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Annual Returns: compliance is delicious!

This year, all 74 NCRA members that were required to submit an Annual Return to the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) did so on time!

We believe this reaches beyond stations filling out forms and instead shows our members' larger commitment to regulatory compliance and the responsibilities all broadcasters have in using the public airwaves.

Annual Returns track financial information, alcohol advertising and, for campus and community radio stations, the number of volunteers and volunteer hours worked in the past year, among other things. The data from the Annual Returns are compiled in the CRTC's Communications Monitoring Report on Canadian broadcasting.

Congrats to our members for this work and for all the work behind the forms that they do all year! 

Pic: Membership Coordinator Kari Benninghaus brought in this lovely "We did it!" tart to celebrate. 

Funding: Resonating Reconciliation documentary

The NCRA has funding available for 10 interested campus and community radio stations to recruit and train a local Indigenous producer or producers to make a documentary about the legacy of Indian Residential Schools in YOUR community.

The work is part of our "Resonating Reconciliation" project, funded by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and administered by the department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.

Based on advice from the project's Advisory Committee of inter-generational Indian Residential School survivors, this last round of applications is open to *any* Canadian campus and community radio station, whether it's broadcasting on the AM or FM dial or online-only, as long as the station is currently broadcasting at least 10 hours a week and is not-for-profit and volunteer-driven.

We are particularly interested in reaching out to Indigenous community radio stations and NCRA member stations who have not yet participated.

For more information and to download the application form, click on the title of this post. And listen to previously-produced docs.

Red Jam Slam - Ottawa!

Friday, November 8th is Aboriginal Veterans Day. It's also the day of the Ottawa Red Jam Slam, an event that brings Aboriginal artists together to address the history and legacy of Indian Residential Schools for all Canadians.

The event is from 10am-9:30pm and includes a panel of inter-generational survivors, musical performances, spoken word and poetry performances, comedy, an open mic and an open jam for people to get involved, drumming to honour veterans, films, a b-boy workshop and a harvest lunch with stew and bannock.

It's being held at 300 Des Peres Blancs Ave. at the Richelieu-Vanier Community Centre and will have a live broadcast on CHUO 89.1FM from 12pm-2pm.

For more details about Red Jam Slams, go here. For more details about the Resonating Reconciliation project, which uses community radio to help all Canadians address the legacy of Indian Residential School, go here. 

Project support: Welcome to Will!

For the next nine weeks, Will Lafrance is our new Project Support Coordinator!

Funded through the Aboriginal Pathways to Employment program, he will be coordinating Public Service Announcements for the Resonating Reconciliation project, helping organize the upcoming Ottawa Red Jam Slam, and working to support the Ontario Independent Music Archive, particularly in collecting more Aboriginal music.

Will grew up on the small Mohawk reservation Akwesasne, listening to the local community radio station CKON-FM, and realized just how much of an impact it can have.

He recently finished his studies in Theatre Arts at Algonquin College and is a part-time actor and a full-time lover of fun. Will specializes in community outreach and program coordination and is excited to start working on and learning more about the Resonating Reconciliation project -- that chapter in Canadian history has always intrigued him.

Welcome to Will! For his full bio, click on the title of this post. 

NOW HIRING: Red Jam Slam Ottawa Coordinator

As part of our Resonating Reconciliation project, that uses community radio to address the legacy of Indian Residential Schools for all Canadians, we are also presenting five Red Jam Slams across Canada, in partnership with the Red Jam Slam Society.

We've already had slams in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, a special radio-based Red Jam Slam festival, and now: Ottawa! The Red Jam Slam Ottawa Coordinator will organize a Red Jam Slam in Ottawa on November 8th that addresses the legacy of Indian Residential Schools by showcasing Indigenous artists in multiple fields, from music, to comedy, to film and more.

The event is planned for Friday, November 8th because it's Aboriginal Veterans Day. The theme is inter-generational Residential School survivors and their stories. The deadline for applications is Friday, October 4th at midnight and the full job description can be found here.

This project was funded by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. 

Funding for NCRA member stations to recruit Indigenous producers and make a doc about the legacy of Indian Residential Schools

This is a call for all those NCRA member stations interested in recruiting and training a local Indigenous producer to make a documentary about the legacy of Indian Residential Schools in YOUR community.

The 20 stations chosen will each receive $3500 for this work. $1500 for the Indigenous producers/trainees, and $2000 for other related expenses (as determined by you!)

You will need to submit both an expression of interest and a simple application.

The deadline to submit both the expression of interest and the application is FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27th at midnight PT.

Four summer students for OIMA/AMIO!

Four summer students started work this week to increase the diversity and range of music on the Ontario Independent Music Archive (OIMA) and to produce a plain-language guide on music copyright issues for musicians, the public and campus/community radio stations and their volunteers.

Funded in large part by the Canada Summer Jobs program, we are thrilled to welcome Swadhi Thanabalasingam as the World Music Archive Coordinator, Emma Wolno and Andrew Kerr as Aboriginal Music Archive Coordinators, and Bonnie O'Sullivan as the Copyright Handbook Editor. Click on the title of this post for full bios for each of the new staff!

Pic, clockwise from top left: Andrew Kerr, Swadhi Thanabalasingam, Emma Wolno and Bonnie O'Sullivan. 

NOW HIRING! Summer Music and Copyright Positions

This July 15th to the end of August we have been given funding by Service Canada through the Canada Summer Jobs program to offer three summer positions for Canadian students, under the age of 30, who are returning full-time to school in September.

All three relate to the Ontario Independent Music Archive (www.oima-amio.ca) project, including an Aboriginal Music Archive Coordinator, a World Music Archive Coordinator and a Copyright Handbook Editor.

All three positions will work out of the main NCRA office in Ottawa. Click on the relevant links for more details. Application deadline: Friday, July 5th at midnight PT.

NCRC in Winnipeg! June 11-15

Ten years after they last hosted it and fifty years after the station started, CKUW-FM at the University of Winnipeg is hosting the National Campus and Community Radio Conference! This year is also the 32nd anniversary of the conference and the 27th anniversary of the NCRA.  Come help us celebrate all these milestones! 

In addition to a series of workshops helping stations build and strengthen their work as community-based organizations, there's  a day committed to exploring Equity in Radio, a panel discussion on the legacy of Indian Residential Schools and how c/c radio can help share survivors' stories, plans for a keynote speech by "Alternative Radio" host David Barsamian, the national awards gala with musical guest Al Andrusco and so much more!    

For more information and to register, go to the conference website.

DEADLINE THIS FRIDAY: NCRA Community Radio Awards!

The NCRA Board and staff are thrilled to announce the 2013 NCRA/ANREC Community Radio Awards: now celebrating 20 years!

Since 1993 the Awards have worked to honour the amazing programming, people and activities our sector has to offer and reflect the range and diversity of community radio across Canada, including categories for programming about music, Aboriginal affairs and culture, and third language shows.

Last year's winners included a broadcast live from the student protests in Montreal, a show featuring people Christmas caroling outside a prison to reach out to family members inside, thoughtful and hilarious segments from the show "Pioneer Radio" on the theme of "mortification", and poets at the local library in Haliburton, ON pondering their art.

This year's winners will receive national recognition at the NCRA Awards Gala at the National Campus and Community Radio Conference this June 11-15, hosted by CKUW-FM in Winnipeg, MB and on the NCRA/ANREC website. (There are also trophies and certificates, just saying.)

Full submission details can be found at www.ncra.ca/awards. The deadline to apply has been extended to Friday, May 31st at midnight Pacific Time. But that's still pretty soon! Good luck!