A face made for radio

Some people think Ottawa’s radio scene is pretty weak school. As an assessment, that would be pretty bang-on. The landscape in the nation’s capital is replete with ‘commercial’ national behemoths belting out a repetitive medley of ‘hits’, also known as the pay-for-play system. Meaning a handful of records companies pays a fee for their latest and greatest focus-tested musical frankensteins to gain some exposure. They throw in the odd oldie from the 80’s or 90’s to give the illusion that the ‘DJ’ is still involved with the music selection. They are a couple of self-proclaimed ‘genre-busting’ stations, but if you happen to listen to one for an entire day, you would quickly realize that the fix was in. Modern disc jockeys are no more than glorified talking heads, with little to no power in the decision making process. Who’s at fault? The industry has drastically changed in the last 3 decades. The bottom line has seeped its way into the creative process, and the end product is plastic and bland.

Sandwiched between inane talk/sport radio on the AM dial, and commercial slop on the FM side are a few gems that have kept on chugging along the pulse of the city. Carleton University’s CKCU 93.1 FM has been a trailblazer since 1975, when it became the nation’s first on-campus radio station. Ottawa University’s CHUO 89.1 FM first got clearance from CRTC in 1984. CKDJ 107.9 FM officially joined the party as Algonquin College’s on-campus station in 2003. These 3 community radio stations provide a voice for the diverse group of individuals that make this city shine. Economics does play a role within the community radio scene, they heavily rely on the financial donations and volunteers. Their detractors would cite the lack of unprofessionalism of some of the productions (see photo above), but as a vehicle to drive community involvement. There is no better option. Some shows have been on the airwaves for 25+ years, building a loyal audience along the way.

On any given day, you can find unique programming catering to a very eclectic audio palette. No where on commercial radio will you find reggae, alt indie rock, vietnamese news, hip hop, deep house, french folk and a salsa show within its daily line-up. And that’s just on an ordinary Wednesday afternoon. I have only given a small snippet of the what is out there on the Ottawa airwaves. Forget about simple bilingual programming, try polylingual!

Give the dial a workout, and give these stations a listen, there’s a program out there waiting for your ears. You are not chained to your radios either, all of these stations are streamed online. These stations are a true reflection of our community, you might hear yourself in the mirror.