That's right. Oh, and industrial techno-rock, too. On Radio CJUC, 92.5 on your FM dial. CJUC is a 2-watt FM community radio station that is an offshoot of a recent YTIC-funded technology innovation project.
Rob Hopkins approached YTIC a little over a year ago with an idea for making community-based radio easier and more affordable.
Without going into too much detail, what he proposed was using Linux (that is, free UNIX) to develop what he called “OpenBroadcaster”--a web-based content management program that allows people with only a very light amount of training to program and broadcast radio content.< There are other radio content management that programs out there, of course. But they tend to be pretty complex and pricey. They are better suited to bigger radio stations with bigger revenue streams.
Hopkins' innovation was a technology that scaled well to small community abilities, both in terms of training and price. Hopkins lives in Tagish and was already operating a radio station out there (CFET,106.7 FM if you happen to be in range). That station served at the “proof of concept” station for the development of the product. He now uses the “OpenBroadcaster” technology full time to operate station.
Radio CJUC in Whitehorse is the first of his “offspring”. It is owned by the Utilities Consumer Group—a local non-profit organization that advocates for the interests of users of utility services like phone and electricity.
Hopkins helped them get their broadcast licence from the CRTC. It is what is called a “developmental licence”, available only to non-profit groups who wish to operate low-power (two watt) FM radio stations for public service and educational purposes. The licence is good for only five years, during which the group can prove their viability as a radio service. After that time, they either have to close shop or apply for a standard radio broadcasting licence. The Utilities Consumer Group is in fact one of the very first groups in Canada to get one of these new kinds of licences.
The application also had to include a strong training component—developing radio broadcasting skills in the local community. The curriculum for this training has been approved by the Yukon government's Department of Advanced Education. That explains why the radio station itself is based in the Polaris Media Centre on Strickland Street. There are computer-training facilities available there. Another non-profit organization, Bringing Youth Towards Equality (BYTE) has been very active in getting local youth trained and active as content providers—disk jockeys, and so on. There is even some Cantonese content, courtesy of the efforts of local musician Edward Lee.
And what's with the Taiwanese opera and the industrial techno-rock?
Well, these small community stations are required under CRTC regulations to play music not commonly heard on other pre-existing radio stations. And Taiwanese Opera and industrial techno-rock are about as not-the-usual-fare as you are likely to find in the Yukon, right?
The station has been in development mode for the past few months, but was getting ready to go “live to air” this last Wednesday.
Another community radio station, CIKO FM, also under a developmental licence gained with the assistance of Rob Hopkins, will start up in Carcross later on this year. Community-based radio is potentially a major growth industry in the near future, particularly in places like Africa and India.
A big backer of the idea is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). A while back, the UN was thinking about initiatives to bring Internet access to rural, third-world communities. But there is a snag to that plan: About 40% of the world population is illiterate, and most of those people, of course, live in those small, third-world communities.
So Internet access would have to be teamed with a major expenditure on literacy training to make any sense. Community radio is a social benefit that is at once cheaper, easier and more immediately useful to these communities.
Rob Hopkins has his eye firmly set on this market.
He is in contact with Ron Robin, a former Yukoner and dealer in a radio-in-a-suitcase technology that is being widely used in Africa. And, as he points out, India alone has some 300,000 villages in its borders, many of which are now being “powered up” with electricity at last.
So maybe these three small radio stations will be the start of something big.
And maybe someday there will be an all-Country, all-hurtin'-music radio station on the Ganges.