrative, interviews, and spoken word to bring you the best from across Australia.

All The Best is for new Australian storytelling. Hear from a Melbourne-based cannibal, how the Australian Wallabies used theatre workshops to improve their game, anxiety attacks in a Tantric sex class, and what the shopping centre Santa Claus is really thinking, all on All The Best. 
 
We're a weekly radio show and podcast produced at FBi Radio in Sydney in association with SYN and Triple R in Melbourne, and broadcast nationally via the Community Radio Network. We’ve been telling stories in a variety of forms since 2011, picking a theme each week and using short form documentary, personal narrative, interviews, and spoken word to bring you the best from across Australia.

All The Best

5AM Paradiso

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Happy New Year, and here is our second ‘best of’ episode. But this time it’s the All the Best staff picks.

Cockroach by Jin Hien Lau

Kwame’s first pick comes from #659 Extra(ordinary) Tales – Part One.

What begins as a chance encounter with a cockroach on an escalator spirals into a wild story of movie nights, pop culture, and a swarm of roaches bursting out of a DVD case. 

Kwame loves this story for its humour and cockroach-themed 90s nostalgia.

Produced by: Jin Hien Lau 

Sound design by: Gregory Thorsby 

The audio corpse

Cat’s fav was the #641 The audio corpse.

This piece is part of The Exquisite Audio Corpse, an ambitious international collaboration between 75 audio makers from around the globe run by Audio Club, creating a series of seven sonic “corpses” inspired by the surrealist game exquisite corpse.

Cat loved seeing the individual styles of storytelling.

The sample was from M. Cristina Marras and storytellers in that episode were Lezak, Pierre & Florence, Yhane, Ali, Darien, Arielle, Valdez & Hazel, Ellie, Cole &  Claudia.  

The Love Game by Wing Kuang

Mel’s pick was from #661 The Love Game.

Wing Kuang guides us through a love story of two gamers —one in Melbourne and one in Shanghai —navigating the complexities of long-distance relationships and the bureaucracy of Australia’s immigration system. 

This story came from the Jesse Cox Fellowship 2025, and Mel enjoyed seeing Wing explore how to include elements of bilingual storytelling and gamification.

Produced by Wing Kuang 

Supervising Producer: M. Cristina Marras

Window by Danni Stewart

Kwame’s second pick comes from #633 Small Audio Art.

It came from a Small Audio Art challenge, and Danny’s story, The Window, follows a parasocial relationship with a neighbour.

Produced by Danni Stewart

Just Breathe by Ben Haywood

Our final pick is Mel’s second pick. It’s another one from the Jesse Cox Fellowship 2025. This time it’s #662 Just Breathe Man.

Ben suffers from depression after knee surgery. Searching for ways to heal online, he finds himself trapped in toxic ideas of masculinity. It’s only when a friend takes him to his breathwork class that he finally breaks down and begins to heal, learning that recovery can come through friendship, community, and space to breathe.

Mel said  ’This story started out when Ben first pitched to the fellowship as a completely different idea. He had a kind of couple of story false starts in the making of this, and then yeah, sort of turned his audio story in on himself and the time that he was going through.’

 

Substack 

If you want more of what’s happening at All the Best, check out our Substack! It’s a roundup of all our activities with a little bit of BTS.

 

All The Best Credits

Program Manager & Host: Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator:  Catarina Fraga Matos 

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Special shout-out to our volunteers.

Happy New Year, and here is our second &lsquo;best of&rsquo; episode. But this time it&rsquo;s the All the Best staff picks.
Cockroach by Jin Hien Lau
Kwame&rsquo;s first pick comes from&nbsp;<a href="https://allthebestradio.com/featured/659-extraordinary-tales-part-one/">#659 Extra(ordinary) Tales &ndash; Part One</a>.
What begins as a chance encounter with a cockroach on an escalator spirals into a wild story of movie nights, pop culture, and a swarm of roaches bursting out of a DVD case.&nbsp;
Kwame loves this story for its humour and cockroach-themed 90s nostalgia.
Produced by: Jin Hien Lau&nbsp;
Sound design by: Gregory Thorsby&nbsp;
The audio corpse
Cat&rsquo;s fav was the&nbsp;<a href="https://allthebestradio.com/featured/641-the-audio-corpse/">#641 The audio corpse</a>.
This piece is part of The Exquisite Audio Corpse, an ambitious international collaboration between&nbsp;75 audio makers from around the globe&nbsp;run by Audio Club, creating a series of seven sonic &ldquo;corpses&rdquo; inspired by the surrealist game&nbsp;exquisite corpse.
Cat loved seeing the individual styles of storytelling.
The sample was from M. Cristina Marras and storytellers in that episode were Lezak, Pierre &amp; Florence, Yhane, Ali, Darien, Arielle, Valdez &amp; Hazel, Ellie, Cole &amp;&nbsp; Claudia.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The Love Game by Wing Kuang
Mel&rsquo;s pick was from&nbsp;<a href="https://allthebestradio.com/featured/the-love-game/">#661 The Love Game</a>.
Wing Kuang guides us through a love story of two gamers &mdash;one in Melbourne and one in Shanghai &mdash;navigating the complexities of long-distance relationships and the bureaucracy of Australia&rsquo;s immigration system.&nbsp;
This story came from the&nbsp;<a href="https://allthebestradio.com/fellowship/">Jesse Cox Fellowship 2025</a>, and Mel enjoyed seeing Wing explore how to include elements of bilingual storytelling and gamification.
Produced by Wing Kuang&nbsp;
Supervising Producer: M. Cristina Marras
Window by Danni Stewart
Kwame&rsquo;s second pick comes from&nbsp;<a href="https://allthebestradio.com/featured/633-small-audio-art/">#633 Small Audio Art</a>.
It came from a&nbsp;<a href="https://welcome2myhome.squarespace.com/">Small Audio Art</a>&nbsp;challenge, and Danny&rsquo;s story, The Window, follows a parasocial relationship with a neighbour.
Produced by Danni Stewart
Just Breathe by Ben Haywood
Our final pick is Mel&rsquo;s second pick. It&rsquo;s another one from the&nbsp;<a href="https://allthebestradio.com/fellowship/">Jesse Cox Fellowship 2025</a>. This time it&rsquo;s&nbsp;<a href="https://allthebestradio.com/shows/662-just-breathe-man/]">#662 Just Breathe Man</a>.
Ben suffers from depression after knee surgery. Searching for ways to heal online, he finds himself trapped in toxic ideas of masculinity. It&rsquo;s only when a friend takes him to his breathwork class that he finally breaks down and begins to heal, learning that recovery can come through friendship, community, and space to breathe.
Mel said  &rsquo;This story started out when Ben first pitched to the fellowship as a completely different idea. He had a kind of couple of story false starts in the making of this, and then yeah, sort of turned his audio story in on himself and the time that he was going through.&rsquo;
&nbsp;
Substack&nbsp;
If you want more of what&rsquo;s happening at&nbsp;All the Best,&nbsp;check out our&nbsp;<a href="https://allthebestradio.substack.com/">Substack</a>! It&rsquo;s a roundup of all our activities with a little bit of BTS.
&nbsp;
All The Best Credits
Program Manager &amp; Host: Kwame Slusher
Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell
Programming &amp; Community Coordinator:&nbsp; Catarina Fraga Matos&nbsp;
Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie
Theme Music composed by Shining Bird
Special shout-out to our volunteers.

Best of  2025  Part 2 - Staff Picks 

2025 is almost over, and it’s the time of year when everyone is sharing their ‘best of’s, ‘wrappeds, ‘rewinds’ or recaps of the year.

In this episode, our amazing volunteers at All the Best share the stories that really resonated with them.  

 

Second Hand Bandit by Ramon Briant 

Episode #640 The Second Hand Bandit was all about community and second-hand op-shops, or in Patrick’s words, it was about those ‘comrad vibes’.  Ramon’s story focuses on how a second-hand shop community came together to solve a string of thefts.  

Produced by Ramon Briant 

 

 Weaving Ancestral Voices by Shareeka Hellaludin 

Sue chose Weaving Ancestral Voices from #629 Ancestral Voices, and the episode focused on that theme of connection and reconnection. The story is about the Shraeeka’s journey to reconnect the different parts of her identity. For Sue, it was the  delicate panning, whispered textures, and ‘really subtle shifts in tone’ that Shareeka uses in the piece.   

