CJSW celebrates 30 years on the FM dial with book detailing its history
Drew Anderson | CBC News | Posted: August 28, 2016 9:23 PM | Last Updated: August 28, 2016
From early struggles to the time Green Day threw a trash can at a volunteer, this station has tales to tell
CJSW, the University of Calgary's campus and community radio station, is celebrating 30 years on the FM dial and giving away a book that celebrates it history as part of the fun.
"We're very, very proud of it — 160 pages exploring the diverse and wacky and really just awe-inspiring history of CJSW 90.9 FM in Calgary," station manager Kai Sinclair told The Homestretch.
"It sounds braggadocious, but it's the biggest and best campus community station in Canada and it's right here in Calgary."
From campus to community
The station started as a radio club and evolved to a campus station that broadcast to MacEwan Hall and as far away as the student residences. It now broadcasts far and wide with a strong FM transmitter, podcasts on its website and streaming on iTunes.
"In 1985, we were risking a few things. We were risking shutdown, we were losing funding, that kind of thing," said Kendra Scanlon, the station's community development co-ordinator and curator of the book.
There's some weird stuff, like the time Green Day came into the station and then stormed out and threw a trash can at a volunteer. - Kai Sinclair, CJSW station manager
"So Grant Burns, who was the station manager at the time, decided that in order for us to take a step forward, we had to become something more than just a radio station that broadcasted on campus. We had to become a community station."
The book focuses on that history, but also includes some of the lighter moments over the years.
"There's some weird stuff, like the time Green Day came into the station and then stormed out and threw a trash can at a volunteer," said Sinclair.
"They just weren't impressed with the flippant nature of our host who didn't seem to care that they were Green Day."
Volunteers and donors
Key to the station's growth and success is its annual funding drive, when those who love the station pledge donations, often getting donated gifts in the process.
Thanks in part to the commitment of those donors, CJSW moved from a cramped basement location to a wide, bright space on an upper level of Mac Hall six years ago.
But it's not just money that has allowed the station to flourish, it's also the commitment of its army of volunteers — past and present.
"Yeah, it's really an important nexus point for culture and community in Calgary," said Sinclair.
"You have people who have been involved in the station since they were teenagers who now operate things like Folk Fest and Sled Island, and they've sort of spread out in the community but they still keep a part of themselves at CJSW."
Giving it away
Those who want a copy of the book can find a list of businesses giving it away online.
"Of course you can always come up to the station, we'd love to show you around, give you a tour and give you a book," Scanlon said.
But why give it away for free when it could be used to raise money?
"We made the choice we don't want to put a paywall between anybody and experiencing the history of the station," Sinclair said.
With files from The Homestretch