by Nola Poirier
Did you know that there are more than 13 languages spoken in Powell River? Do you know why Powell Riverites call rope swings zungas? Have you heard the story of what inspired the people of Powell River to start the first Credit Union in BC? Did you know that the neighbourhood of Stillwater used to have a bigger population than Powell River? Or that our region is renowned for sightings of Sasquatches? Or that we took certain steps that led to designation of Powell River as an official Transition Town?
If Powell River could talk, what would it say?
Find out: by tuning your radio to the all-new CJMP, and witnessing Powell River’s community radio revival.
Community radio is an incredibly beneficial resource for building and sustaining communities like the geographic community of people on the Upper Sunshine Coast and its overlapping cultural communities and communities of interest.
Why? First, community radio is accountable to its community–the listeners and members. The station is operated, owned, and driven by the community, not by advertising dollars. Second, community radio gives voice to ideas and individuals that otherwise don’t often get heard, making it a valuable tool for celebrating diversity and learning about difference. Finally, community radio creates opportunities for us to hear our neighbours, friends, and local strangers share ideas, perspectives, stories, knowledge, music and news. We plan to fill airwaves in our bandwidth with the voices of Powell River and voices Powell River wants to hear. Read more »
CJMP, Powell River Community Radio, is making a comeback! If you’ve ever been interested in community radio, now is the time to get involved. We need programmers, technicians, writers, artists, and creative imaginative people of all kinds.
In October, the non-profit society that held the broadcast license (the Powell River Community Radio Society, or PRCRS) held an Annual General Meeting to announce the intention to fold the society and send the license back to the Canadian government. This decision was reached after months of struggling to find funding for the fledgling station, which was still on the air, but without live programming. There were, however, a few people who felt that a community radio license was too precious a community asset to be given away, and so a new board of directors decided to step in and see what they could do.
The elections took place on October 15, and since then there has been an explosion of energy in all directions. We have formed five teams to get going on fundraising, including (1) advertising and sponsorships; (2) membership, (3) promotions, and outreach; policies; (4) programming; and (5) technical matters. We’ve had a couple of raucous general meetings and have started to work out a mission statement and vision for community radio in the region. We’ve got a website at http://cjmp.ca. We have a great logo designed by local artist Meghan Hildebrand. We’re sorting out the gear in the studio and working on getting live programming back on air by mid-December. And so much more, we’d need a whole issue of Immanence to tell you about it all!