Elke Sorensen was in her second year at Vancouver Island University when she first got involved with the campus-community radio station \u2014 an experience that may soon become less common.<\/p>\n
After spending some time asking questions about CHLY 101.7 FM before volunteering, the then-21 year old says she was immediately put in the \u201chot seat\u201d inside a live radio booth.<\/p>\n
Like many student rookies, Sorensen started off hosting a show focused on Canadian music that she says allowed her to make local connections.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really ingrained myself and got to know the community and felt more like a citizen in this new city that I now call my home,\u201d she said in an interview.<\/p>\n
Sorensen was later able to launch her own biweekly literary show focused on Canadian authors that she was able to use for academic credit.<\/p>\n
She says that gave her the opportunity to combine her passions for both radio and literature \u2014 and give her a voice in the space.<\/p>\n
But more and more, fewer people are getting the chance to tune in as campus radio stations fight to stay on-air.<\/p>\n
Barry Rooke, executive director of the National Campus and Community Radio Association, says campus radio has reached a crisis point and needs help from Ottawa to survive as stations adapt.<\/p>\n
He says declining post-secondary enrolment, the shuttering of journalism programs and optional student fees at some schools are threatening the existence of campus radio stations across Canada.<\/p>\n
The Memorial University of Newfoundland\u2019s student union voted Wednesday to cease funding for CHMR, according to campus media, in an effort to address a deficit.<\/p>\n
In Canada\u2019s capital, CHUO 89.1 FM lost its student fee and was charged rent by the University of Ottawa it couldn\u2019t afford, according to Rooke. It halted live broadcasts in December last year.<\/p>\n
Campus stations at Fanshawe and Algonquin colleges are also slated to go dark as the academic programs that supported their operations are shuttered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much stress on the system \u2026 that it\u2019s becoming more and more difficult to fundraise and find that advertising at the local level because everybody\u2019s gone digital,\u201d Rooke said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYet in many of the campus and community radio stations, and especially the Indigenous ones, they\u2019re often the only source of information and news in those spaces \u2014 let alone a spot for people to share their passion and learn as an entry level into the media.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amara Sheppard was able to find a new way to express her voice on the University of Guelph\u2019s CFRU 93.3 FM after looking for a direct equivalent to the competitive debating she did in her youth.<\/p>\n
As a student, Sheppard acquired a job at the station doing outreach and helped to relaunch a music program that includes live performances and artist interviews. She continued to volunteer with the program since graduating for the value it brings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is in a lot of ways still kind of like the Wild West in that it\u2019s not as regulated as some other forms of media, and it hasn\u2019t quite been touched by the AI phenomenon yet,\u201d Sheppard said.<\/p>\n
Federal caps on international students first introduced in 2024 have led to widespread layoffs and program cuts at post-secondary institutions. As economic pressures rise and enrolment drops, several media programs have also been suspended or consolidated.<\/p>\n
And in Ontario, the government is considering more optional student fees through its Supporting Children and Students Act \u2014 while student associations nationwide look for ways to save.<\/p>\n
These realities, Rooke said, have created \u201ca perfect storm.\u201d He expects without intervention, campus radio stations will be wiped out at an accelerated rate.<\/p>\n
Rooke said that is why it\u2019s crucial the federal government listen to a new campaign calling for $30 million per year in funding for campus and community radios.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin that ask, there\u2019s approximately $25 million that would go directly to these 255 radio stations by virtue of their licence. So that\u2019s around $95,000 per station,\u201d Rooke said.<\/p>\n
That cash boost would help stabilize the airwaves for some 45 campus radio stations, said Rooke, and bring Canada in line with other countries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really one of \u2026 the only set of community-based radio stations in the world that aren\u2019t funded,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Rooke\u2019s association is also hosting a national meeting of campus stations later this month with the goal of teaching them how to scale down without going dark and diversify revenue by transitioning to broader media hubs.<\/p>\n
Scotty Hertz, who hosts a weekly politics show for CFRU, said the Guelph-based station has found success by offering space for content creation, grassroots music support and as a career launch pad.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just campus radio anymore, it\u2019s a media centre,\u201d Hertz said.<\/p>\n
Sorensen, the B.C. university student, plans to continue volunteering for CHLY 101.7 FM after graduating this year. She hopes grassroots radio can survive for the sake of both its operators and listeners.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s so much benefit in turning on your radio and hearing local stories by people you may know,\u201d Sorensen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such diverse programming. You\u2019re going to hear music from across the world and music from your neighbour and you know you feel more involved when you listen to stories that are happening in your neighbourhood.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Elke Sorensen was in her second year at Vancouver Island University when she first got involved with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-586019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}