I am very excited to share with you all some pretty fantastic news. In august I reached out to some stations to see if there was an appetite for the NCRA/ANREC to host a virtual National Community Radio Conference. I was blown away by the enthusiasm and the session ideas suggested to me.

Then 39 Online was born.

We were saddened that the NCRC39 scheduled to take place in Whitehorse,YK was cancelled as a direct result of COVID-19 and the public health guidance issued at the time. The annual gathering of our membership is an important moment to build networks, connect with friends and learn about the biggest issues facing our sector. We want to thank CJUC-FM and the great folks at Yukon Tourism for their help in the run up to NCRC-39, and we sincerely hope that once things return to a semblance of normalcy people go visit their great city.

The Cost
The NCRA/ANREC staff and Board want to offer our members the opportunity to gather and learn from each other. We’ve come up with 39 Online, the virtual conference. We are also prioritizing making it as accessible as possible for stations facing economic hardship as a result of the pandemic. Which is why, the NCRA/ANREC will not be charging per/person, but will only be charging $50 per station. This is a minimum, we invite the stations who are in a position to pay more to please do so, so that we are able to recover the costs. It’s essentially pay what you can, with a $50 minimum. For stations where the $50 is not possible, please reach out and we will address it on a case by case basis. Tickets will go on sale soon.

39 Online will be taking place from October 26th through to either November 6th or November 13th. Spread out over 2-3 weeks, there will be 2 sessions per day, plus caucuses spread out in-between. The sessions are scheduled for 1PM (EST) and 4PM (EST), please adjust for your local time-zone.

The Sessions
Please take a moment to send me an email with what you may like to see at 39 Online. We have a long list of sessions we’ve already gathered, but your feedback will help to find innovative new ideas, and to prioritize the sessions people most want to see. Also, as this is a virtual event, we may set time aside for presentations designed for programmers. If you have an idea for a presentation (or want to present) for the programmers across the country let us know!

The Caucuses
As part of our efforts to create opportunities to gather and network we are working on ensuring that there are as many chances for this to happen as possible. We are using Doodle Polls to minimize conflicts and not having sessions and caucuses run simultaneously. We hope to accommodate as many people as possible. Please take a moment to fill out the Doodle Polls linked here. We’ve included each of the caucuses that we typically host. If you would like another potential meeting topic or grouping just let us know.

The Annual General Meeting (AGM)
This is just a reminder that the NCRA/ANREC’s AGM will be taking place on the 28th. We invite you to attend a two-hour online AGM on Wed Oct 28th at 10 am PT (11 am MT, 12 pm CT, 1 pm ET, 2 pm AT). In case we don’t complete the agenda in two hours, we have added space for a second plenary session on Thurs Oct 29 at those same times.

The Community Radio Awards in Broadcast and Online GALA
The NCRA/ANREC has finalized our list of winners for the 2020 Community Radio Awards in Broadcast and Online. We are scheduling a virtual gala to take place at 8PM (EST- please adjust for local timezone) on Friday November 6th. We want to invite everyone who has applied to join us. We are still working on pulling it together!

If you have technical production expertise, we are pulling together a team to produce the Gala show. Also, we might be reaching out to stations to have musicians showcased from across Canada as part of the production. If you would like to be involved please let me know, and I’ll be reaching out directly to past winners and entries for the Creative Production Award.

The NCRC41 (2021) - Invitation for Bids
And finally, in advance of the AGM the NCRA/ANREC would like to invite stations in the Central and East Coast regions to put a bid in to the NCRA/ANREC for hosting the NCRC41 in 2021. We require the following information for each bid:
What financial support may be available to support your bid, local, provincial or private support for the event.
Travel and accommodation options, how well served is your station?
Your station support, what is the in-house capacity at your station to support a bid?
What expertise for professional development is available at your station, or location?
What social events do you think could be possible?

The NCRA/ANREC will review all of the bids, and may reach out for follow up questions.
THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT NCRC41 BID IS OCTOBER 12TH 2020

This was a long email with a lot of BIG news!

If you have ideas for sessions, want to get involved please let me know!

Yours

Luke,