CKCU 93.1 celebrates 50 years of FM radio

Carleton University’s community radio station, CKCU, is celebrating 50 years of entertaining and informing Ottawa. As CTV’s Camille Wilson reports, staff and vo

Carleton University’s CKCU 93.1 FM celebrated half a century on the airwaves Saturday.

Fifty years ago on Nov. 15, 1975, the station turned the dial on at 12:00:01AM, with Joni Mitchell’s “You Turn Me On, I’m A Radio” as its first song to hit air.

The station will replay this song at midnight to commemorate the milestone anniversary.

“I never thought we’d make it this far when we were celebrating our tenth anniversary,” said Michael Houston, a host and volunteer with the radio station.

“We never thought we’d make it to ten. And then we said that again the 20th, and the 30th, and the 40th, and here we are at the 50th. I’m really impressed.”

Houston who has been with the station since 1983. He says media is under threat all the time, making this milestone all the more important for the community radio station.

“We’ve managed to survive for 50 years where a lot of other radio stations, specifically in our category of campus community stations, have closed,” Houston said.

“It’s amazing we’ve made it 50 years and it’s an amazing feat for Ottawa and for the campus community as well, because that’s who we serve with all sorts of diversity and an extreme variety of programing.”

There have been many changes since the radio station first started. It’s moved from tape decks, to vinyl, to mp3’s. Now, the radio station uses a live remote streaming broadcast and has programs available on demand, while still maintaining their traditional FM that can be picked up on a stereo.

“I’m in my second year, but I’ve been active with CKCU since I first got here last fall,” said Katryna Brady, student and CKCU 93.1 FM Board Member.

“The 50th anniversary really means looking to the future and seeing how we can make a bigger impact with community radio and living up to our values of entertaining, educating, informing and bringing together the Ottawa community,”

CKCU provides 24 hours a day, seven day a week programing, run by 150 volunteers.

The radio stations brings listeners around 100 programs with music of all genres, including spoken word, jazz, blues, disco and reggae. The station offers multicultural shows and often hosts expert guests from different fields to share their knowledge.

Volunteers from across the radio station’s 50-year history will be heading to Carleton University on the weekend to celebrate the milestone, says Chris White, who has been a producer and host with CKCU 93.1 FM since 1993.

“It’s a wonderful thing for sure. It’s miraculous. CKCU has been entertaining and informing and uplifting and animating the community for all these years,” White said.

The station launched at a time when there were only two AM stations in Ottawa and one FM commercial station.

David Aardvark started off as a volunteer and has now been a part of the station for almost 40 years. He says he’s happy the station has persevered after all these years.

“We’ve overcome a lot of adversity over the years to keep community radio vibrant here in Ottawa. It’s still a little surreal that we’ve gotten to 50 to be honest,” Aardvark said.

“It’s such an amazing place to be. It’s such a testament. I always say it’s like a testament to the importance of local media and local radio here,” said Lia Kiessling, station director with CKCU 93.1 FM.

This achievement has been made possible by the efforts of more than 4,000 volunteers over the years. Kiessling says the volunteers is the key to survival and the community organization play a really important part of the culture and fabric of Ottawa.

“It’s still so important as a way to get messages out. It’s free. It’s on the FM dial as well as online now but if you don’t have reliable service, you can still hear what’s happening on the radio. I think that is one of the most important things for people to remember, that it is still the most popular medium in the world, and one of the most, accessible ways to get information out of what’s happening where you live,” said Kiessling.

CKCU started as an AM station before Nov. 15, 1975, and operated as a radio club broadcasting internally at Carleton University. CKCU is the oldest campus community radio station with an FM license.

“We’ve been through so many different things that there were a lot of times when we were really in jeopardy of maybe not existing anymore. We’ve somehow managed to pull through the pandemic,” says Aardvark.

“Journalists, musicians, producers, sports broadcasters, etc.. A lot of people have had their initial start being here.”

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