''Ultima Thule Ambient Music'' is a long-running, specialist ambient music radio show which has been broadcast on

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

since 1989. The show has been described as one of the leading alternative music programmes on Australian radio. It is also available as a

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, webca ...

and as a

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

. As of December 2007, Ultima Thule was the number one ambient

music podcast A music podcast is a genre of podcasts covering topics related to music and musicians, which often includes reviews, interpretations, new releases, musician interviews, music history, music creation, and music theory. History Music podcasts d ...

on the iTunes Store.

Show format

Each broadcast is uninterrupted by back-announcing other than near the beginning and end of the show, and consists of a 90-minute musical

soundscape A soundscape is the acoustic environment as perceived by humans, in context. The term, originally coined by Michael Southworth, was popularized by R. Murray Schafer. There is a varied history of the use of soundscape depending on discipline, ...

created by

segue A segue ( , ; ) is a transition from one topic or section to the next. In music In music, ''segue'' is a direction to the performer. It means ''continue (the next section) without a pause''. The term ''attacca'' is used synonymously. For writ ...

mixing tracks from a number of different artists. The musical content of each show is eclectic and diverse, and can embrace

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

, contemporary classical, ethnic/world,

cool jazz Cool jazz is a style of modern jazz music inspired by bebop and big band that arose in the United States after World War II. It is characterized by relaxed tempos and a lighter tone than that used in the fast and complex bebop style. Cool jazz of ...

film soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured ...

s and occasionally even popular idioms, in addition to mainstream

ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

new age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

and

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

. The duration of ''Ultima Thule'' has varied considerably over the years. Initially launched as a 90-minute programme, the duration was expanded progressively to two, and then three hours, until settling back into a 90-minute slot from March 2001.

History and presenters

The project was conceived by

George Cruickshank George Cruickshank may refer to: * George Cruikshank (1792–1878), British caricaturist and book illustrator * George Cruickshank (Australian politician) (1853–1904), Australian politician * George Cruikshank (editor) (1857–1936), American new ...

, and the first show aired on 1 February 1989, from the Narwee studios of 2NBC-FM. In early 1990 the show was moved to Australia's oldest and biggest community station, 2MBS-FM, where it has been based ever since. From the show's foundation until late 1998, George Cruickshank was Ultima Thule's sole programmer and presenter. Towards the end of 1998, David Bassin, Candace Cappe, Victor Kay and Nev Dorrington joined Cruickshank as co-producers, although that arrangement proved impractical, and was terminated early in 1999. Dorrington subsequently rejoined the show's on-air lineup late in 2001, along with Mike Watson, a.k.a. Mike G, creator of the

Ambient Music Guide Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...

reference website. Watson remained with the show for five years, before departing in late 2006. Watson's position in the Ultima Thule roster was then taken by Marc "Kundalini" Cottee. Jon Shapiro joined the show in 2009. American presenter Jack Anthony replaced Nev Dorrington in 2016. The show has been presented on a fortnightly cycle since late 2001, with Cruickshank presenting every second broadcast, while each of the other presenters take turns hosting the show in the alternate weeks.

Syndication, streaming and podcast

''Ultima Thule'' is broadcast live by 2MBS-FM in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, on Thursday evenings between 10.30pm and midnight. In June 2003 ''Ultima Thule'' was networked to

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

by 2MBS' sister station, 5MBS-FM. It is broadcast there on Sunday evenings, also from 10.30pm to midnight. A third station in the

Fine Music Network Fine may refer to: Characters * Fran Fine, the title character of ''The Nanny'' * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (pe ...

Artsound FM ArtSound FM (callsign 1ART) is a community radio station broadcasting to Canberra from studios in the suburb of Manuka. Its format is fine music and arts programming. ArtSound was established in the early 1980s under the name Canberra Stereo ...

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, began to carry the show in November 2006, broadcasting it on Tuesday evenings from 10.00pm. In March 2008 it was announced on the ''Ultima Thule''

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

that the show had been picked up for nationwide distribution via the

Community Broadcasting Association of Australia The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) is the peak body and the national representative organisation for community radio and television stations in Australia. The CBAA provide leadership, advocacy and support for members to ac ...

's Community Radio Network satellite service - which delivers shared programming to over 180 radio stations in all states and territories. That arrangement commenced on 2 May. ''Ultima Thule'' has been available as a podcast since May 2005, and at any given time 8 shows are available for download in

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...

form through the programme's website. It can also be streamed live from the 2MBS-FM website.

Compilation album

''Chasing the Dawn: Ultima Thule Ambient Volume 01'', a branded compilation album produced by George Cruickshank, was released as a fund-raiser for 2MBS in early 2006. It features original and previously unreleased compositions by thirteen ambient artists, including Steve Roach, Tim Story, Robert Rich, and

Numina Numen (plural numina) is a Latin term for "divinity", "divine presence", or "divine will". The Latin authors defined it as follows:For a more extensive account, refer to Cicero writes of a "divine mind" (), a god "whose numen everything obeys", ...

. The recording reached #41 on the New Age Reporter music chart in August 2006.

References

* * * * * (Se
here
for scans of the 3 articles mentioned, above).

Notes

External links

* {{official Australian music radio programs Music podcasts Ambient music radio programs Australian podcasts 1980s Australian radio programs 1990s Australian radio programs 2000s Australian radio programs 2010s Australian radio programs