DJs at work and at play
Fall fund-raising drives kick off on listener-supported radio stations
Every show on CJSW 90.9 FM is meticulously planned and packed with the latest music, timeless rarities or informative public affairs programming. A campus-community station, CJSW doesn't waste a minute of time on commercials for mattress stores, frat bars or singles hotlines.
Unlike other radio stations in town, CJSW DJs program their own shows, and some will admit that they lovingly obsess over the presentation of their programs, which often provide an occasion to escape from life's stresses and celebrate innovative music and ideas.
After reading that, would it surprise you to know that everyone at CJSW (except for the three staff) are volunteers? It's true. And each year they bond together a little more tightly during their funding drive, which runs this year from October 18 to 25 as the station eyes its official goal of $125,000. What keeps listeners digging into their wallets to support the station?
"The incentive is to support good radio," says CJSW station manager Chad Saunders. "To support a campus-community station that's one of the last few independent radio stations in the province, if not the country."
In addition to the week-long on-air drive, CJSW will also present a number of events, including the World Beat Jam at Ship and Anchor Pub on October 19, a dance music event at the Embassy later that same night, a screening of director Penelope Spheeris's rockumentary Decline of Western Civilization III at the Uptown Screen on October 21, and the Abstract Workshop – a collaboration between DJs, spoken word artists and an avant-garde jazz band – at The Warehouse on October 22.
Meanwhile, provincial broadcaster CKUA (which broadcasts on 93.7 FM in Calgary) begins its fall fund-raiser at 6 a.m. on October 18, and continues through until midnight on November 2, this year aiming to raise $500,000 towards the station's operating costs.
CKUA has been doing two fund-raising drives each year since 1999 – one in spring and one in fall. When asked why CKUA schedules its fall fund-raiser at the same time as CJSW's funding drive, program director Brian Dunsmore says its not intended to compete with CJSW and that a lot of factors come into play – including holidays, pay days and so on.
"We haven't heard from anyone that says 'I couldn't give to both so I've given to one over the other,'" says Dunsmore. "We're not competitors in any way.... I'd hate to think that our fund-raiser impeded on the CJSW one, and vice versa."
He notes that both stations have carved out their own niches, and he notes that CKUA raises approximately $1.6 million dollars annually from its listener-subscribers. Just what is the station's secret?
"Well, CKUA has been around a long time – it supports the 98 per cent of the music of the world that is made but not played outside of campus stations and community stations.... CKUA is one of the few places that will play it." |
