Reflections from the National Community Radio Conference

I had the pleasure of attending the annual National Campus and Community Radio Conference that brought together campus and community radio stations from across Canada for a week of learning, networking and celebration. The conference was put on by the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA).

The conference was held at the Vancouver Island University in beautiful Nanaimo, BC.

Last year Northern Village helped the NCRA with their technology plan to "revolutionize Canada's campus, community, and Indigenous radio landscape". Following up on that vision, I wanted to see first-hand how community radio is positioning to be one of the primary ways to wean ourselves from an over-dependence on the massive media platforms operated by the tech-bros. I was specifically interested in the ways that information is shared in a distributed way and to look at how stations are interacting with each other and their local constituencies.

Setting the stage

The Conference was kicked off by an Elder from Vancouver Island who talked about his journey with community radio and the role it played in him being able to tell his story, including his experiences at residential schools and how it helped in his healing process.

A look at technology through the future of journalism

I was inspired by a session on the future of journalism, and in particular ways that technology can be used to support local news. 

With many different stations creating unique content, sharing that material effectively means getting that content out to a broader number of people. There is not one clear way that radio stations and information consumers can access local journalism. A number of different ways of doing it were discussed: 

• NCRA’s Earshot Distro was set up as an easy way for musicians to upload music to be available to community radio stations across Canada. Stations also share podcasts on the platform. Radio stations can log into the service and see different shows that have been produced. 
• The Harbinger Media Network uncovers news and current events through original and independent explanatory journalism and podcasting. Their news coverage amplifies stories that matter to audiences under-represented in mainstream media.
• Unrigged.ca is a coalition of 31 local, regional and national media outlets from across Canada that provides up-to-the-hour news from across the country. Unrigged.ca offers Canadians a place to access the latest news, podcasts, features, op/eds.
• Integration of print and broadcast media, showcasing an example of how 93.3 CFMU, McMaster University’s community radio station and The Silhouette, McMaster’s student newspaper merged. Mergers of Community Radio / TV and newspapers are starting to happen across the country. 
• Holding space for Indigenous journalists, and finding ways to protect that space from colonial interference. True sovereignty in media begins with who owns the story, and who holds the responsibility of care for those telling it.

Throughout the workshops, discussion of how different technologies can be used were debated. From the perspective of a web company, many possibilities exist for how community radio can use technology to further their goals of providing relevant local information.