Innovative Focus: An accessible interactive communication server with advanced protocols supplying an audio signal to a licensed FM radio network, This kind of community interaction on broadcast radio doesn’t exist anywhere, and can be made available cheaply and efficiently for the small rural market.
Pursuing a long standing desire to get into film and television broadcasting, Rob Hopkins set about to learn the technical aspects of the telecommunications industry.
An opportunity and challenge close to home provided him with an avenue to gain some valuable technical experience. As his remote community of Tagish, was not being serviced with modern communications, Rob decided to manufacture a telecommunication system bring dial tone and broadband data to his community.
Many of the materials Rob needed to design and manufacture the infrastructure for the system came from the municipal dump, recycling centres and junk yards. This included discarded microwave cables and connectors, equipment racks, satellite dishes, radio transmitters, computers, antennae and even radio towers, which now stand on mountain top transmitting sites enabling an extensive broadcasting area.
“I had to manufacture equipment, cables and plugs without even knowing what they were supposed to look like (or do), and then figure out how to hook the whole system together without blowing something up,” he says with a laugh.
Following advice and encouragement from local communication businesses who said “just plug everything in and hope for the best”, Rob did just that….and it worked!
On Labour Day weekend, 1997, CFET Community Radio 106.7 FM Tagish went on the air.
There are currently only 280 English speaking commercial radio stations across Canada and this number is increasing as more and more radio licenses are issued. CFET Radio has, as of September 2002, joined the list of licensed broadcasters.
Rob explains the complicated and time-consuming process of how shows and/or announcements make their way into the programming of conventional broadcast radio stations.
If you want to get a message or show on the air, you have to go through the radio station. The announcement is then approved and sent into production for recording, and handed to the disc jockey. Your announcement is recorded in the studio and played on the air at the jockey’s discretion. This can require alot of people power and many hurdles, adds Rob.
In small rural areas there is no business case for localized conventional radio due to the high costs of administration. However, with the costs of equipment plummeting and more transport channels available, more communities can benefit from small radio operations.
In Rob’s case, he is responsible for the broadcasting, production and programming content for the small Tagish market and relies on innovative use of technology in order to put on local shows. There are groups and volunteers who assist remotely from afar.
“What is needed is innovative solutions to manage and run these “micro” stations, and which would result in a reduced need for administrative staff and costly technical support,” suggests Rob. “Solutions that to this day are out of reach for most small communities with limited features, and cost many thousands of dollars.”
To address this need, Rob has developed an integrated system that allows authorized members of the public to remotely create ‘playlists’ and upload digitized community announcements via a simple-to-use web interface without the need of any personnel in the control room.
A basic application of this system allows you to record your announcement to a file on your home or office computer and send it via the Internet to the radio transmitter’s computers, where it would be queued up onto a playlist and played automatically at the appropriate time.
The same technology can be used for a community’s emergency public alerting system. For example, the Yukon Forestry Service can quickly send information related to current wildfire situations via an email file attachment to the radio station, where it can be played and relayed to the listening public instantaneously.
“This kind of community interaction on radio broadcast doesn’t exist anywhere,” says Rob. “and I have a documented history that it can be done, cheaply and efficiently.”
While Rob develops “Made in the Yukon” communication technology products to link together to other radio stations in Canada, there are interested distributors waiting in the wings for worldwide export potential.
Although Rob does not believe you can easily teach someone to be innovative, he thinks you can create an environment that innovation will thrive in. The family atmosphere in which he was raised provides support for this theory.
He spent many years in the workshop of his grandfather, John A. Kitchen whose list of technical achievements includes the development of Pulse Combustion heating, work on the Arrow and design of the eternal flame at the parliament buildings in Ottawa. On the other side of Rob’s family was Walter Redpath, an innovator who designed and manufactured one of Canada’s earliest automobiles, the Redpath Messenger with shaft drive and tilt steering in 1903. Walter’s son, William Redpath, was a pioneer in the Canadian film industry.
Encouragement and open sharing of information and expertise are other necessary elements for an environment that supports innovation. Rob recalls the many individuals who have supported his radio endeavours.
Some of these include Jeff Stanhope from Industry Canada who assisted with support and technical expertise, Marguerite Vogel of the CRTC, Dan Macarthur and Linda MacDonald from the Yukon Government, Polarcom, White Pass and the Yukon Amateur Radio Association.
Self-determination, initiative and the desire to succeed fuel Rob’s innovative drive.
He enjoys finding solutions to complex problems, while using the most inexpensive and simplest means. Besides developing innovative software, he has several other initiatives brewing with the purpose of making technology easier to use.
Formulate a plan and find out your inner compass’s direction. Choose a destination that is realistic and set your sights and bearings to help you stick to your course. When things get in your way you need to go around them or over them, but don’t just stop.
This is one in a series of profiles featuring Yukoners whose innovative endeavours have contributed to improving the social and economic fabric of our communities.