News
Imprint, Friday, May 30, 2008 news@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Working out a new sound at CKMS Proposal details plans to save the UW radio station, which loses funding in September
Dinh Ngunyen & Joyse Hsu
Ashley Csanady staff reporter
C
KMS may change its name to 100.3 Sound FM, revamp its programming schedule, and strengthen ties to campus as part of a new proposal to save the station once its student funding ends August 31, 2008. The proposal will be tabled by CKMS’ board of directors June 9. The station lost its funding following a referendum last February to remove the $5.50 a term student fee that previously supported the station. In efforts to remain viable once the funding is cut off, the station released a proposal last week, outlining not only how the station plans to remain fiscally sound, but how it can be improved and better reach out to students. The proposal, if passed by their board, is part of an effort to get Feds Council to allow CKMS continued use of their current location, the Bauer Warehouse at the north of UW’s Research Technology park, for one year. This will allow them time to implement the changes. “Many, if not all, of the issues raised during the referendum have been catered to in the proposal,” said Ira Sherr, head of the “No” committee during the referendum. (Note of clarification: due to the wording of the referendum question, the “No” committee was the side that supported continuing student funding). Former “Yes” committee head, Jeffery Aho, was slightly more reserved in his praise and stated, “I don’t believe it addresses every issue,” but he did add it was a good start to rebuilding and rebranding the station. What can only be described as a total overhaul of the station’s governance, direction, and content, the proposal was put together by the new president of the board of directors at CKMS, Steven Krysak, as well at the newly ratified position of student funder liaison, held by Cole Atlin. Some of the most drastic changes include the name change — and all the implied rebranding possibilities — and cutting all but two paid staff positions — a
promotions and advertising co-ordinator and an administrative assistant. The board hopes to replace the technical co-ordinator with an engineering student willing to take on the position, while the station manager’s position is financially unrealistic without a significant increase in their funding, according to Atlin. For funding, the current plan requires community members of the station to pay $50 a year as “Friends of CKMS,” community volunteers to pay $30 a year, and student volunteers to pay $10 a year. Although the plan is obviously not enough to fully support the station, Krysak
According to the Sound FM proposal, all programming will be re-evaluated and re-scheduled to be more student friendly. A morning show, a noon-time top ten, and a different genre block of music each night of the week are just some of the ideas laid out. Even existing shows will need to re-submit demo tapes to be re-evaluated as to whether they fit the new direction. The programming changes seem to be part of an effort to address how communitydominated, as opposed to student-dominated, the station has become in recent years. This, for Atlin, is one of the biggest problems with the station, along with lacking an on-
For Atlin, it’s not that students don’t want a radio station; it’s that they don’t like what they saw in CKMS. ... They want to make a station students really want to listen to ... to ingrain it in UW. explained the full extent of CKMS’ financial plan in an e-mail to Imprint, “We will have around $14,000 in the bank by the end of August going into September, and with the expected advertising revenue, that will grow even higher. We are also pursuing grants and other forms of funding. Advertising was not a huge part of the proposal because mostly it’s not changing. The only difference is that it is much more important, and there will be a bit more of it.” If more advertising is necessary for the station’s survival, it might be problematic, as @UW editor and former Imprint editor-inchief Tim Alamenciak pointed out, “Who’s going to advertise on something nobody knows anything about?” Aho echoed a similar sentiment when he stated, “I think the issue is that students don’t really know what CKMS is.” An issue that seemed to be well addressed through the proposal but, for Aho, the real strength of the proposal is the numerous programming changes it details.
campus space, and the sporadic nature of the programming. For Atlin, it’s not that students don’t want a radio station, it’s that they didn’t like what they saw in CKMS. She added that, with this proposal, they “want to make a station students really want to listen to. We want to ingrain it in UW.” “CKMS deserves another shot if students decide they see a value in having a radio station on campus,” wrote Feds President Justin Williams in an e-mail to Imprint. “I really think that the proposal presented by CKMS goes a long way [in addressing] the issue of student engagement within the radio station. I think it has the potential to start a process that create a truly campus radio station.” Creating “a truly campus radio station” is a priority throughout the proposal, as it states interest in working with UW Athletics to broadcast games and events, with student services like GLOW to help promote events or even run their own programs, and Imprint or the Daily Bulletin in an effort to cover campus news and events.
Current station manager Heather Majaury said that working with Imprint would be the realization of a personal dream and seemed very enthusiastic about the idea. Alamenciak, on the other hand, was not so rose-tinted in his view. He saw little benefit in the proposed relationship for Imprint, said any official support would need to be outlined at the governance level, and said “the only way Imprint would do anything with this is out of the kindness of their heart. To illustrate his point, he used past attempts at a similar relationship that was too onerous for Imprint’s already busy staff. Current Imprint editor-in-chief Maggie Clark said she is awaiting feedback from members of the undergraduate student body. “I want to hear how open students are to this concept, whether they think it would be useful, and where they see the future of media on campus.” When asked what needs to be done immediately to save the station, Krysak said, “Promotions, fundraising and volunteer recruitment. We need to get our name out there to the new students coming in, we need money to operate, and we need volunteers for the new schedule as well as to help take over duties from our current staff.” The difficulty in volunteering for CKMS has long been an issue. Majaury, Atlin, and Krysak were all firm that the seemingly extensive volunteer process is necessary for volunteers, as they need to know the rules and how to run the equipment. “Since most of our staff will be gone soon, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Students can volunteer to work on programming, admin, technical or music-related positions. There is also the fundraising, promotions and social committees and the board of directors which all always look for students to join,” explained Krysak, meaning that students don’t necessarily have to be trained to use all the technical equipment to help the station out. See SOUND, page 5