BY DOMENICA SETTLE
Community radio station 3CR is celebrating 30 years of bringing diverse voices to the streets of Melbourne. From May 29 to June 11, 3CR's 450 volunteers will be calling on the community to donate to the station's 13th birthday Radiothon, and help keep 3CR the most independent station in Melbourne.
"In 1974, hundreds of people crowded into a room in the Carlton Pram Factory and hatched a plan to build a media outlet transmitting the voices of people who don't usually get heard", said station manager Libby Jamieson.
"In 1976, 3CR took to the airwaves. Thirty years later we are still going, transmitting programs by the Indigenous community, trade unionists, lovers of jazz and nostalgia music, the working class, people with disabilities, feminists, environmentalists, anarchists and the queer community, as well as programs in 20 different community languages."
3CR relies on the goodwill of the community for much of its funding, and the 2006 Radiothon aims to raise $200,000 to fund everything from radio equipment to the electricity bill. During the Radiothon, 3CR programs will be jam-packed with special guests and giveaways, and listeners will be calling the station to donate.
"Independent media is hugely important", says Jamieson, "and 3CR is truly independent radio. We rely on the community's support, and we report on what matters to the community, not what matters to James Packer."
Jamieson said that "3CR is proud to be one of the most diverse and radical stations on the airwaves and we will still be here in another 30 years' time".
[To make a donation or get a program guide phone (03) 9419 8377 or visit <http://www.3cr.org.au>. 3CR is 855 on the AM dial.]
From Green Left Weekly, May 31, 2006.
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