CKDU-FM

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**CKDU-FM**

Broadcast area	Halifax, Nova Scotia
Branding	CKDU 88.1 FM
First air date	February 1, 1985 (origins go back to 1964)
Frequency	88.1 MHz (FM)
Format	Campus radio
Callsign meaning	CK Dalhousie University
Owner	CKDU-FM Society
Website	http://www.ckdu.ca/

CKDU 88.1 FM (formerly CKDU 97.5 FM) is a radio station broadcasting in a campus & community radio format from the campus of Dalhousie University. Licensed to broadcast to Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada, it broadcasts via a 2200 watt transmitter heard primarily to the urban core of Halifax. CKDU, which began broadcasting as an FM station in 1985, is operated by the not-for-profit CKDU-FM Society. Its mandate is to provide the Halifax area with an alternative to public and private radio broadcasting. On February 14, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. AST CKDU began transmitting at 2200 watts at 88.1 FM. Their former frequency was 97.5 FM.

1 History
2 Programming
3 Volunteering
4 Funding
5 Facilities
6 Controversy and appeal
7 CKDU Online
8 CKDU Alumni
9 See also
10 External links

[edit] History

CKDU-FM music programming director Mark MacLeod, 1986.

CKDU evolved from the Dalhousie University radio club, Radio Tiger, which dated back at least to the 1950s. In 1975 the station was dubbed CKDU and began broadcasting via closed circuit to Dalhousie residences from the Dalhousie Student Union Building (the SUB).

By 1985, the only place CKDU could be heard was from a speaker in the ceiling outside a bathroom on the top floor of the SUB. After a successful student referendum to fund the station and approval from the CRTC, CKDU started broadcasting on FM as a 33 watt station. While the signal was sufficient to reach downtown Halifax, the quality was poor in many parts of the Halifax Regional Municipality. At the time of the launch the station was managed by Doug Varty, formally of CHSR-FM in Fredericton, and Keith Tufts, later to found alternative performance venues the Club Flamingo and the Pub Flamingo.

The former CKDU logo, used from the late 80s to 2006.

The station's programming was initially heavily weighted to what was then considered "alternative" popular music, with a strong emphasis on such artists as Bauhaus, Ministry, Kate Bush and the Cure. In late-1985, Mark MacLeod was hired after working at CHMA FM in Sackville, New Brunswick to become the station's program director. Working with other station staff, he diversified the station's music programming to include more jazz, multicultural, and other specialty musics.

In 2000 CKDU-FM received permission from the CRTC to upgrade its transmitter to a power of 2200 watts, and after long period of fundraising finally collected the money required to complete the technical upgrades (estimated at $100,000 CAD). On February 14, 2006, the station became a high-power transmitter and moved from 97.5 FM to 88.1 FM.

[edit] Programming

The programming on CKDU tends to be eclectic. In-house policy is that anything that is heard on a commercial or public (ie. the CBC) radio station should not be heard on CKDU. CKDU's license also prohibits it from playing selections that have made certain charts such as the Billboard Hot 100 chart, preventing it from entering into competition with local commercial Top 40 stations. Due to the fact that programmers are usually young volunteers, CKDU sometimes does not have the programming lineup it might wish for- shows that feature spoken word as well as other types of music are frequently given preference for regular time slots. That said, CKDU is one of the few radio stations based in the Maritimes where one can hear local hip-hop, live electronic music, liberal and anarchist news shows, and the like. CKDU also hosts a number of shows programmed by ethnic minorities in the Halifax area, frequently broadcasting in their native languages rather than either of the official languages of Canada. Generally programming on CKDU is either a regular program which occurs at the same time(s) every week or one-off shows. The one-off shows are usually fill-ins for absent regular programmers or "all-nighter" slots which run from 2:00-7:00 a.m.. Generally the regular slots are regarded as being more prestigious than the all-nighters and are given to established programmers. The all-nighter slots are usually occupied by new programmers or ones who do not wish to apply for a regular slot. As a station regulated by the CRTC, CKDU is also bound by Canadian Content regulations.

