Why Are We Here?
    An Open Letter to the Volunteers of CKUL

    This ia personal opinion piece. It is meant to be responded to. Keep the discussion going.
    Here is the question: Why do we do what we do? Why are we volunteering our time to the radio station? Why are we here? One comoon interest I guess we can boil it down to is our love of music. This is almost enough to be a CKUL volunteer, but not quite. There is also a question of dedication to our art, the station and what it stands for. What does it stand for? Well, there's the rub, eh?
    Being an old-timer to the radio game and to music history, I think I can begin to address this. When I first got involved with the station (way back when, obscured by the fog of history), I tried to explain what kind of music I was interested in to those outside the world of music I was immersed in, and used the word "alternative" to describe it, since getting into the minutae of industrial music just wasn't worth the trouble for someone not well versed in music. Back in 1989, that word worked well. Today, in 1999, it doesn't work anymore. The world "alternative" has almost no meaning now. Let's take a history lesson...
    I was around when Nirvana broke the radio barrier. Before Nirvana, there was only "radio music", a generic sort of music played by radios, the same bands, the same music, ad infinitum. When Nirvana broke, radio was changed drastically for a few years, then the radio people began to bounce back. We had alternative radio, a mix of mainstream acts and lesser known bands like Nirvana and cronies. It was a semi-golden age. But, the radio industryto quick to adjust, pumping out look and sound alike bands, and reclaiming their radio. The term "alternative radio" was coined to reflect the new style of radio. Your Stone Temple Pilots, your Blind Melons, your Pearl Jams, they were all crammed together with some 80s retro, and alternative radio was born. It was an evil day. Today, "alternative radio" is just like mainstream radio, only the bands have a distinct "alternacrap" sound: homogenous, safe and boring. The word "alternative" is no longer viable. It is a non-entity.
    What CKUL does is not "alternative radio". The world has no meaning anymore. We are a "campus/community radio station". What does that mean? It means we play everying you cannot hear from more conventional sources. This includes commercial radio (even radio station achetypes you can't hear in Lethbridge), MuchMusic, TV, the Internet, anything in the mainstream. There is a reason for this. First and foremost, the reason is money. It isn't called commerical radio for nothing. The music industry is governed by money and these stations gain money from playing these bands, then the bands gain royalties back. This is why Nirvana set everything on it's ears. Here was an unknown band, no financial backing, no glitzy ad campaign, being played on commercial radio, they were so alien they upset the entire balance of radio for a long time. That is until record labels were able to subdue the upstarts and create their own safe versions of them for mass consumption.
    CKUL is not paid for what it does. We do it because we love it. We have a passion fopr music no one has heard, or we have heard it and what to expose other to it. But, this isn't just a big love in, group hug, mastrubatory self-gratification we are doing here. We have listeners. They might be a small group, but they are out there. They tune into CKUL because they want something different. They are angry with the mainstream, the same old thing. They tune in because they also love what we do.
    When you cue up your CDs and records, set the mic up and get ready to do your show, you don't just do it for yourself, you do it for our listeners. Moreover, we have a mandate laid out by the CRTC to live up to. You also do your show for them. You aren't broadcasting to hear yourself talk.
    Remember that you are a campus/community station volunteer. You might like bands like the Tragically Hip, but you don't need to play them on this station. You might need that one more song for your Can-Con, but need it be the Hip? The Hip already have a tonne of record exec types phoning, faxing and emailing commercial stations in Canada making sure that they are played. They are readily heard elsewhere. Our listener's don't want to hear them, they can hear them everywhere else. Besides, there are plenty of other Canadian bands that deserve your care and attention. Sure, the Hip are a great band, but we don't play them. End discussion, Finis. That's it.
    B-sides are another bone of contention with me. We do tell you you can play some of your fave commercial bands, but you must play a non-single. In my eyes, this is almost as bad as playing a single. Realistically, you can never play "Blow at High Dough" on CKUL, can you play "Opiated", a non-single from the same album? Well you can, but it's not a great choice of music to play. Why play the Hip when there are other artists that you cyold have played? Doesn't matter if it is a track not heard on the radio, tons of people already own the album and listen to it at home. Do they need to hear it again? Probably not.
    Now, you might be saying, "But, I don't know any of the other band, I've never heard of them." This is a common complaint. This is a good thing. One of the reasons we are here is to expand our musical horizons. And the volunteers at that station, especially the higher-ups, are here to help you adjust to this strange new world. So, you can't play the Hip, you can play Plumtree instead, you can play Luna, you can play Wilco. And you can play band's you haven't heard of. There is a reason Jack (our music director at the time), goes through the trouble to short blurbs on the new stuff on the playlist (check out the on-air binder, folks). It's to introduce you to these strange new bands and to get you to try them out. There is something on the playlist you can play. You just have to put the effort into it.
    Now, there's a point of contention. It isn't enough to just show up and say "Okay, I'll do my show now". We have to be prepared. It is a disservice to your listeners to come unprepared and to the station. We aren't professional radio broadcasters but we go have a certain standard we cling to. You have a job to do. It's not enough justto hang out at the station and goof around, getting your one hour of radio in a wekk. CKUL is so much more than what we broadcast. When a call for volunteers goes out, then sign up! It's loads of fun and it helps your station.
    Why am I going on and on abou this? Those of us who have been struggling with CKUL for years, giving our love and passion to the station, have been here for a long time. We know we are close to getting an FM license, we've been working on it for years. It has been our effor that has gotten us here. We have maintained CRTC regulations because we want to go straight onto FM once we are approved, because we have been training in CRTC regs, we can go straight to FM without having to retrain everyone. Sure, the Can-Con and playlist requirements are annoying at times, but they have to be done, because this is what we have to do to get CKUL on FM. End of discussion.
    You may have noticed your friendly programming committee has been more active than usual this year. That's because we care. We aren't picking on your because we don't like you. We are pointing out that your show has some problems and is not adhereing to the CRTC and station standards. We need to uphold these standards to become a full FM station. And we lead by example. Take a listen to one of the old-timers broadcasting at the station. You won't hear the Hip, you won't hear Britney Spears, you won't hear Smash Mouth or any other so called "alternative" band. That's because we understand the ideal we uphold. Radio free of commercial interest, radio that challenges the mind and the soul, radio for the thinking person. The thinking listener. Next time you head in to do your whow, keep all these things in mind. When you pick up that Barenaked Ladies CD, think "Do I have to play this?". We as the station are here to help. If you cannot go through your show without resisting the temptation to play commercial music, then maybe you are in the wrong place. But, we are here to help you. The volunteers of the station are a vast storehouse of experience and musical knowledge. All you have to do is ask. You are the station, you lead by example. Be a good CKUL volunteer. Think before you go on the air.