I've been green lighted to produce a pilot show. It could become a regular thing in the New Year. My first demo could appear as a fill-in show or podcast soon.
The concept is to go back in time and feature the College Rock from the 80s and 90s.
**Mandatory for all CJSW members.** Tuesday, April 19, 2016 @ 7:00PM Room: KNB 132 (Kinesiology)
I did my production training and prepared a couple of podcasts which might get aired as show fills soon. I'm playing charts from the old CJSW/Vox charts in the 1980s and 1990s.
I started my on-air training last week with Joan, host of The Spin Evolution. Last night I got to work the boards for two songs I chose - Love And Rockets and Vangaalen. Next week I do a set of 4-5 songs. Great playlist by Joan:
I think the plan is to start doing show fills next month, and eventually I can host a weekly or bi-weekly show. The old charts might work better as a podcast (requires a lot of research) and a live show would work better as a mix of the old and new playlists.
From now until April 29th, it's time to PARTY! And because we love you oh so much, we are treating YOU to some weird, wacky and wonderful programming all week long! (well even weirder than it already is).
PLUS! We've got loads of goodies to giveaway, so keep your eyes peeled on our Twitter and Facebook page for daily challenges. Prizes range from classes to festival passes. Seriously you guys aren't gonna wanna miss this.
BOOM!!
Use the hashtag #mycjsw to catch all the action via social media.
Another great development - soon all CJSW shows will be available on iTunes as podcasts.
Big media is one hot mess. But it’s not all bad news. How community radio is set to triumph in the digital age and emerge as the surprising winner in the battle for the future of media
CJSW’s on-air booth resembles the bridge of some sort of steam-punk spaceship. Cassette decks and turntables rub shoulders with sound mixers and a fleet of monitors. The station’s Twitter feed streams on a screen fixed to the wall while another provides access to the digital library— a growing collection of 7,600 albums. Saunders, however, prefers the frenzy of analogue, manually mixing from vinyl, CDs, cassettes, and his laptop. He manages this flurry of activity while taking calls from listeners and zipping out the door and past an illustrated skateboard deck that reads “The Chad Saunders Music Library” to find the perfect gem among 100,000 meticulously filed albums.
The appeal of community radio’s one-of-a-kind content is enhanced by how listeners are part of the action. Stations rely on their audience for funding, but also to become volunteers and to produce shows. Community radio is participatory from the moment you tune in; listening is a form of self expression. Whenever I see CJSW’s green-andwhite sticker on the back of someone’s car, I feel an instant kinship—an ally in an ongoing effort to realize a weirder, more progressive version of Calgary. The sense of belonging fostered by community radio offers another dimension to listening, one that goes far beyond the passive consumption of entertainment.
All these elements—local focus, crowdfunding, active listeners, and originality—that helped build such a loyal following for My Allergy to the Fans also positions community radio to flourish in the 21st-century media landscape. The relentless tide of free content on the internet has upended the economic model for broadcast television and print publications. Commercial radio is still profitable in Canada, but new online competitors materialize regularly. Community radio’s grassroots, guerilla-style approach to broadcasting presents a resilient media model for the digital age. Examples are starting to emerge of community stations like CJSW stepping up to fill widening gaps in local media coverage.
Maintaining a volunteer-run radio station, however, is no small feat. Rooke estimates that up to 40 percent of the NCRA’s 95 members are losing money or just managing to stay afloat. Revenues fluctuate wildly from station to station with about a quarter running on less than $12,000 annually. CJSW’s annual budget, by contrast, is $700,000. It supports seven full-time staff members and 300 volunteers, making it a flagship community station in Canada. As a community and campus station, CJSW raises 39 percent of its budget from a student levy. Some of CJSW’s financial stability can also be attributed to its location in a young and affluent city, but the station is also a fundraising superstar—by necessity. Every October, CJSW asks listeners for a significant chunk of its operating expenses. This past October, in the middle of a severe economic downturn, it raised a whopping $255,689 in under eight days, which is a national record for the sector.
Community stations depend on listeners, not advertisers, for survival—but investing during a funding drive also gives listeners a stake in the station. In this way, community radio offers a continuum of belonging versus passive entertainment. At CJSW, you can phone, tweet and, as of February, text the deejay in the booth. All these points of contact encourage people to ramp up their involvement: from listening, texting, and phoning to pledging money, volunteering, and hosting a radio show.
Certainly, something sturdy has taken root on the third floor of MacEwan Hall. This capacity to attract fresh ears while staying relevant to longer lobes is a big part of CJSW’s success. Volunteers range from ages 12–70. New people are attracted to the station while veteran members remain committed. Many Calgary bands, artists, and arts organizations have connections to CJSW.
CJSW station manager Myke Atkinson believes it’s only a matter of time before commercial radio falters big. “It’s like a stack of Jenga bricks,” he says, “and they keep pulling one out and, at some point, there are no more things you can take out before the whole thing just falls apart.” Commercial radio’s increasing homogeneity, he argues, will be its downfall. Digital streaming services such as Spotify or Google Play already provide instant access to a greater volume and variety of music. And now Beats 1, Apple’s new 24/7 internet radio station, has live hosts curating shows from New York, Los Angeles, and London. Then, there are our cars: Once they’re manufactured to make listening through a smartphone as seamless as it is to press the button for radio, commercial radio, says Atkinson, is dead.
This past October, CJSW started podcasting—every broadcast is available online to playback on demand. Web traffic has increased fivefold.
Community radio remains beset by obstacles: fundraising, developing an audience, finding resources—it goes on and on. But the medium also has remarkable potential. Community radio is proving its resilience during a paradigm shift in how we learn and communicate about the places that we live. Calgary is a much richer place to call home because a ragtag collection of 300 amateurs have access to a broadcasting signal that reaches the city limits and beyond.
Well I listened to the show yesterday - nice job! And some good tunes as well. You will have to keep us posted about future guest hosting gigs, and especially when you land your own regular show.
The Following User Says Thank You to Jimmy Stang For This Useful Post:
CJSW 90.9 FM!!!!!!!!!! 4-6 pm TODAY! The BARON -- Mark Von Frankenstine -- will see the light of day!!! He joins me on Saved by the Bell, I mean 'Scared by the Baron', as we bid farewell to our esteemed program director Geneviève... [Dawn]