CKUA Radio's record collection damaged in flood

CKUA cleans up record library after flooding The oldest radio station in Canada is cleaning up and scrambling to save irreplaceable vinyl records. Amanda Anderson reports.

CKUA Radio's record collection was damaged in a flood after a burst pipe in the sprinkler system sent water into many parts of the building last week.

"It took us a little while to discover the fact that it came all the way down to the basement and into the library but water had filled up in the ceiling above one of the final stacks and had eventually collapsed the roof," said Adam Mitchell, chief operating officer at CKUA Radio.

The record library has been collecting music for almost 96 years.

"We've been collecting music since we started on every format," said Mitchell.

In the aftermath of the flood, the team at CKUA Radio worked hard to save and reduce the damage to some of the treasured LPs that got wet.

"Absolute heartbreak first and then adrenaline, just try and save the collection," said Mitchell. "Hundreds were damaged to the point where we actually had to re-sleeve them, get those out of their jackets and start trying to save the jackets themselves."

According to Mitchell, the jazz collection was impacted the most.

"If you can think of a jazz great, it’s in there and it got wet," said Mitchell.

The damaged records have been taken for preservation, with a restoration company actively working to save them.

"Many of those records would have been one-off. They might have been given to us by an artist hoping to get discovered on the radio by a distributor; there may not have ever been an actual pressing of those albums; they might have just been out there for demo."

Mitchell says any jackets too far gone will be digitized to at least preserve the artwork.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson