Radio News
Member’s report for October 2009
Rogers application
Rogers’ application is still active for 98.5 FM. If they are approved Rogers will provide us with an engineering brief so we will eventually get on the dial. The situation is that there are no other protected channels that will work from a Gabriola transmitter site. This means if Rogers wins their application for 98.5FM, we are left with a low power FM channel or AM. A low power channel will give us basically the same coverage as our 60 watt application however it is not protected so a US channel or another Canadian broadcaster can come along and bump us off our frequency. As to an AM channel. Well it is very expensive to establish and very expensive to operate, plus the AM site zoned on Gabriola (the old CKEG site ) would provide us with worse coverage and we don’t have permission to use the site. We are communicating with Industry Canada to “scope out” other options and will report on those as they come up.
New Web Site
We will be continuing on with our application to get on the dial and so will be launching a new website. Work on the new site has started, stay tuned for the launch date and services we will provide. Artists, with recorded material, wanting give us permission to use their material, in any streaming or podcasting on this site, should contact us at 250-247-9891 gabriolaradio@shaw.ca to provide a release for mechanical rights.
Live at the Haven and Blue Lounge Shows
We are hosting our bi annual fundraiser January 1, 2010 Live at the Haven followed by the Blue Lounge at the Surf. The Live at the Haven show will be an all ages variety show format. Following the Haven show we will again host the Blue Lounge show at the Surf. Any musicians/perfomance artists would like to participate or folks who’d like to volunteer (front of house, backstage) please contact Kathy at artworks@gabriolaartworks.com
NCRC 2010
We are hosting the National Campus Community Radio Conference June 7th to 11th, 2010 at Camp Miriam. NCRC usually hosts about 100 delegates from all over Canada and the US. This is big honour for us to be trusted by the radio community in this way. Anyone who would like to get on the volunteer roster for this week please contact Kathy at artworks@gabriolaartworks.com. We’ll be needing upbeat, hardworking folks to help prepare meals, ferry folks around and just generally help us “up the vibe.” If any Gabriola musicians/performance artists/poets would like to perform during the lunch-hour/happy hour performance series please contact Liz at the info@gabriolaartscouncil.org. Adjunct to the conference will be a Book Fair on Tuesday, June 8th at the Surf Lodge. The book fair will be open to the public.
Equipment Report
The RDN has provided us with a $450 grant for a new microphone. The Islands Trust has donated us 2 internet server computers. We have already purchased a broadcast quality mixing board. We have a donated table out of another Radio Station. All we need now is a place with an internet connection to set up our equipment. Unfortunately the Commons is unavailable for this community use.
Bookkeeper
We need to hire a bookkeeper. Interested persons should please contact us outlining previous experience with Simply Accounting on a Mac.
Membership Drive
Membership drive set for January – April 2010. $20 gets you a password to contribute to our new website. $1000 for a lifetime membership. Memberships can be paid at Artworks or by Paypal (gabriolaradio@shaw.ca) or by direct deposit to our Gabriola Credit Union account under Gabriola Co-op Radio. Membership benefits include: access to special areas of web site, advance copies of any news, voting at special meetings. Gerry Mountain is our membership director, he can be contacted at gabriolaradio@gmail.com
Rogers Delay
The intervention and subsequent application filed by Rogers Broadcasting will delay the establishment of Gabriola Radio, however the volunteers have agreed to re apply based on community support for the station. The Gabriola Radio application to the CRTC is widely supported by a diverse group of residents plus the National Community Radio Association and community broadcasters. We also received support from our MP, MLA and MusicBC notably filed in the midst of their Juno Award preparations. In addition to the over 400 signatures on various petitions, the Gabriola Radio CRTC application received over 85 formal interventions and comments. Only 15 of that number opposed the proposal, most on health and safety grounds, which we have determined to be unfounded.
