U of T’s radio station, CIUT-FM 89.5, may have found themselves in financial difficulties once again.
A report released by the Office of the Vice Provost, Students outlines concerns with the financial reports submitted to the University Affair Board by various U of T student societies for fiscal years ending in 2012, including the financial report submitted by the community radio station.
The report states that during the 2011-2012 fiscal year the station used $35,889 obtained from a $100,000 grant to purchase new broadcasting equipment, even though the grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation required that all the money must be used by the end of 2011.
The auditor’s brief states that although the radio station has submitted a final report, they have given no indication as to whether or not this equipment will have to be repaid. “Should the current year expenditures not be approved, the Organization will have to repay $35,889 to the Ontario Trillium Foundation,” the report concludes.
Ken Stowar, station manager and program director at CIUT-FM, confirmed that the radio station received the grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation in the 2010 fiscal year, and that the broadcasting equipment in question was purchased and installed in the 2011 fiscal year. Mr. Stowar explained that CIUT had filed a report in September 2011 on how they had used the $100,000 to the Ontario Trillium Foundation and that the foundation had accepted that report, eliminating the possibility that CIUT would have to repay any funds.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s sewn up and over and done with,” Stowar said.
David Newman, Acting Director of the Office of the Vice-Provost, Students authored the report which highlighted CIUT’s financials as potentially problematic. “In review of the 2011-2012 CIUT audited financial statements, it reported expenditures associated with the Ontario Trillium Foundation that were finalized outside of the terms of the agreement between the two organizations.”
However, Newman emphasized that CIUT is ultimately responsible for their own finances and “if they have found resolution on this issue, we are pleased to hear it.”
This latest confusion is one of a string of problems the radio station has faced over the last few years. In 2010 then-station manager Brian Buchell was fired and in 2012 the station sued Buchell for $160,000 over alleged “breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and conversion.”
Part of the grant money received from the Ontario Trillium Foundation in 2010 was used to purchase broadcasting boards, equipment that helps put together programming and produce live broadcasts for the station. This equipment has eased the increasing demands for studio time from the station’s many volunteers.
The grant money received from the Ontario Trillium Foundation has also allowed the radio station to build an additional studio at their new Hart House location for pre-recording and post-show production.
This additional studio allows the station to train students, both from U of T and elsewhere, in all areas of radio production, including — most recently — in the production of radio documentaries.
Fourty-two to fifty per cent of the radio station’s volunteers are U of T students, and many go on to pursue careers in journalism.
Correction (June 7, 2013): A previous version of this article incorrectly identified the fiscal year referred to in the Office of the Vice-Provost, Students report as 2013. The report actually refers to the 2011-2012 fiscal year. CIUT moved to Hart House in 2009, not in 2011 as was incorrectly stated. This article has been updated to correct these errors and to add a statement from CIUT that the Ontario Trillium Foundation has accepted their report on how the grant money was spent. The Varsity regrets these errors.
