Tag: cjlo

Categories
News

CRTC gives CJLO poor reception

Wanted FM spot too close to air traffic frequency

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has denied Concordia radio station CJLO a SGW campus transmitter meant to alleviate poor downtown reception.

Michael Sallot, who took over the helm as Station Manager in November of last year, said CJLO tried to get the transmitter by citing the station’s mandate as set by the CRTC itself: serving both the Loyola and downtown communities of Concordia.

“We quickly found that with the power of our transmitter, being what it is, it’s difficult to tune in to CJLO … when you’re downtown,” he said. “It’s complicated by the geography of the region: with the mountain and all the skyscrapers downtown that absorb the signal.” Simply turning up the power would require a separate application to the CRTC, said Sallot. Instead, they applied for a repeating FM transmitter atop the Hall building that would make it available on the FM band. CJLO currently broadcasts at 1690 AM.

Montreal’s FM spectrum is already crowded, and this proved to be the reason behind the CRTC’s unreceptiveness to the idea. CJLO requested they be given 107.9 MHz, just shy of the 108 and upwards reserved for air traffic control communication. Sallot said the CRTC felt the issues faced by CJLO weren’t exceptional compared to the problems faced by other stations and too close to the air control frequencies for comfort.

Another thorny issue was with Vermont Public Radio, which also broadcast on the 107.9 frequency, who Sallot said filed interventions against them for fear of broadcast overlap. Sallot says this did not figure into the CRTC’s decision. “If [VPR] thinks they prevented us from getting our application in any way, they’re mistaken.”

Despite the setback, CJLO is considering its options.

“To that end, we’re not going to abandon hope. At the end of the day, it’s business as usual.”

Categories
Sports

Concordia’s very own sports network

Graphic by Jenny Kwan

A group of journalism students form The Starting Rotation on CJLO

If you’re a sports fan in Montreal, you know of TSN 690, the all-sports English talk-show. If you’re a sports fan at Concordia, you’re in luck, because there’s another all-sports English talk-show right at your doorstep.

The Starting Rotation is one of the newest additions to CJLO, Concordia’s community radio station. The sports-talk show airs on CJLO 1690am every Thursday from 12-1 p.m. and includes six co-hosts, all Concordia journalism students: Julian McKenzie, Robert Arzenshek, Daniele Iannarone, Justin Ferrara, Giordano Cescutti and Matthew Shanahan. The show also airs “tentatively Wednesday from 8-9 a.m., but that may change with the semester fast approaching to an end,” according to Shanahan.

From week to week, the six hosts rotate shifts, as not all of them can be on air at once, hence the name The Starting Rotation.

“We decide as a group which sports we will be discussing and the style of the segment, days before the show. Some segments take

Graphic by Jenny Kwan

callers, while others have guest interviews and generic sports banter,” said Shanahan. “Julian McKenzie generally produces the show and takes care of the technical side, while the rest of us take care of the content for the show.”

Some of the guests they’ve had include Sofiane Benzaza, founder of Mount Royal Soccer, a website that covers the Montreal Impact, Mitch Gallo of TSN radio and the founder of Exposnation.com, Matthew Ross.

Shanahan originally pitched the idea at the start of the fall semester to some of his friends in the journalism program.

“They all got on board relatively quickly and started the process to getting our show started which included sessions with Alex Massé, the station director, as well as sitting in on other shows at CJLO and completing our volunteer hours,” said Shanahan. “Being an intern at TSN radio here in Montreal, I wanted to host my own sports-talk show. It’s not only something that I plan on doing during my time at Concordia but also after as I plan to make a career out of it. I am very passionate about sports and I love to share that passion with others, which is why hosting a show is a no-brainer in my mind.”

As of March 25th, The Starting Rotation has had 12 shows so far this semester. Shanahan likes the direction the show is going, but thinks it’s still too early to say how successful the show is going to be in the long run.

“Many of our friends listen to the show and we definitely get callers from time to time,” he said. “We’ve only had nine shows thus far, so I think success will be measured better on how much we improve and how we are able to handle things regarding our show when we are put under pressure to perform.”

If you can’t catch the show live on Wednesdays or Thursdays you can listen to it on the CJLO iPhone app, or on the podcast version that you can find on their Twitter page at @TSR1690.

