alternative radio in canada

It's been a few years now since I sat behind the microphone in a broadcast studio (though I did get to drop into McMaster's CFMU a couple times this past summer). Still, my hiatus from radio doesn't mean I've lost interest in the medium, and last week I got a chance to bring it all back to the surface for a visit to Wilfrid Laurier University's third year "Alternative Media" class in Communication Studies, taught by my friend and former colleague, Brent Hagerman.

Digging into my research and writing on radio in Canada and on CKMS (100.3 FM Radio Waterloo) specifically. I talked a bit about the role of campus and community radio, its promises and its challenges. I also had a few minutes to critically reminisce about my time at CKMS, how the station operated, and what I tried to do with my show, Kill Eat Exploit the Weak.

There's actually a fair bit of Canadian radio history online between sites run by the Canadian Communications Foundation (affiliated with Ryerson University), the CBC, the CRTC, and even a radio museum in Guelph. But these organizations don't say much about campus or community radio, so for easy access to that history the NCRA is the likeliest and most helpful resource. There's a growing body of academic research on campus and community radio but it's still a fairly small pool of work and there's more yet to be done, especially here in Canada.

Thanks to Brent and the students for allowing me to visit, for listening, and for engaging with me in a discussion of campus radio.