[edit] Volunteering

CKDU relies on volunteers both for its day-to-day operations and for programming duty. It is reasonably straightforward to become a programmer at CKDU- one puts in approximately 10 hours of volunteer work doing things like manning phones and putting up flyers and then one is eligible for CKDU membership and programming privileges after a short training course is completed. While this policy occasionally causes some grief for CKDU, it is largely responsible for the diversity of on-air voices.

[edit] Funding

CKDU is supported for the most part by the Dalhousie Student Union, however some of its operating budget comes from fundraising drives conducted each year and for sales of advertising and sponsorships. There are few paid staff at the station (and they are not paid particularly well), most of the programmers being volunteers from the community. At one time CKDU did not advertise at all but currently accepts ad spots from a variety of advertisers, usually local nightspots and the like. The station also airs community announcements for no fee. Programmers are usually given a choice of ads and announcements to run on their programs so these intermissions tend to be short and topical (and sometimes inconsistent). The fundraising drives are conducted both by calling previous supporters of the station and by soliciting donations on air. On air donations are usually rewarded with prizes of some kind, supplied by the programmer, whose monetary value often equals the value of the donation.

[edit] Facilities

CKDU is located on the fourth floor of the Dalhousie student union building (6136 University Ave.) and is accessible to the general public. The station consists of a main lobby/waiting room, three offices which the paid station administration uses for their day-to-day duties, the station's vinyl record collection room, a maintenance room, a production studio (PCR) and the Master Control room (MCR) itself. The booth is a small room containing the CD collection of the station as well as new releases for easy access by the programmers. The equipment consists of a pair of Technics SL-1200s, a mixer, a new mixing board, a number of CD and tape decks, an audio-enabled computer, inputs for external devices, and an ancient reel-to-reel machine. Some of the equipment is unreliable and a sign on the wall reminds programmers not to talk about technical problems on the air (another sign beside it reminds neophyte programmers what the phone number of the station is). The booth is furnished with numerous chairs for the programmers and guests. The room is filled with colourful and frequently profane graffiti left by several generations of programmers. The booth also has access to the roof via its windows, which is occasionally taken advantage of by programmers who smoke cigarettes of various descriptions (although this of course is strictly forbidden by station policy).

[edit] Controversy and appeal

CKDU occasionally lands itself in hot water with its listeners and, more rarely, with the CRTC for the content of its shows (see for example this [1] CRTC license renewal describing a few complaints against CKDU). Due to the relative ease with which any community member can go on the air, there have been occasionally offensive broadcasts, particularly by all-nighter programmers, who are left unsupervised during the wee hours of the morning. These problems are generally rare, however. More common are outrageous and silly programmers whose antics would not be tolerated on commercial radio stations. This makes up part of the appeal of the station for many. This behaviour can range from the relatively benign (frank, sometimes heated, arguments on air between programmers, intoxicated all-nighter programmers, etc) to the outlandish (one programmer as part of a funding drive broadcast began making a shrill wailing noise on-air and threatened to continue indefinitely until a certain amount was donated. CKDU now prohibits threats as a method of fundraising).

[edit] CKDU Online

CKDU is available online at its website[2] and can be listened to with an mp3 player like Winamp.

You can subscribe to several of CKDU's programs, like Popped Culture at http://podcast.ckdu.ca [3]

[edit] CKDU Alumni

A number of notable individuals have passed through the booth at CKDU, a few of whom are listed below:
Michael Catano - member of North of America, and The Holy Shroud, hosted The Heat as well as serving as Station Coordinator.
Andrew Duke - experimental techno artist (website[4]), hosted a number of shows as well as serving as Program director
Buck 65 - hip-hop artist, hosted the show "The Bassment", later renamed "The Treatment"
Jay Ferguson of the band Sloan produced and hosted a music program on CKDU-FM in the 1980s.
Skratch Bastid - hip-hop DJ, also hosted "The Treatment"
Jesse Dangerously - nerdcore hip hop artist and current host of "The Treatment", currently titled "The Pavement"