CKLN 88.1 FM is Canada’s epicenter for urban music. Alot of us heard our first hip hop song on Ron Nelsons’ Fantastic Voyage or the latest house, R&B or dance joint, from Dave’s Dance Music. Before we made our move to comercial radio, 88.1 was our home, holding down that infamous Saturday afternoon hip hop slot that Ron and DJ X built.
It’s doors are now closed due to internal conflict. Programmers Mel Boogie (Droppin Dimez), 7:30 and DJ Linx (The Mixtape Massacre) join us this week on Differently Still Guy to shed some light on the crisis.
This whole situation, which I do not have a full grasp of as of yet, saddens and vexes me at the same time. CKLN 88.1 has been and still is a staple of my saturday afternoons. I still have mad tapes from the Power Move days. I heard many of my favorites for the first time on those airwaves……T.R.O.Y., Mass Appeal, The World Is Yours…you name it, 88.1 played it. You kinda take shit for granted until it’s snatched away from you without warning. I hope these guys can get their shit straight quickly cuz the people are being denied of quality programming, and that’s just not right.
this is very upsetting…I hope this gets figured out soon. Thanks to the real freqs for putting this out for the masses to consume. Saturdays from 1-6 i would be tuned in…1-4 for the hip hop fix, and masala mix 4-6 cause i needed to catch 70′s hindi tunes.
If it gets to them shutting down…i’m showing up with a bandana on my face ready to riot.
I have listened to this program in its entirety. Here are some comments:
- at 18:00 a good comment by DJ Linx about volunteers coming to CKLN and not knowing the rules or properly attending meetings. CKLN is a “radio club”. The members, (paid and volunteer staff, community donors and Ryerson Students) are all responsible for how the club operates. The past management of CKLN never instilled these sets of responsibilities into the volunteer programmers in particular…ON PURPOSE! An ignorant group of programmers who don’t come to meetings and don’t involve themselves in the operation allow an elite group of individuals to call all the shots–even if those people were your friends. Bottom line: being in the CKLN radio club is more than just doing your show every week. You are not employees, you’re partners in the operation with everyone else. It’s more than just about hip-hop…or old school…or electronica…or politics…
- at 18:49- One of the hosts of this podcasts says: “the people usually in charge are not about their own power”….This could not be more wrong. Being a station manager or program director…or even a host of a particular genre of broadcast radio show…holds a lot of potential power. Also there is a LOT of money to be made by twisting the rules. Toronto is a big radio market. Sure, CKLN is tucked away at the end of the dial and operating at low wattage, but having a radio show on CKLN FM is a hell of a lot better than being on crackly AM or not being on the air at all. Basically, the people who run the radio stations have great possibilities in taking payola from record companies, artists, promoters, or even taking money from people who want to have their own programs. DJ Mel Boogie should know only too well about a certain person on CKLN whose whole show is an infomercial for either their own private businesses or taking money or receiving benefit from guests who want to promote their products and services “to the community”. Basically…there was LOTS of scamming going on with business going on where no money came to CKLN’s bank account. That’s why the station is/was in horrendous debt. I’m talking rampant financial corruption…for YEARS, maybe decades.
-at 20:00- DJ Linx talks about “selfish interests”. I would ask…Is promoting your own private gigs on CKLN…getting FREE advertising for your crew, your sponsors…a “selfish interest”? Any hosts I’ve asked that question to say that it’s ok. It’s “ok” on commercial radio, but it is problematic on a community, non-profit station. In my view hosts should go on and play music…if there is private promotion going on it should be done for what it is…ADVERTISING.
-at 25:11- a discussion about “action” if CKLN goes off air: Last weekend, the station was in complete dead air for almost 72 hours. In fact, it goes in and out of dead air constantly despite a continuous feed of archive shows. The dead air has already begun. Where is the action on behalf of programmers? Where are the rallying emails? Congratulations on the podcast, but I think that there is required to be a reality check going on with all the members. Positive thinking is not going to work. You have to know your fellow programmers and be willing to go out of your way to meet and work with people, which most volunteers were either never encouraged to do or never bothered to do. Will that realistically change?
-at 26:12- Dead on DJ Linx…Imagine…it’s the FIRST TIME he’s met Mel Boogie. Hell, I’VE met Mel Boogie and I’m not a hip-hop programmer. Good for you for admitting that the “CKLN family” was estranged and that we have ourselves to blame for this catastrophe.
-27:40- The history expressed here is not accurate at all…Ryerson can afford a lawyer. Ryerson University does NOT run CKLN. CKLN Radio Inc. is a “non-share capital corporation”. There is an agreement, made decades ago, to partially fund CKLN from a “student levy” that now sits at around $8.00 per student. Ryerson Students Union does not give money from the goodness of their hearts to CKLN. It’s the STUDENT’S money…all 23, 000 of them throwing in cash so you can have your show. Here’s a statistic for you….In 1991 the student levy contribution to CKLN’s annual budget was 28%. By 2007 it was at least 60%…maybe more. That’s the sign of a completely failing business. Not for profit doesn’t mean that there’s no money. We should be creating a SURPLUS of funds to pay for better equipment…not losing money forever and having the RSU bail us out like they did in 2004 because of absolutely horrendous management…horrendous managers who actually want to come back and do it all over again by replacing the new horrendous managers who sank the place.
- 30:11: Good for DJ Linx for admitting he didn’t involve himself in the station governance. Sure, it’s a drag to read bylaws and know what and who you’re voting for and then hold them accountable. Remember, the people for whom you vote can turn around and kick you off your show if you challenge them on the way they are doing their jobs.
-31:45- Thanks DJ Mel for saying you weren’t there for meetings. Remember the staff meeting called in December 2008? Did you come? It’s only the crisis what has motivated people. Granted, the management had everyone terrorized that they would have their show taken away.
37:43- “no names have been mentioned”….Why the hell not? Is no one responsible?
If CKLN survives, I really hope the same sense of urgency and concern will prevail.
Thank you for your candid and open comments. We love CKLN and view it as a necessary and vital element of our community. I hope it survives.
Hollerate!