Caileigh Morrison: Okay. What is your programme called and when is it?
Jenna Cameron: My programme’s called “Songs You Don’t Hear on the Radio” and it’s from 10-11 on Thursday mornings.
CM: Nice, and what is it about?
JC: Our programme is...well, the title’s pretty self-explanatory. It’s songs that – like most music on Trent Radio – don’t get played on mainstream radio. Each week we pick a different theme and organize the songs around that. For example we’ve had whistle week – songs with whistling in them – and we’ve done a couple of cross-Canada tours with songs from each province. Today was entirely Indigenous music.
CM: Cool. Have you just been doing this programme this year?
JC: Yep, since September.
CM: And you have a co-host?
JC: Yes. I have a co-host named Derek. He’s not much of a talker. He mostly comes in and plays with Jill [Staveley, Production Manager]’s daughter Charlie and offers a few yes and no’s [laughing].
CM: Well, that’s an important role.
JC: Yeah, it’s fun. And then we often have our friends come in and discuss their specialties.
CM: Outside of your programme, what else do you do at Trent Radio?
JC: I do Smooth Operator from 11-11:30am on Thursday, so I’m here for a solid hour and a half.
CM: What drew you to Trent Radio?
JC: I was involved in a participatory radio station like Trent Radio when I was in Ecuador last year, and I wanted to see how much more fun it would be in my own language, rather than Spanish. And when I first came in to inquire about a show, it seemed like a pretty fun place.
CM: Which program did you go to Ecuador with?
JC: Trent in Ecuador.
CM: I see. So you’re an IDS student?
JC: IDS and Indigenous Studies.
CM: Very exciting. Tell me about radio in Ecuador. What did you do there and what was it like?
JC: I hung out in the office – so kind of similar to what I do at Trent Radio – just drinking coffee and talking to people as they came and went. I did the sound board for the new shows at noon too. It was only a town of 3000 people, and the radio station was also the post office so I was also the mail lady some days [laughing].
CM: That’s really awesome. Is radio used differently in Ecuador than it is in Canada?
JC: Where I was it was really similar to Trent Radio because it was used to get the word out and to educate people about a diverse range of topics including social justice issues and just basic education. I was in a rural community so a lot of people listened to it when they were out in the fields or driving around or working all day. A lot of people didn’t have televisions and weren’t big readers, so the radio was important. The early morning shows, which I should’ve gone to more but didn’t, were really important because they were for people who got up at four or five in the morning to get ready to do agricultural work and were mostly in Quechua, which is the Indigenous language there. That was all really fascinating for me and it turned me onto producer-oriented radio.
CM: Very nice. Do you do anything outside of Trent Radio, other than going to school?
JC: I do a few things. The Arthur Board....I guess you can see that on the front of the paper. I’m involved with another media project called Red Alliances Media, which I’m going to plug for: www.redalliances.com. It’s a site for Indigenous- and ally-produced media that I started in September with a bunch of other Trent Students. So I do that and I run. All the time.
CM: What do you like about Trent Radio? What keeps you in the kitchen drinking coffee all the time?
JC: I like that it’s producer-oriented, so everyone feels comfortable enough to come in and do what they want. Everyone at Trent Radio is concerned about the programmers and the operators and from day one you just feel that everyone is focused on your well-being and making you feel safe and comfortable and happy doing your shows rather than worrying about who’s listening. I think that’s really cool and actually makes for radio that more people would want to listen to, which is the opposite of what you might expect. And it’s just fun to come and hang out here. There are kids and dogs and interesting people!
CM: Very true.
