Airwave solutions for CKLN
I had the pleasure of attending part of CKLN’s annual meeting recently. For anyone not in the loop, CKLN is a Toronto radio station funded with hundreds of thousands of dollars taken from your fees to the RSU. Let’s get this straight. The RSU is doing a great job trying to keep things in line, but it’s hard to get a lot of unprofessional people to run a company professionally.
The annual general meeting was more of a circus than anything else. My numbers might be slightly off, but this year CKLN has seen three different boards of directors, aired a two-week audio loop for six months while the
station was closed, caused its creditors (indirectly us students) to spend additional funds on hiring police to babysit them and kind of forgot they had to account for their money like the rest of us. Oh, did I mention about $150,000 in taxes that, as far as I know, still aren’t up to date?
To me, this is a circus.
Community radio is no doubt important, but not when you have a bunch of students funding a radio station that isn’t for its community. With my background in radio, I have some suggestions for CKLN.
The RSU and Palin Foundation should request the CRTC to shift the license to them as their creditors. Then, be polite and fire everyone. Pay for podcasting equipment so all the current personalities can podcast from home, be trained for that and create an “online CKLN.”
Have students play music to suit our community. Use voice-tracking software like the rest of the radio stations out there so it doesn’t interfere with class schedules. Go more mainstream like Western’s community station (which is excellent by the way). Sell all the advertising space to one of the big boys doing radio advertising. Subscribe to Neilson BBM so advertisers know what they’re getting.
Rebrand that station. I think CKLN is the only station left using its call letters.
Cut the studio space in half and rent it out as office space to provide the RSU with additional revenue. Account for what is spent. And most importantly, let us students who are underrepresented have a voice.
SpiritLive (radio and television arts’ online station) took what used to be the old Jazz FM studios and put in state-of-the-art equipment. They have talent that doesn’t cause a ruckus. Let’s create something amazing for the school.
When nobody phones in for CKLN call-in shows, it makes you wonder if paying hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for people from outside the Ryerson community to talk to themselves is really worth it.
I would like to reinvent CKLN to be the top radio station in Toronto.
Comments
Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
The idea of putting all of the advertising revenues into the hands of one company(and then gauging value/dollar via a rating system is not a new one. Unfortunately, if this were to be implemented, it would simply hasten CKLN's slow march to abysmal mundanity. Until perhaps 5 years ago, CKLN was (generally speaking) fulfilling its mandate to represent the community of Ryerson as well as the downtown area where it is situated. There was a good balance between spoken word programs and a large variety of music. More recently,the in-fighting between various factions and Boards has been primarily the product of selfserving turf wars; the goal of which has been to control the station in order to serve a few narrow interests. Ignoring CKLN's By-Laws, as the current Board has done, while neutering the spoken word segments with their micro-managed programmer's "agreement", only sets the station up for more mediocre programming...and legal challenges.
If CKLN is now incapable of being a true community/campus radio station, I would prefer to have no station at all. There are many alternate sources for listening to music. It really is about much more than just music programming.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
First of all, before showing your ignorance, you might want to actually find out about the licensing requirements the CRTC has for campus-community radio, in fact for a radio broadcasting license of any kind at all. Your report shows very clearly you haven't a clue.
Secondly, CKLN was put in this situation to begin with because the RSU refused to pay said student fees to the station. Has anyone asked them what has happened to those hundreds of thousands of dollars? Did the RSU even bother to tell the students they had not used their money in the way they legally were supposed to do? Did the RSU even tell the students that they could get a refund because these fees were not paid out as agreed upon in their student fee agreements. Does RSU even still have this money - can they prove they have NOT used these fees that were legally allocated to CKLN Radio Inc to pay off debts elsewhere?
Thirdly the current "management" which is indeed there illegally, (they broke every by-law in existence in that so called annual meeting, even allowed community members to pay a "bribe" so they could legally vote in this very illegal election - hmmmh, where did that money go to...??), has been against letting new blood into the station for well over a decade - especially students. They fear that they will lose their own programming slots to them. The previous management were actually trying to fix this imbalance, which is one of the real reasons the programmers who have been there since the late eighties were trying to get rid of them.
Now if you'd even tried to address some of the real facts in this case, this article could have been called good journalism, instead of yet more manufactured ambulance chasing.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
Are you serious? Your facts are very false and misleading. This might qualify as a high school or elementary school article. How do they let you write stuff like this. By the way you need to be careful as you can be taken to court for false reports.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
What a load of garbage. If you had taken maybe 15 minutes and done even a little bit of research on what it means to be a 'community' station, you might have noticed the gaping flaws in your arguement.
