Hi, this is Rael.
I present The Progressive Rock Machine on Phoenix Fm. The show has been running continuously (Apart from 3 weeks when covid first hit and i had to, as they say ‘pivot’ to maintain what I do). The show covers music in all forms including pop/rock/world and so much more. Everything is Progressive to my ears. The show is scripted/recorded/edited and distributed from my home studio and I have to say it takes quite a bit of my time, but I love what I do.
As for the rest of my life – I am now retired, but I also work as a guide (And av/support and a committee member) for the Art Gallery of Ballarat and I write crime novels in my spare time.
On air I adopt the pseudo ‘Rael’ (Based on a character from an album by Genesis) and when I write, I am Digby Stevens – although in the ‘real’ world my name is Fred Spittle.
Listen back
7 Jun 2026 Prog Rock Machine 563 Thin Lizzy 5 Hi this is Rael and welcome to another progressive rock machine being beamed down to you from aboard the prog mothership orbiting nearly 100 miles above your head. This week is our fifth show looking at the music of thin Lizzy and we look at the albums Black Rose: A Rock Legend (1979) Chinatown (1980) both albums in full. So lets get on with the show.
1 Jun 2026 Prog Rock Machine 562 Deep Forest 2 Hi this is Rael and welcome to another progressive rock machine being beamed down to you from aboard the prog mothership orbiting nearly 100 miles above your head. This week we continue our look at the music of Deep Forest after our first show number 475 where we listened to their first two albums. Over the years they released a variety of material and also the duo split and worked under different names as well as Deep Forest so we are simply going to move across their career and listen to the variety of their output. So lets get on with the show.
24 May 2026 Prog Rock Machine 561 Just Because 561 Hi this is Rael and welcome to another progressive rock machine being beamed down to you from aboard the prog mothership orbiting nearly 100 miles above your head. This week is another Just Because show with new tracks by new artists, established ones or anything in between. Keep a pen handy to note down any artist you are interested in or check the prog web page – just type prog rock machine into a browser – you can contact me there or on the Facebook page also via the show name in your browser. You can send music to me by following the directions on the prog website https://progrockmachine.com/ So lets get on with the show.
17 May 2026 Prog Rock Machine 560 New Prog Hi this is Rael and welcome to another progressive rock machine being beamed down to you from aboard the prog mothership orbiting nearly 100 miles above your head. This week is another new prog show with tracks from the prog magazine download and this week its all devoted to the band Pallas. Pallas have been a going concern since the late 70’s. On Bandcamp you can find most of their music. This week we listen to an across the career sample and their new album the messenger is out now on cd and download So lets get on with the show.