CKRG-FM
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CKRG is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts at 89.9 FM in Toronto. It is the campus radio station of the city's Glendon College, a campus of York University.
A low-power station licensed to broadcast primarily to Glendon's campus, CKRG offers a variety of programs in both English and French, and the programming schedule features both independent and mainstream music. CKRG is unique in this aspect, as the station's sole commitment is to bring good music to the ears of its listeners, and is not governed by an 'Indie Only' or genre-specific guideline.
[edit] History
From the archives of the Glendon newspaper, Pro Tem, the following is known. CKRG broadcast on FM with a 'cable only' licence from May 23, 1977 to August 15, 1980. Alan Lysaght was the manager during this time. By January 1978 RG had 2 new 'on-air' studios in the Glendon mansion, one of which fed the pub and Junior Common room, the other, licensed, studio fed a low power transmitter which covered the campus and Rogers and Metro Cable for transmission throughout Toronto on Cable FM. In March 1979, CKRG was seeking funding for a full FM licence not restricted to cable FM. In November 1981, Pro Tem published an article entitled, "The CKRG Story", stating that funding stopped in August 1980, the station stopped broadcasting, and that the station's broadcast equipment was moved out of the Glendon Hall studios for safekeeping until funding for the license could be secured. The funding never came and the equipment was donated to non profit broadcasters. The station was off the air.
By 1985, CKRG was piped in to the cafeteria and student lounge using extremely long speaker wires strung through conduit from the basement of the Glendon mansion to the physical plant building and finally connecting into ceiling loudspeakers, as well as a line in the pub also located in the basement of the Glendon mansion. For the next three years CKRG did mostly college DJ dance events using a combination of owned and rented DJ equipment in the pub and cafeteria.
In 1989, station manager Stefan Caunter, who had started in 1985 on the staff of the station, felt that the time had come to re-acquire a license, to provide real radio transmission to Glendon using mostly existing carrier current equipment. A flea-power 1 watt FM solution was considered but not used. This was undertaken with the support of the Glendon College Student Union. He had acquired a professional radio board and tape machines with the help of his father Peter Caunter. An engineering field test for the existing 25 watt transmitter infrastructure (Caunter had the transmitter recrystalled for 800khz) was undertaken by Gordon Elder Engineering. This report and its field measurements, used to confirm that the range of broadcast was only sufficient for the college residences, along with a Department of Communications application, formed the basis for Caunter's CRTC application for a license to broadcast on 800AM using carrier current. A significant promise of performance as well as a student approved (by referendum) annual levy accompanied the application.
In 1990, CKRG was given approval by the CRTC to broadcast at AM 800 kHz with the transmitter power of 25 watts. Note that the company which was to be incorporated, Bayview Avenue Non-Profit Student Radio, was incorporated by Caunter in 1990, and it is still the current licence holder for the FM 89.9 licence. The CRTC Decision is [90-27].
In 1991, station manager Derek Allerton began to rebuild the station and put forth a serious effort to re-acquire an FM licence, to broadcast at 200 watts on 106.3 Mhz, to replace the existing AM carrier-current licence (the signal was transmitted through the campus electrical system, rather than through the air) the station ran on. By 1993 the Toronto radio market had become saturated, and competition for the remaining broadcast frequencies was fierce. The CRTC denied the application in 1994.
Broadcast equipment was largely obsolete and in a state of series disrepair by 1991. Allerton contacted various commercial and public radio stations in the Toronto area and requested any unused equipment by donated. Only the Canadian Broadcasting Coorporation (CBC) replied, but was able to provide a substantial amount of equipment, including reel-to-reel machines and equipment racks. Allerton was able to use the FM application to justify funding increases, and update much of the station's broadcast equipment. A new broadcast board was purchased, new pre-amps and amplifiers, professional CD players and turn-tables. Under his leadership, Allerton was able to attract many student volunteers who would invigorate the station and its listeners, including James Angleton, Marcos Benevides, Ed Beres, Adam Clark, Stephen Fulton, Chris Hazard, Stephan Paape, and Tom Scott.
