The University of Waterloo radio station is off the air after students voted against paying $2.50 per term to support it. According to its website, CKMS 100.3 Sound FM started as a cable station at the university in the 1970s and is Ontario’s third campus FM station. In February 2008, students voted to remove the $5.50 per term fee that went to the station.
“There are 68 on-air programmers and seven [on the] board of directors,” said CKMS vice-president Selene MacLeod. “These reflect numbers of people who paid their membership fee and kept their volunteer cards up-to-date, which I don’t believe is an accurate refection of how many people support the station.”
The station has worked with local business owners and non-profits, supporting independent artists since its inception, added MacLeod.
The vote was close, with 2,005 students voting for the fee and 2,400 voting against. Although 19,000 students did not participate, the referendum had the highest voter turnout in the history of Waterloo’s student union.
“I believe that there are plenty of students that support campus radio and like the rest of us, can’t imagine a campus without a radio station,” said MacLeod. “Maybe the results would have been different if the question being asked was, ‘Is it worth it to you to support the arts, local music, Canadian culture and have opportunities in broadcasting, administration, and governance of a radio station, all for just $2.50 per term?’”
The station’s licence is valid until 2014, and it has been investigating alternative options.
“As long as there is the slightest hope that we can sort out our financial problems, attract advertisers and membership, and keep providing the best in quality, independent radio programming, we’re staying on in some incarnation,” said MacLeod. “I’m frustrated, heartbroken, and deeply disappointed that the students of UW won’t have this resource in future generations—I’m not losing anything, they’re losing a lot.”
Comments
I was a student at UW in the 70's and am a lifelong resident of Waterloo.
I never listened to this station. I have never met anyone (student or otherwise) who has ever listened to this station.
As a student, I very much resented being forced to pay for what is essentially an other students' hobby. If they want it badly enough, they can pay for it.
Good riddance.
Nov 23, 2009 at 08:03 AM
I completely disagree with Ednonymous. I am a man in my thirties and life-long resident of Waterloo Region. The culture I was exposed to as a rural teenager via this station has been life-altering. I have returned to the University of Waterloo to upgrade my degree, and I am incredibly embarrassed to have had this happen on my watch. They were a fine station and will be missed.
Nov 23, 2009 at 09:31 AM
If we were to take Ednonymous' perspective, then no agency, including the government, should collect taxes from a taxpayer for any service that does not directly benefit that taxpayer or a friend of that taxpayer....
Such a view is unpopular across Canada (and, I think, the world), but it does occasionally find a majority within some areas, such as the University of Waterloo.
Nov 23, 2009 at 02:24 PM
I graduated from UW a few years ago and have stuck around the area since. I listened to the station only once in my academic career and never again since.
I resent being forced to pay fees like this. There was a way to opt out of the fee but it required about a 15 minute walk every term (it is 5.50 not 2.50).
If people really listened to it and people really want to support it then it will survive. I don't believe this will happen as I don't know a single person that listens to it.
Nov 24, 2009 at 12:01 AM
I'm not familiar with how fees and levies work at U of Waterloo, but I'm guessing that there are a whole bunch of really small ones paying for all aspects of student life. To the two posters anonymously fuming about supporting a radio station they don't listen to, remember that the radio kids are also paying a few bucks to support your rowing team, or your French club, or your drama society, or whatever it is you're into. If we all only paid for the thing(s) we like at university, we might be, say, $500 richer. But campus life would be immeasurably poorer.
Nov 24, 2009 at 09:16 AM
To the Anonymous folk: The what's-in-it-for-me attitude is killing our country in general and I believe that the Waterloo radio decision is just a canary in a coal mine and indicative of deeply delusional thinking.
Our voter turnouts are horribly low and voting has become a commercial buying decision rather than a civic duty. Using the same logic, if I was a single white male student during the 1920s in Toronto, I would have voted for candidates who were against women's rights.
The ironic thing is that focusing on how the radio affects only you and you alone in that moment is incredibly short-sighted. Dropping your support for independent media during a time of huge power-shifts (i.e, this economic crisis) is fool-hardy. The less independent voices there are, the more large powerful organizations (such as Corporations and School Administrations) are able to make the decision they want to without taking into account the people's voice.
Some of you said you wanted radio around but you wanted to see Sound FM go the way of diversifying revenue by bringing on advertisers. Again, your logic is inherently flawed. Relinquishing independent media to a handful of advertisers also prevents true independence. Ironically, the people who made such a "logical/faultless point" are degrading their power as consumers.
My sarcastic applause should make the point clear: "I applaud anonymous for driving a car with a non stainless-steel muffler that will die in <8 years and light bulbs that will die in 2 years. Also, please enjoy using that printer of yours of which the ink is more costly than the most expensive precious elements on earth." You see, with advertisements from HP, Phillips and Mr. Muffler such hard-hitting reporting would be risking Radio Waterloo Inc. funding.
Bringing it back full circle to the UW campus... is it any surprise that with what's-in-it-for-me consumer-driven undergrads, we get less ressources per student then any other university in all of Canada (http://imprint.uwaterloo.ca/2009/nov/6/opinion/future-student-finances/)?
Nov 24, 2009 at 04:09 PM
Hear, hear...as Nathan says, as a community, we need independent media.
Why do grassroots organizations exist? To effect social change.
Why do independent media exist? To give voice to social change.
Maybe you're happy with the advertising-driven, Americanized corporate pap that passes for music on commercial stations, but some of us are not. Some of us want to make a difference, have a voice, and campus and community radio is something much more important than a student club. It's the voice of our community, that won't be silenced.
Nov 28, 2009 at 12:17 AM
I resented having to pay all those stupid fees when I was at UW, which as one posted has noted were mostly just for student hobbies.
Had to pay for a fee some one of the student newspapers, and it was mostly run by students who were failing their courses.
How idiotic is that?
Dec 12, 2009 at 02:14 PM
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