Campus Radio – The Concordian

Tune in for noise, esoteric conversations and a weird time

“Warning, you are not ready,” began Mc.pale’s hour long slot, F*k*ng_De$troYed_4ever at 3 p.m. on Jan. 22. IMCA RAYDEEOH, started by Sam Bordeleau and Ale O’Sullivan, is a new web radio program running on a submission basis intended to bring together Concordia students, faculty and staff with experimental audio work. After working together at the IMCA depot, Bordeleau and O’Sullivan saw a need for community within their program, and sought to create a community-oriented space that would transcend physical boundaries. Without the contribution of Matt Halpenny, who coded the website (and designed by Bordelau), the radio simply wouldn’t exist.

F*k*ng_De$troYed_4ever is one of a handful of truly weird shows. Mc.pale, the show’s host, describes their piece on the radio’s schedule as “two extra-terrestrial humanoïd-cyborgs listening to their local Top 40 Hits radio in their flying dark matter plasma bubble; this is what they hear. Punching DVDs, dropping a VHS from the top of, drilling a hole in a USB key. Slowly inserting a needle in one’s ear.”

Keeping the spirit of the Intermedia program, which has abandoned its old name, Intermedia and Cyber Arts, in favour of the former, IMCA RAYDEEOH promises to play any and all original submissions as long as they are respectful, accessible, inclusive and accountable.

As stated in their policies, IMCA RAYDEEOH “will not accept any material that supports violent, discriminatory or oppressive behavior such as (but not limited to) racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism, ageism and religion or culture discrimination.”

The radio program was inspired by platforms like BUMP TV, a public-access web broadcasting station based in Toronto, run entirely on a volunteer-basis. The platform accepts all sorts of bizarre audio and visual work.

From static to screeching, old French-Canadian children’s music to lo-fi ambient, dancey stuff IMCA RAYDEEOH has it all, like Boioioing! , O’Sullivan’s playful mix, which sounds quite reminiscent of Montreal’s Biodome.

In Postamateur, IMCA student Louis Felix works with spoken word, interviews, conversations and field recordings. Their work is comedic, and in O’Sullivan’s words, “sort of like meta-institutional critique.”

ESOTALK, hosted by the anonymous iced t dove into “A Thousand Plateaus” by psychoanalyst, Félix Guattari and French philosopher, Gilles Deleuze, a book that, according to the hosts, is so overly academic it has lost meaning, mocking academia. They discuss the role of media in our lives as seen in the Netflix Original, The Circle. In the show, eight people are housed in a building and they’re only allowed to interact with each other through social media.

“Social media has actually become so pervasive, such a part of our reality that we don’t even think of it any more,” said iced t. They predict that in this decade we will see the virtual connect with the physical, mixing virtuality and actuality, past augmented reality.

After their trial run in December, last week marked IMCA RAYDEEOH’s first official time on air, playing from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. daily. But, because they’re just starting out, they currently only have enough content to run bi-weekly, replaying old episodes every other week. The next week of new sounds will be in February. Until then, listeners are encouraged to explore episodes on the IMCA RAYDEEOH mixcloud.

Find IMCA RAYDEEOH online on Facebook and Instagram.

Graphic by Sam Bordeleau, courtesy of IMCA RAYDEEOH.

CJLO’s recent facelift will provide quality campus radio for everyone

“Campus Radio is for Lovers” are the words sprawled across the white T-shirt hung in the hallway by CJLO 1690 AM’s offices at the Loyola campus. The bubbly red font is reminiscent of the 70s—an era of extravagance, groove and one in which radio reigned supreme. In our internet age, where everything is digitized and readily accessible at the tips of our fingers, radio seems to be a bygone medium. Its failure to adapt to the needs of the current-day consumer has rendered it futile and irrelevant. College radio, however, proves to be the sole exception, acting as the last vestige of an archaic platform.

Nestled at the far end of the CC building’s fourth floor, reaching the station requires you to awkwardly trudge through the Guadagni Lounge. Upon entering the station, however, its charm immediately takes over. The sound of music buzzing from speakers greets you as you pass by the in-house studio space and DJ room.

A community-driven operation, CJLO 1690 AM is run by a devoted team of DJs and volunteers. “We are not for profit,” said Allison O’Reilly, the station’s program director, whose CV includes commercial radio gigs in Nova Scotia. “Everything we do is in service of the students and of the local music scene. We try to stay progressive, we try to avoid commercialisation, we try to appeal to underground music. So everything I value.”

O’Reilly, alongside station manager Michał Langiewicz, and director of promotions, sponsorship and funding Josh Spencer, make up the “big three.” They are a tireless trio with invaluable experience in the industry, which makes them a tremendous asset to the station. They are also fresh faces to the station, having all joined the team within the past year, after the exodus of a large portion of the longtime staff. “It was like a domino effect,” Langiewicz said. “A lot of people were graduating, a lot of people had been there for a while and felt like it was time to move on.”

The change, although major, is generally seen as positive. This coming school year marks the newly-assembled staff’s first year together and seems to be the dawning of a new era for the station. Though the new staff greatly commend their predecessors’ work at the station, they made it clear they plan on revamping CJLO as much as possible. “I think it’s a new opportunity for us to expand into different directions,” said Langiewicz, who first broke into the city’s music scene through BAD LUNCH, a DIY concert venue he ran out of his Pointe-St-Charles home. “It’s kind of continuing a legacy, but taking it in a new direction.”

The changes made to the station deal, in part, with modernizing its programming by introducing more progressive shows into its already packed rotation. “We have LGBTQ programming, we have programming which deals with social and racial issues, and that’s something I feel the station didn’t have as much of in the past,” Langiewicz said. “We’re definitely looking to go in a direction that’s covering more ground and representing as many different people as possible.”

Allison O’Reilly’s enthusiasm about CJLO’s future is infectious.

The most noticeable update is the new staff’s dedication to increasing community involvement. This new direction is obvious in the station’s upcoming promotional events. Hiring Josh Spencer, the founder of the local music event planning company Kick Drum, as director of promotions, has certainly helped. “He’s very attuned to what’s happening in the local music scene, so since he came in all of a sudden, Montreal bands came in,” O’Reilly said. Despite his recent arrival, Spencer’s promotions expertise has proven momentous, as his summer backyard sessions have been greeted with great applause from spectators and artists alike.

The station’s biggest event, its annual FUNDrive, takes place from Sept. 22 to 30 on both campuses. The event will be a grand debut of sorts for the new trio. Showcasing their experience, as well as the station’s new direction, the eight-day event is going to be jam-packed with 10 events ranging from a heavy metal showcase to a soccer tournament. The proceeds will go to the station, allowing its staff to make improvements and continue pursuing their vision.

With regard to the importance of campus radio, O’Reilly said, “while it may not seem relevant [within the scope of modern media], what we can do to support those who wouldn’t otherwise have a platform in mainstream media, I believe, is very important and still relevant.”

Photos by Kirubel Mahari