"Rebrand that station. I think CKLN is the only station left using its call letters." Do you listen to radio at all? What a crap article.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
You're making this more complicated than it needs to be. There is no need to be petitioning the CRTC (who clearly don't care anyway) when the solution is close at hand. CALL A REFERENDUM ALREADY! You don't need CRTC permission for that. It doesn't even have to be to actually shut the station down since Ryerson has obviously decided that there is enough prestige in having a radio station, even one as dysfunctional and unrepresentative as CKLN. So instead I suggest call a referendum to force some much needed reforms on CKLN such as;
a)Reduce the student levy from $10 to $5, which is what CIUT gets. If CKLN has enough money to engage in endless lawsuits then they clearly have too much to play with.
b)Charge them rent on the space they occupy , CIUT has to pay rent, why should CKLN get a free ride?
c)Force them to include a quota of current students on the air, in good time spots,(ie. not 6am or worse) say 40% at least.
d)Change the bylaws so that the Board of Directors must have a majority of student members since they pay more than 60% of the money. Also make sure that they couldn't have quorum without students so they could not bully and harass them into leaving like they did this summer.
e)Force CKLN to run a balanced budget every year, unless the have to make emergency expenditures, like the antenna blows down or something.
f)Term limits for show hosts. Why should certain people be allowed to stay for twenty years? Why should they have squatter's rights? It has just led to feelings of entitlement that caused this circus of greed. Ten years is quite enough, give someone else a chance already.
All last year they kept saying that they had to seize power to "restore democracy". What could be more democratic than a referendum from the "community" that subsidizes CKLN, you know THE STUDENTS? Perhaps you've heard of them? Hello? Is this thing on?
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
Hey Anonymous Pro CKLN Dude; The mere fact that you would threaten some student reporter with legal action (paid for with the student levy of course) over an OPINION piece just shows what a bunch of bulling jerks you are. And how stupid, there is nothing in that editorial that is slanderous even if you disagree. What a bunch of spoiled brats you are. Time to join the real world and get real jobs. Assuming you can.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
STOP THE INSANITY!!!
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
"Oh, did I mention about $150,000 in taxes" Maybe you forgot to mention it because it's not true. The tax bill is actually around $50K.
As for Western's statino, if you look at their schedule it's actually quite similar to CKLN - except there's even more non-English programming (mainstream, you said? CHRW's slogan is "Your cure for corporate radio". Sorry, that doesn't sound mainstream to me).
You got your facts wrong generally and missed the not unimportant detail that your suggestions would put CKLN in violation of its licence.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
Any students who want to get involved with CKLN should go to Oakham House Tues Nov 24 at 7 pm and sign up. Don't nix it, fix it.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
You thing RSU is doing a good job? Their the ones who allowed the takeover in the first place and then gave them the $20,000 to fight it in court. Gee thanks guys, glad your on our side.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
This article is on point. What is impotant here is that CKLN is a ghost and no one cares about the station. It needs reinventing and someone has to do it. Just the fact that there are two sides to this argument and the fact that there is even an argument in the first place shows how ridiculous the CKLN situation is. It is not broken, so you can't fix it. It is non-existent, so you have to reinvent it. In terms of raising ad revenues, the station would be so honoured as to have a big agency o board selling spots. Its RADIO!!! And Radio needs advertising, be it public or private.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
Sign up! Be a token today! Your levy dollars hard at work!
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
The author doedsn't know the difference between a community station licence and a commercvial one. If his suggestions were followed every single commercial station in toronto would petition the crtc to complain that their narket was being infringerd upon.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
I'm a member of the station's board. There have been tremendous strides in the past few months. The station is back on the air broadcasting live programming including a number of programmes created by students. Now that we've got the station up and running again we are committed to opening the station up to students in a major way. We understand the frustration people have had that's been built up over previous years and we are committed to increasing the role of students. Please email board@ckln.fm if you are a student and want to get involved in any aspect of CKLN be it hosting, teching, marketing or anything else.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
"Fix it don't nix it"? How patronizing is that? What are students supposed to fix at 6am other than your coffee? Students are nothing more than a token fig leaf for a corrupt, arrogant dictatorship that should have been shut down for good. There is now way a few isolated token students will ever be able to "fix" CKLN. Anyone who dares to challenge CKLN's entrenched power structure is ruthlessly purged and replaced with cronies and lackies, or else beat into silence with threats of "legal action", paid for by student money of course. Everyone at the "open democratic CKLN" has to sign a non-discloseur agreement that censures everyone back up with more threats of "legal action". Adding a few more token students now is just like adding a new coat of paint to the Berlin Wall. It's still a corrupt dictatorship and enough is enough. It's time to "Unplug CKLN" (How's that for a slogan?). If that means giving up the license and simply having an all student internet station than so be it. True it wouldn't make any money and it might not have many listeners but guess what; NEITHER DOES CKLN! The point is that it should be a forum for students in general and an opportunity for RTA and Journalism students to learn their craft as well as representing Ryerson, which CKLN clearly does not and never will. Old school radio is dead anyway, throw some dirt on it and get with the 21st century already.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
To one of the above postings; There may be some mistakes in the editorial, (it is an opinion piece after all) but you are completely wrong when you say that "every single commercial station station would petition would petition the CRCT to complain" they would have no cause to do so. There is absolutely nothing stopping a station like CKLN from tahking the same ads as anybody else, they are merely restricted as to how much. The reason CKLN doesn't take ads is ideological (they claim to be "anti-corporate", whatever that means, they expect the students to support them instead) and of course the fact that nobody can see the point in advertising on a basket case station nobody listens to anyway witgh a crappy signal that keeps fading out.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
It's amazing how many people, including the article's author, are talking out of their ass. The CRTC is quite clear:
"Above all, the primary objective for campus stations is that they provide programming that is different in style and substance from that provided by the commercial and public elements of the broadcasting system. To that end, campus stations must provide access by community groups and individuals to the airwaves and offer alternative programming that reflects the cultural diversity of the communities they serve."
