My remarks at our Breaking News Breakfast
November 4, 2007
I’ve always loved radio. I listen to it so much that my wife says I know a song for every occasion. As a child I had a tube radio. I would remove the backing to see the tubes glow and touch them to feel if there was any heat. Then I would move the dial around listening to whatever hockey games I could pick up in Kingston, Ontario.
At age 12 I started phoning in to talk shows, but I’d have to disguise my voice to get past the producer because they didn’t want kids on the air. Once I called in to a gardening show and got a detailed explanation about how to cultivate a putting green in my backyard. I’ll never forget the show host’s reaction when I came on the air, first caller of the day “Who let him on?” he whispered under his breath. But it wasn’t a crank call, I was serious. Unfortunately, I couldn’t convince my Dad of the greatness of my backyard putting green idea.
In my later teens, I’d stay up late Sunday Nights listening to CHUM FM’s Theatre of The Mind – how I loved “The Shadow”! Charming teenager that I was … I’d walk around the house, changing the show’s famous line “who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men” to “who knows what evil lurks in the heart of mom”.
Then at University, a fellow student told me that, in addition to his part-time studies he was a disc jockey at the local radio station. Our conversations about his work planted an idea in me that incubated for some 20 years. Finally in early 2005 I enrolled in Radio Broadcasting at Humber College. Things moved along very quickly. In May of the same year, I found myself before Stouffville Council and, in June, before the BIA outlining the three reasons why I was launching a community radio station.
The reasons why I’m doing this have stayed the same – good for culture, good for business, and good fun – but now countless hours have been spent laying the groundwork for WhiStle Radio to get off the ground and on the air.
We have, and have had for almost a year, a CRTC license to operate at 102.7FM. Our call letters are CIWS but we call ourselves WhiStle Radio as a play on the words Whitchurch-Stouffville.
Two of the most frequent questions I get are: what is your coverage area? and what is your format?
To answer the question about our coverage area, with the right antenna location, we will include most of the population in Whitchurch-Stouffville – those living south of Bloomington Road, a little east of 10th line (slightly into Durham Region), west past Lemonville, and south into Markham, a little past Dickson Hill.
You may ask why the northern part of Whitchurch-Stouffville is not included. The reasons are technical. Suffice it to say that if the demand – and funds – exist, we can cover all of Whitchurch-Stouffville in 3-5 years.
Second, our format. We have a community license from the CRTC that requires us to operate as a not-for-profit organization and to recruit and train volunteers from our town. That’s why our motto is: “About people you know, by people you know.” By and large the voices you will hear on 102.7FM will be those of your neighbors.
And when I say volunteer, I mean it. We don’t anticipate any paid staff for the first year of operation. Our largest operating expenses will be rent, so you can see the value to us of donated premises.
My own computer knowledge coupled with the availability of inexpensive software, has allowed us run a test webcast 24/7 for 2 months now. The software automatically chooses songs from our music library based on certain criteria I give it. It also plays Public Service Announcements, station ids, an Old Time Radio program, a blues hour on Monday, a Gospel hour on Sunday, Oh, Canada! every morning at 6:00am, and a small dose of children’s music twice at day, once at 7:30 and again at 2:00.
But WhiStle Radio, once we’re on the air, will be much more than just a sophisticated ipod. You see, volunteers get to pitch and create their own show according to CRTC guidelines. Already 35 people have pitched ideas. As well as a variety of music shows, we have a local historian, Fred Robbins, who is going to bring our past to life, the Mayor is offering to do a phone-in show with professional broadcaster Lins O’Connor and the Mayor’s Youth Committee is putting together a proposal for a show produced, written, and voiced by teens, for teens.
WhiStle Radio will have traffic reports for you, delivered by Skywords Traffic who do this all across the country with small stations like ours, at no hard dollar cost to us. Splash ‘N Boots – an award winning children’s music duo – are developing a children’s music show for us and of course, we are now in our 3rd season of live coverage of Stouffville Spirit hockey.
Incidentally Fred Robbins passed on to me an interesting tidbit of local history. In Oct, 1945 Stouffville Municipal Council received a “communication” that a new radio station, 1050 CHUM was launching. CHUM offered the facilities of the station once a month for a program tuned expressly to the people of Stouffville. I know what happened to CHUM; I don’t know what happened to The Stouffville Radio Hour.
But I do know that now we have the chance for a new station whose facilities are offered every hour of every day of every month for programs tuned to us, the people who live in Whitchurch-Stouffville.
With your help, March 21 will be the beginning of what is for me the realization of a personal dream. That will be the day that CIWS WhiStle Radio 102.7FM, goes live on the air, broadcasting into your living room, your car, your coffee shop, your life. I invite you to join all of us at WhiStle Radio on this exciting, amazing adventure.
Thank you.