After Allerton's exit as manager, and throughout much of the 1990s, the station focused on broadcasting to its core audience, the students of Glendon College. One notable exception was Edward Beres, who as manager was able to expand the station's facilities to include a dedicated broadcast booth beside the student pub. This allowed much more interaction with the student body beyond simply phone-in shows.
Due to the CRTC's 1994 denial, he also elected to add a second AM transmitter (on the same frequency), and moved one transmitter to each residence building. These fed the signal to the electrical system from there, rather than a single transmitter at a central location, thereby greatly reducing the distance between the transmitter and the listener. This significantly improved the signal quality in both residences, and resulted in a sharp increase in active listeners.
During Ed Beres' term as manager he managed to recruit some very dedicated volunteers to carry on the station's day to day functions. New students would be attracted to the radio station, and its new and improved broadcast range into the residence buildings, cafeteria, and pub. Volunteers such as Richie Favalaro (now with major Toronto radio station CHUM-FM), Mike Shering, Mike Glustein, David Taillefer, and Philip Godin took on the responsibilities of such tasks as the financial needs of the station, programming, music tracking, and recruiting of new student's as on-air DJ's. Ed updated the broadcast equipment, and made the station more accessible for student clubs to use for special event planning. He was also instrumental in knocking a hole in historic Glendon Manor's basement Pub. There was also a theft of station broadcast equipment by persons unknown, which resulted in the immediate halt of plans for another FM licence; the funds for that project were redirected to purchasing replacement equipment.
Ed's successor as manager in 1995, Philip Godin, continued to create an accessible student radio station by promoting throughout the campus, hosting events for the new students during orientation week, and ensuring there was a regular broadcast schedule from 8 AM to 12AM. Godin wanted to improve the infrastructure of the radio station from the ground up, to prove to the CRTC that CKRG could be capable of broadcasting on the FM frequency once again. Thus regular station office hours were created, and all station volunteers were required to spend a few hours in the office during the week. Phil also continued to improve the station's functioning by creating a music database for new D.J.'s to be able to find and retrieve records and CDs for use in their radio shows. As well as ensuring a solid broadcast schedule for students at Glendon, Godin also started a co-op training program at CKRG which allowed local high schools in the area to teach students the basics in radio broadcasting. With the continued help and dedication of all station volunteers, like Dave Taillefer, Graham Fader, Colin Lewis, Kaelin Britton, Chris Chang, and Martin Byrne, CKRG became a more integral part of student life at Glendon College.
In 1998, the station manager Brad Crowe took a decisive step in building up the radio station's listenership, and purchased a 1 watt transmitter which was capable of broadcasting to the campus. In September 2004, the CRTC approved a licence for CKRG to broadcast on 89.9 FM, expiring August 31, 2011.
Beginning in 2002, live streaming of radio broadcasts allowed a much wider audience access to the station. Student DJ's were encouraged to incorporate new technology into their broadcasts. Previously it was common to see a DJ carrying a record crate or CD suitcase for their shows, but the sight of laptops became more common. Several up-and-coming dance music DJ's also graced the broadcast booth, including a then-unknown Toronto trance DJ named Joyrider, and Jonathan Swayze, a successful electronica DJ.
A website and message forum was created. Unfortunately, the maintenance and bandwidth costs have caused the site to lapse from time to time.
2007 - CKRG 89.9 FM has purchased a new server in the last year due to the old one that ran for 5 years breaking down. The station management is working diligently with the CRTC to try and increase the terrestrial broadcast range from 1 watt to 5 watts. Through the added bonus of CKRG 89.9 FM being available to listeners over the world wide web, the audiences are growing on a world wide basis. This attention has brought the station closer to the mainstream. With the continued commitment to broadcasting 20 percent French and 30 percent Canadian content, CKRG plays an important role in the cultural element of Canadian, and now, world wide broadcasting culture. Plans by management are to try and secure the necessary funds to replace the aging equipment in the studio, specifically, the mixing console. There are more and more people finding out about CKRG 89.9 FM Radio Glendon due to the DJ's and management creating a higher profile of the station and of the on air presentations.
[edit] Prominent past hosts
- Richie Favalaro
- DJ Major Tom
- Dave Bookman
- Jeff Healey (Guest Host)
- Alan Lysaght
- David Pritchard
[edit] External links
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