CBQM: The Biggest Little Radio Station in the North - 'I'm darn proud of it' says Ruth Wright

'I'm darn proud of it'

Andrew Rankin
Northern News Services
Published Thursday, November 26, 2009

http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/nov26_09den.html
INUVIK - After the movie CBQM: The Biggest Little Radio Station in the North ended at the community centre on Friday evening, Ruth Wright got up from her seat with tears in her eyes.
"It was just gorgeous," she said. "It's real people. We know them. I'm darn proud of it because it captures the beautiful land and spirit of our people."

Inuvik filmmaker Dennis Allen shares a laugh with Neil Colin, one of his main characters in CBQM: The Biggest Little Radio Station in the North. Colin had no trouble charming Friday's community centre audience as he and Allen spoke to the crowd about being involved with the film. - Andrew Rankin/NNSL photo

"I can't have any dry fish or dry meat, but just wait boy," she said with a laugh.
She wasn't the only one moved by Inuvik filmmaker Dennis Allen's lively inside look at the extraordinary community radio station based in Fort McPherson.
Inuvik resident Karen Mitchell grew up in Fort McPherson and said the movie offered so much to be proud of.
"It gave me the sense of homeliness," she said. "It didn't just portray one aspect of our community and its people, it included the land, the spirituality, both on the land and of the church and the connection of younger and older generations."
The humorous, often hilarious film, centres on the radio station, which is essentially the heart of the community.
Against the backdrop of classic country western music, the film introduces a range of colourful characters who volunteer to keep the station going, such as a group of local old-time country musicians playing their hearts out in live performances. Then there's the hosts, like the good natured, red-headed constable who urges kids to stop egging home windows and the lively elderly woman, who politely asks drunk listeners not to call and just to enjoy the music.
While radio commentators talk and music plays, hosts are barraged by residents calling in to wish their neighbours luck with bingo or to report on ice break-up on the river.
The camera visits the places in the community where the radio is being heard whether it's the school or beside an elder at home doing bead work. Mixed in are plenty of striking images of the surrounding landscape.
Allen, who was born and raised in Inuvik, was on hand for the showing as he had been present for its world debut more than two months ago in Fort McPherson. After the crowd filed out of the venue, he said he was pleased by the support, although he stopped short of saying he was surprised.
"It's offers a sense of community," he said. "(there's) so many people feel fragmented from their community. After watching this film I think they feel a sense of belonging."
The accomplished Inuvialuit director and musician said for that reason he's been a fan of the station for a long time. A few years ago he got the idea to create the film while driving in his vehicle near Fort McPherson. At the time he heard a particularly funny announcer looking to be relieved from his post so he could feed his dogs.
"It was 5:30 and he said 'I want to go home and feed my dogs, somebody come and relieve me.' Five minutes later he would repeat himself and he was getting more and more desperate.
"He was saying, 'You always want someone on the radio station but no one is phoning.' It was innocent, but it was comical. I wanted to make a film capturing that humour. That was the moment that really inspired me."
Friday's screening was the movie's fifth public showing. It's already been screened in festivals in Calgary and Toronto and will be entered in a variety of other national and international film festivals. Allen said after that the movie will broadcast on some television stations and in about a year will be available on DVD.
The film took two-and-a-half years to make, comprising about 60 hours of shooting. He was allowed up close and personal access into residents' lives because, he said, for the most part they knew him and trusted him.
"I was born and raised in Inuvik," he said. "Fort McPherson is two hours away. I know everybody. I guess they trusted me that I was going to do the right thing. Some people weren't receptive. Most people just opened their doors."

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CBQM, a short documentary in which filmmaker Dennis Allen pays tribute to the "Moccasin Telegraph," won the Alanis Obomsawin Best Documentary Award, with a jury member saying, "Through accomplished storytelling, [Allen] has deftly captured the small, yet transformative, moments that make up human experience."
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Trailer for CBQM: The Biggest Little Radio Station in the North - on the NFB website

http://www.nfb.ca/film/cbqm_radio_trailer/

Dennis Allen, 2009, 2 min 12 s

Dennis Allen's feature-length documentary is about Fort McPherson, a Teetl'it Gwich'in community in the Northwest Territories, and ...
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Dennis Allen's feature-length documentary is about Fort McPherson, a Teetl'it Gwich'in community in the Northwest Territories, and its citizen-run radio station. A resilient expression of Aboriginal pride, CBQM serves a far-flung and loyal listenership – and plays the best damn country music in the Mackenzie Delta.



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WNRL-LP, Indiana Historic Radio Museum

Thanks to: the [Stubblefield] e-mail list & pete tridish at http://prometheusradio.org/

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: pete tridish
Date: 2009/11/25
Subject: [Stubblefield] Indiana Historic Radio Museum
To: stubblefield@xxxx.prometheusradio.org


In doing a bit of research for the upcoming work on the Senate bill,  I learned of the passing of  Fred Schultz. Fred  and his daughter Marcella started the Indiana Historic Radio Museum, and WNRL-LP. Marcella had  passed away a few years before.  This father-daughter team were one of my greatest inspirations in low power radio.

WNRL-LP is  a lovely radio station that was founded by the one room museum of radios in ligonier indiana. They put the actual studio in the local high school a few hours away.  Fred was a retired state trooper with a wry sense of humor, amazing stamina and an incredible love for old fashioned radios.  Marcella was a pitbull of an activist and all around go-getter who was  more or less singlehandedly responsible for forcing the FCC to act on the "appendix B applications," which were eligible for LPFMs under the original rules but cut out by Congress.  After calling non-stop to her Senator, Evan Bayh, and educating the staff on the issue, Bayhs office took an interest and followed up with the FCC to insist that they process the Appendix B applications and give them an opportunity to modify their applications. WNRL- LP and dozens of other stations were eventually granted as a result of her tenacity.

For people that think low power radio is just a bunch of radicals, check out this youtube video of WNRL and see what community radio is like in a small town in Northeast Indiana... The beauty of low power radio is that it reflects the people of a place, and the people who start stations are often people who just love their communities.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7flOYzr2YM

The station seems to have survived the transition well, and is now owned by the school district of West Noble, Indiana. They are webcasting now, and seem to have a lot of  high school students and some community members involved. And the schedule says that they still have some old-time radio on the air...

thanks,
pete tridish