In 1988 The Boîte took to the airwaves at 3PBS FM. The Boîte committee had a keen awareness of the power of radio as a platform to present and support diverse music and musicians, since the establishment of The Boîte in Melbourne. By the mid 1980s, community radio in Melbourne had strongly cemented its central role in offering opportunities to broadcast the diverse voices of Melbourne and The Boîte had been seeking opportunities for coverage on programmes such as The Folk Show on 3CR (Community Radio), 3 PBS FM’s Mainly Acoustic and Rick Vengeance’s The Old Folk Show on 3RRR FM.
In 1987, The Boîte had a taste of radio programming, when Raymond Mow, presenter of Mainly Acoustic on 3PBS, offered two consecutive programmes to feature The Boîte. These Mainly Multicultural features provided an opportunity to profile musicians The Boîte had worked with and discuss the work of the organisation. This led to offers of a regular program by management of PBS. In March 1988, after considerable planning, and securing funding from the Music Board of the Australia Council for a radio project, The Boîte launched a 10 part series, produced and presented by The Boîte member Gwenda Davies (with one program produced by Paul Petran and Steven Snellerman of the ABC’s Music Deli) featuring music from The Boîte collection, interviews with local musicians and local arts organisers and and live performances.
Following the series, the program continued with The Boîte committee member Greg Caulton presenting for the rest of the year. Roger King then became presenter, before Therese Virtue took up the microphone, beginning a career in radio that continues to this day.
The Boîte would continue to broadcast with 3PBS for 16 years, before joining 3CR in 2006 with Music Sans Frontières. The Boîte has always had a strong focus on presenting a high volume of local content from culturally diverse musicians through their radio programming.
