Not so deep in the basement of Carruthers Hall, just south of the dormant Clark Hall Pub and the Campus Bookstore, lies one of Queen’s campus’ best kept secrets: Queen’s radio. Fifteen years short of a century old, adorned with an eclectic selection of art—everything from recent poster art by local artists to an array of framed dog portraits—CFRC 101.9FM is full of more life than any other place I’ve encountered in my four years in Kingston.
CFRC pumps out meaningful broadcasting 24 hours a day, seven days a week, barring a minute or three of dead air every once in a while—unavoidable given the constant stream of new programmers, many of whose first words sent out to radioland are mediated by the black and silver microphones in CFRC’s main control rooms.
In 1922 Douglas Jemmett and Robert Davis first planted the CFRC seed in Fleming Hall that has since grown deep roots in Kingston. They built an experimental AM radio station to increase the Wireless Club’s ability to participate in public broadcasting. This makes CFRC one of the oldest radio stations in the world, topped only by the Marconi Companies and a few others.
Radio later became a staple in most households in Canada and around the world, holding its ground against the challenge brought on by the advent of television.
Some believe radio is increasingly a dying medium, being replaced by the expansive and ominous Internet—podcasts, YouTube, Myspace. Although this new media may satiate almost any desire for information or entertainment consumption that may arise, there’s still something it lacks: intimacy.
To this day, no medium is more intimate than radio. Making morning coffee before heading to class, catching an hour in the afternoon while working on an assignment or tuning in as you sit in a bath surrounded by candles, no other medium speaks directly to you in real time—inviting you to call in or even come down to the station.
The value of radio doesn’t stop there. CFRC has served Queen’s campus since its inception in the ’20s. The first documented broadcast was a post-game summary of a Queen’s Rowing Club exhibition football game on Oct. 7, 1922.
CFRC radio is mandated to reflect the arts, culture and news of the local community. This manifests itself in many different ways.
The Queen’s bubble was first broken in this station in 1977, when it was recognized that broadcasting year-round, seven days a week couldn’t be sustained through a strictly student effort. The community was invited in to start broadcasting. Some broadcasters from that era remain on-air today.
The music sent out over the airwaves represents the diverse interests of the music programmers, instead of the cliché top-40 songs pumped out elsewhere. Many musicians who end up making it big get their start on community stations, where any album that enters the station will get at least one listen.
Community radio is the only kind of radio where you can expect such a wide range of voices. While local commercial radio DJs, reporters and radio hosts of all sorts are trained to replicate a certain style of dynamic, over-enunciated speech pattern, community radio personalities are encouraged to stay true to their own unique combination of larynx, tongue and mouth cavity-produced sound.
Media conglomeration is creating a congruent media landscape, where fewer and fewer voices, perspectives and issues are receiving airtime. CFRC is a place where equal opportunity actually means something. A climbing diversity of voices is encouraged to tap into the airwaves, gain technical knowledge and participate in cultural production. At CFRC, we are given the opportunity to be the media.
CFRC is your signal, your sound alternative. Think more about what the station means to you, this campus and this community. In a world becoming increasingly less intimate by the day, why not do a little exploring and get a little more intimate with radio?
Courtney Kirkby is CFRC 101.9FM’s news co-ordinator.
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