This story was produced by Shareeka Helaluddin. The Supervising Producer was Mell Chun, with support from John Tjhia.

 

Wanted: Dunnart Alive by Xanthe Smith 

This comes from #660 Wanted: Dunnart Alive. This is one of Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship Stories for 2025.

Lindsey’s choice is all about looking for that elusive thing.  Xanthe revisits her childhood memories of meeting ecologist Sue Churchill, whose stories of the rare marsupial stayed with her for decades. 

She chose this story because  ’…the amount of effort it takes, even finding something so small.’

Produced by Xanthe Smith

Supervising Producer was Karla Arnall

All The Best turned 15 this year! And as part of our b-day party showcased stories from the JCAF fellows. 

 

Tubig Lang by Merlinda Bobis 

 Ray’s choice is the first story in #653 Tubig Lang (Just Water). This takes us to the Philippines and explores what a typhoon looks like in the eyes of a child.  

He chose this story because  ‘Even though these episodes moved through world typhoons … What stayed with me were the quieter, more personal details that shape how each person makes sense of the chaos’. 

It was originally commissioned by Debris Magazine issue five, Prismatic Joy, and the sound design was by Tala Issaoui. The supervising producer was Phoebe Adler Ryan. 

 

The Great Dingo Debate by Andrea Dixon 

Our final pick comes from Imogen! And her choice came from the #623 Humanimal.

Andrea shares her love for Taz, a rescued dingo living on her family’s property in Hawkesbury, Darug country.

For Imogen, it represented a perspective she hadn’t heard before.  

The producer was Andrea Dixon.

The Supervising Producer was Thomas Phillips.

 

All The Best Credits

Program Manager & Host: Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator:  Catarina Fraga Matos 

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Special shout-out to our volunteers.

2025 is almost over, and it&rsquo;s the time of year when everyone is sharing their &lsquo;best of&rsquo;s, &lsquo;wrappeds, &lsquo;rewinds&rsquo; or recaps of the year.
In this episode, our amazing volunteers at All the Best share the stories that really resonated with them.&nbsp;&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Second Hand Bandit by Ramon Briant&nbsp;
<a href="https://allthebestradio.com/featured/640-the-second-hand-bandit/">Episode #640 The Second Hand Bandit</a>&nbsp;was all about community and second-hand op-shops, or in Patrick&rsquo;s words, it was about those &lsquo;comrad vibes&rsquo;.&nbsp; Ramon&rsquo;s story focuses on how a second-hand shop community came together to solve a string of thefts.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Produced by Ramon Briant&nbsp;
&nbsp;
&nbsp;Weaving Ancestral Voices by Shareeka Hellaludin&nbsp;
Sue chose Weaving Ancestral Voices from&nbsp;<a href="https://allthebestradio.com/featured/629-ancestral-voices/">#629 Ancestral Voices</a>, and the episode focused on that theme of connection and reconnection. The story is about the Shraeeka&rsquo;s journey to reconnect the different parts of her identity. For Sue, it was the  delicate panning, whispered textures, and &lsquo;really subtle shifts in tone&rsquo; that Shareeka uses in the piece.&nbsp; &nbsp;
This story was produced by Shareeka Helaluddin. The Supervising Producer was Mell Chun, with support from John Tjhia.
&nbsp;
Wanted: Dunnart Alive by Xanthe Smith&nbsp;
This comes from&nbsp;<a href="https://allthebestradio.com/featured/660-jcaf-xanthe/">#660 Wanted: Dunnart Alive</a>. This is one of&nbsp;<a href="https://allthebestradio.com/fellowship/">Jesse Cox Audio Fellowship</a>&nbsp;Stories for 2025.
Lindsey&rsquo;s choice is all about looking for that elusive thing. &nbsp;Xanthe revisits her childhood memories of meeting ecologist Sue Churchill, whose stories of the rare marsupial stayed with her for decades.&nbsp;
She chose this story because  &rsquo;&hellip;the amount of effort it takes, even finding something so small.&rsquo;
Produced by Xanthe Smith
Supervising Producer was Karla Arnall
<a href="https://allthebestradio.substack.com/p/a-night-to-remember-atbs-15th-birthday">All The Best turned 15 this year</a>! And as part of our b-day party showcased stories from the JCAF fellows.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Tubig Lang by Merlinda Bobis&nbsp;
 Ray&rsquo;s choice is the first story in&nbsp;<a href="https://allthebestradio.com/featured/653-tubig-lang-just-water/">#653 Tubig Lang (Just Water)</a>. This takes us to the Philippines and explores what a typhoon looks like in the eyes of a child.&nbsp;&nbsp;
He chose this story because&nbsp; &lsquo;Even though these episodes moved through world typhoons &hellip; What stayed with me were the quieter, more personal details that shape how each person makes sense of the chaos&rsquo;.&nbsp;
It was originally commissioned by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.debrismag.com/">Debris Magazine issue five, Prismatic Joy</a>, and the sound design was by Tala Issaoui. The supervising producer was Phoebe Adler Ryan.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
The Great Dingo Debate by Andrea Dixon&nbsp;
Our final pick comes from Imogen! And her choice came from the&nbsp;<a href="https://allthebestradio.com/featured/632-humanimal/">#623 Humanimal.</a>
Andrea shares her love for Taz, a rescued dingo living on her family&rsquo;s property in Hawkesbury, Darug country.
For Imogen, it represented a perspective she hadn&rsquo;t heard before.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The producer was Andrea Dixon.
The Supervising Producer was Thomas Phillips.
&nbsp;
All The Best Credits
Program Manager &amp; Host: Kwame Slusher
Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell
Programming &amp; Community Coordinator:&nbsp; Catarina Fraga Matos&nbsp;
Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie
Theme Music composed by Shining Bird
Special shout-out to our volunteers.

