Special Event

The Bohemian Beat 20th Year Extravaganza

20 Years of Bohemian Beating!

On Thursday 5th November, The Bohemian Beat marked twenty years on BayFM with a three-hour live special. The afternoon brought together presenters, poets, performers, activists and BayFMers in the station’s back-office spaces, where snacks and drinks kept roughly forty people sustained and supported for this on-air celebration itself—so that the voices, the poems and the conversation could reach the people who have always been at the centre of the program: the listeners.

How It Began

In 2006 BayFM’s training program was run by Rudiger Wassar. One of the community members who took the course was Riddhi. From the outset her focus was a radio program devoted to poetry. That idea became The Bohemian Beat, which first went to air in November 2006.Two decades later the show continues because of a wider circle that has stayed with it. Fellow presenters have kept the microphones open, poets and performers have shared their work, activists have brought the larger questions into the studio, and listeners have tuned in week after week. Without that ongoing attention the program would have remained a private passion rather than a public space.

Twenty Years of Beating

The Bohemian Beat has reached this point through the steady involvement of presenters, the generosity of poets, artists and activists, and the consistent presence of listeners who care about poetry and the work of examining the human condition. The celebration was an opportunity to recognise all of those contributions at once: the people in the room, the voices on the air, and the listeners who have made the program part of their weeks for two decades.

Thank you to everyone who has been part of the journey—whether you were in the studio, on the phone, or simply listening.