Sorry but that means a campus station can't try to be Q107, FLOW or CHUM-FM. Oh, sorry to mention CHUM since it means you're wrong when you say "CKLN is the only station left using its call letters."
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
By the now self claimed board member that stacked the election full of take back our radio people, and reclaimed power when the acting chair was away.
Claiming in legal and other documents the chair called the meeting, big injunction coming up and the law can decide about corruption and if you are doing good in CKLN. As the above writer states, when you purged the place.
I had the opportunity to meet the then chair at the last meeting and was told she was booted out totally! I can see the newspaper having a field day at the court appearances to come when the stink hits the fan.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
Zappa Says,
I have listened to CKLN since close to its inception. I have stopped listening to the station now and I have no plans to continue my financial support.
I find listening to Pat Robertson and other Tele-Evangelists far more entertaining for their brain dead insights. CKLN has become a station for imbeciles and that is just sad.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
Tom? Is that you?
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
Yeah the third last poster sounds like tom de casto. It's kind of sad that there are two or three tinfoil hat wearers who have nothing better to do than obsessively hate ckln because their favourite wingnut conspiracy theory show has been taken off the air
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
Here's an idea: make Spirit Live into CKLN. The content will be better and will give Ryerson STUDENTS a chance to be on a more heard radio station. CKLN has been a joke for the five years I've been part of the Ryerson community and I doubt it will ever change if the current staff is left in place.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
There's a reason Spirit Live is an internet station and not a real broadcaster. It's format is incompatible with CRTC regulations for campus community radio station. In any case, Spirit Live is for RTA students *only*.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
Zappa Says,
As usual, the right wingers are always wrong. The comment was not written by Tom Decastro. In Tom Decastro's defense, if he had written a comment, the right winger would be sitting in the corner sucking his/her thumb in personal shame for not being up to the level of intelligence that Tom Decastro is extremely capable of writing.
Go read a book and learn a thing or two.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
CKLN's programs are really terrible. The best programs on the station have come from students. How do I know this? I listen. And while listening all I hear are professional 'DJ's' from the 'community' who promote their own events rather than doing good shows. CKLN is like a rotting corpse with the defenders of the current situation acting more like mortuary works trying to keep the horrid smells away from the public. No amount of make-up will bring a dead corpse back to life.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
Zappa Says,
Once again you have proven that right wingers are always wrong in their assumptions. If you actually knew Ton Decastro and had read any of his writings, you would have no choice but to apologize to Tom directly for slandering him.
Maybe reading comic books is more on your level.
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
Your "suggestions" are hilarious. Buy everyone podcast equipment? Right. If you really want it to be "#1" you might need more than a couple hundred watts of power. But fewer and fewer are listening to radio in general. CKLN had some good times (83-97) that can't be overshadowed by the incompotent crew who has run things the past few years. It was all fine until the lawyers came around (and we know who started that ball rolling....).
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Anonymous, 8 months ago said:
Greg Duffell.
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Anonymous, 7 months ago said:
There are a few posts above that name individuals. That's inappropriate and whoever is approving comments should delete them.
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Anonymous, 7 months ago said:
Name calling towards people that most of us have never heard of? Gee thanks, that's real helpfull, not to mention real mature. Why are people three times my age acting like babys? And why do I have to pay for their "right" to do so?
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Anonymous, 2 months ago said:
Evan, the CRTC's campus radio policy says only 10% of songs played on campus radio stations can be "hits". This makes your plan impossible to implement.
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