Best of 2025 Part 1 -  Vols

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Marker 02

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Our Stories Our Flats 

 I've lived in Carlton, in the Carlton Public housing estates for 30-plus years. So I know it like the back of my hand and I've come across very interesting people and I thought it would be important for me to, um, leave a document behind.

Ayan Shirwa 

 

This episode is all about community—specifically,  the importance of community in public housing. 

Ayan Shirwa from 3CR is a longtime resident of the Carlton Public Housing and, in response to the Victorian government's decision to demolish the flats in 2023, decided to record the stories of residents for future generations.  

This is the first episode of Our Stories, Our Flats, but you can listen to the full series on 3CR. 

 

Produced and written by Ayan Shirwa

Narrated by Raven 

 

Substack 

If you want more of what's happening at All the Best, check out our Substack! It's a roundup of all our activities with a little bit of BTS.

 

All The Best Credits

Program Manager & Host: Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programming & Community Coordinator:  Catarina Fraga Matos 

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird

Cover Art: Ray Vo

Special shout-out to our volunteers.

 

Our Stories Our Flats&nbsp;
<blockquote>
 I've lived in Carlton, in the Carlton Public housing estates for 30-plus years. So I know it like the back of my hand and I've come across very interesting people and I thought it would be important for me to, um, leave a document behind.
Ayan Shirwa&nbsp;
</blockquote>
&nbsp;
This episode is all about community&mdash;specifically,&nbsp; the importance of community in public housing.&nbsp;
Ayan Shirwa from 3CR&nbsp;is a longtime resident of the Carlton Public Housing and, in response to the Victorian government's decision to demolish the flats in 2023, decided to record the stories of residents for future generations.&nbsp;&nbsp;
This is the first episode of Our Stories, Our Flats,&nbsp;but you can listen to the full series&nbsp;on <a href="http://3cr.org.au/">3CR</a>.&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Produced and written by Ayan Shirwa
Narrated by Raven&nbsp;
&nbsp;
Substack&nbsp;
If you want more of what's happening at All the Best, check out our <a href="https://allthebestradio.substack.com/">Substack</a>! It's a roundup of all our activities with a little bit of BTS.
&nbsp;
All The Best Credits
Program Manager &amp; Host: Kwame Slusher
Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell
Programming &amp; Community Coordinator:&nbsp; Catarina Fraga Matos&nbsp;
Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie
Theme Music composed by Shining Bird
Cover Art: Ray Vo
Special shout-out to our volunteers.
&nbsp;

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