Voice of the Grand fights to stay on the air

With the help and enthusiasm of community volunteers, a struggling radio station serving the regions of the Six Nations and the Mississauga First Nations may enjoy a new lease on life. Fans and supporters of CKRZ (100.3 FM), known as the "Voice of the Grand," have rallied to preserve the unique organization.
Faced with mounting debt and staff lay-offs, the Southern Onkwehon:we Nishinabec Indigenous Communications Society (SONICS) held an emergency board meeting Feb. 11 to brainstorm ways to prevent a permanent shutdown of the broadcaster. The event, at the Sports Den in the community hall in Ohsweken, attracted approximately 30 people with fond memories of the community institution and a willingness to breathe new life into the troubled station.
After the meeting, board chair Andrew Joseph expressed satisfaction that the session was not all gloom and doom. Clearly, a new generation is keen on keeping the Native voice alive in the broadcasting market serving Brantford, Kitchener, Woodstock and London.
"I am a young person, just
22," said Joseph. "I have always been an avid listener to CKRZ so I am just being a steward to the station; I want it to get back on its feet again."
In his view, the meeting had a positive outcome and he emerged from the gathering with renewed optimism.
"It was an open forum with lots of discussion and I am really happy with the outcome. The consensus is that we, as a community, are going to try to save the station," he said. "We will re-invent ourselves."
Undoubtedly, that is the kind of youthful energy that launched the concept in the first place. CKRZ, located in Ohsweken Plaza in the heart of Ohsweken, started out 22 years ago with a small 10 watt transmitter and donated equipment. The stated goals of the station were to promote language, culture, music and arts of First Nations communities. The multilingual broadcaster showcased Cayuga, Mohawk and other languages in its programming.
Like many fledgling communications initiatives, CKRZ experienced many ups and downs since its inception. But in fall 2008 revenue dried up alarmingly. According to Facebook posts from last October, the station found itself in "serious financial trouble" since fewer and fewer people were participating in CKRZ radio bingo even though jackpots reached up to $16,000. The postings urged station supporters to stand up and demonstrate the importance of the service to the community. Listeners were encouraged to assemble all their family members and to commit to playing the Sunday night game of chance.
Radio show hosts, including Joshua Miller, Derek Sandy and Carson Williams, made one last ditch effort to keep the station afloat Oct. 3-4, 2008 during a hastily organized emergency radio telethon. The 30-hour event featured special guests, giveaways, dedications and paid requests designed to make the community understand and respond to the urgency of the financial crisis.
Despite the plea for pledges, the station was forced to cease broadcasting on Feb. 1, 2009, after the debt load reached $100,000, according to the Brantford Expositor. Another emergency SONICS board meeting was called for Feb. 11 to gather direction from the membership and entertain proposals for salvaging the operation. The Expositor also reported that two local business people were making a bid to take over the ailing station. Steve Williams, president of Grand River Enterprises, a cigarette manufacturer, and Lynda Powless, publisher of Turtle Island News, a weekly Native paper, had proposed a so-called "rescue plan" for CKRZ.
Joseph described the buy-out rumour as "the elephant in the living room" at the emergency board meeting, but confirmed that the membership did not consider selling. Instead they opted "to fight to save our station."
As the board tries to steer the station back to its roots as a community-owned operation, Joseph suggested that there will be much less reliance on radio bingo in the future. Instead an ad hoc committee, struck at the emergency meeting, will formulate a new financial plan with an eye to "trimming fat from operational expenses."
The ad hoc committee consists of 15 members from a broad cross-section of the community. They were scheduled to meet again in mid-February to come up with a concrete plan to resurrect the station.
The battle is not over by any means. "We're not out of
(the crisis) yet," Joseph acknowledged. "There are still some difficulties and it will be a challenge but I expect to overcome the obstacles with community support. Community support is key."
The annual general meeting of the SONICS will be held March 11. At that time a full board of directors will be elected.