The day Arthur published its report on the future of 88.1fm in Toronto, the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA) held a national “Reclaim Your Radio!” day, November 14th 2011. This was part of the NCRA’s 25th anniversary, the 11th anniversary of Media Democracy Day, and the launch of the NCRA’s newest campaign “Reclaim Your Radio!” which was decided upon at the June 11 annual general meeting of the NCRA. The campaign is to “mobilize a national public policy campaign aimed at federal MPs and the general public, as well as the CRTC, to ensure that a new license for 88.1 FM Toronto will be awarded to community or campus applicants.”
The NCRA has used this initial spark surrounding the only free frequency in Toronto to conduct a larger campaign of awareness for campus and community radio stations. The CRTC exists to ensure diversity and competition, not to play favourites between commercial and community radio interests. But MPs, like Tony Clement has done in the past, can overturn a CRTC decision or force the CRTC to weigh in on an issue. The campaign to “Reclaim Your Radio!” is looking for this to happen more often. As it stands, the way the application process is conducted already favours the chances of most campus/community stations.
The involvement of the NCRA in the campaign to get Ryerson its frequency back is not just one of advisement, but serious involvement. Part of Ryerson Radio’s problems was that their governance was disorganized and not representative of the community, students, or faculty of Ryerson. “John Harris Stevenson of the NCRA Advisory Board, and Tom Richmond, NCRA Treasurer, facilitated the meeting on July 24, which resulted in the fair election of four volunteers as the CKLN Board of Directors,” according to the NCRA website. This process of outside facilitation appears to be a strategy to comply with the CRTC guidelines based on the merits of the NCRA and its affiliated stations.
“I think that it is very, very important that we still have radio that hones in on particular types of music. Why not, because particular types of music are very important for some people and that’s what makes radio so special, it’s pictures in the mind, when you listen to someone who really cares about what they are playing, it’s fantastic, it’s an appointment to listen…” - David Rodigan, legendary BBC Reggae DJ
The NCRA/ANREC is an organization committed to volunteer-driven, non-profit, community-oriented radio across Canada. They currently represent more than 75 stations across the country, including Trent Radio.