Categories
Music

CJLO’s first ever funding drive a success

Photo by Allie Mason
Photo by Allie Mason

The little radio station that could, CJLO 1690AM, has made strides since hitting the AM airwaves a mere three years ago—but they’re not finished dreaming yet. They hit the ground running with their first annual fundraising drive from March 5 to March 11, with the goal of raising $5,000.
“Essentially, [the money from the drive] is going to help sustain the station while we apply to broadcast on a low-power FM frequency,” explained station manager Stephanie Saretsky, adding that while students might remember a fee levy being approved in the fall to help with the station’s goal of going live on FM, the process is a little more complicated and takes a little more time and money than they originally anticipated.
Because of this, the money received from the fundraiser will not only help with the station’s day-to-day operating costs, but it will also go towards replacing copper that was stolen from the station’s downtown transmitter, paying an AM consultant to survey downtown to find out how far their frequency will travel and its effects on other frequencies including the Dorval airport radio communication. The fundraiser will also pay for their FM application to the CRTC and develop other programs to reach as many students as possible.
Once their application is approved by the CRTC—which Saretsky said is very likely since it will be a low-power signal—the station will need to pay to assess where the best location for an antenna should be, as well as other set-up costs.
“The cost could go up depending on the survey,” Saretsky admitted, which is why it’s important for CJLO to get financial support from the community.
The station doesn’t only serve as a voice for Concordia news, but it also provides services for students and the community.
“The station is open to anyone and provides a great experience,” said Tariq Sattaur of Rex’s Barn Sessions, which airs every Tuesday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. “They’ll teach you how to use the equipment and they give free air time to broadcast student meetings, concerts or shows. A lot of students could really benefit from the station if they knew it was here for them.”
And that’s the problem—with CJLO’s current antenna, the downtown campus’ reception is shoddy at best.
“The signal fades in and out downtown now because of the buildings absorbing the signal,” Saretsky said. “We stream online and have an app for the iPhone. We want to develop one for the Android, but we want to make [CJLO] as listenable as possible. We want to reach as many people as possible.”
CJLO held four fundraising events last week, including a Mix Swap Club and concert at Divan Orange, a live broadcast at Café X, and Caribbean-style party with hosts from Beat The World and Caribbean Callaloo broadcasting live from the Caribbean Curry House.
So far they’ve received over $3,000 in pledges and will continue to accept pledges until March 28. Depending on the size of your donation you can get some pretty sweet swag, including being entered in their grand prize draw on March 30.
Donations can be made via snail mail (7141 Sherbrooke Street West, Suite CC-430, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H4B 1R6), in person at the station (Loyola campus, room CC-430), or online at www.cjlo.com/fundingdrive.

Categories
Arts

When it’s time for K-Pop we will party hard

With an internationally renowned fashion designer paired with a world-class makeup artist and joined by a 23 million view YouTube sensation, a four-time Canadian Hip Hop Champion dance crew, the winner of Korea Sings, and a room packed with cheering fans, the AmérAsia Festival on Saturday  proved it still had one more big party in it before the closing ceremonies the next day.
The night’s lineup included a short fashion show featuring designs by Samuel Dong and makeup by Fang Image, multiple musical and dance performances, and an amateur K-Pop (Korean Pop) dance battle that was probably the most ridiculous thing ever.
Shortly after 6 p.m., the lobby of the Hotel Zero 1 was already filled by guests of all ages with one thing in common: Shimmycocopuffsss.
The Waterloo-based Internet star, with more than 23 million video views on his YouTube channel, was brilliant as the night’s host.
Shimmy (Mr. Cocopuffsss?) took the time to speak to each performing member backstage to build his own unscripted introductions, entertained the crowd between each performance and during intermissions, and somehow found the time to take pictures with whoever wanted one (everybody).
Mr. Puffsss took the stage at 8 p.m. to introduce the night’s first act, Inho Kim.
Kim, whose winning performance on KBS’ Korea Sings drew in 20 per cent of the South Korean population to watch it, made his Canadian debut performance Saturday night. Dressed in a simple black suit and white shirt, Kim opened the evening with a soft rock ballad alone with his electric guitar.
The performance earned a good amount of applause, but it wasn’t exactly what Kim hoped for. When asked how it went, Kim’s only answer was, “It was quiet.”
The fashion show followed and was directed by Fang Fang of Fang Image in collaboration with Hors la Loi productions and showed 12 pieces from Samuel Dong’s Fall/Winter 2011 collection.
The models were strikingly styled with bright red lips, harshly angled, thick, black eyebrows, and gelled-back hair in high ponytails. The severe look married well with Dong’s pieces, which consisted mainly of highly structured, high-colour dresses.
Each model walked out independently down a floor-level red carpet style runway while footage from the collection’s debut show at Montreal Fashion Week last May played behind her. During the changes, the screen played behind the scenes footage at Fang Image.
Fang Fang said that she was drawn to the event by the AmérAsia Festival’s mandate to promote Asian talent. Already established and successful in China, Fang made the decision to move her company to Montreal and understands the difficulties any foreign artist can face in a new environment.
Jenny Diep, who managed the festival this year, explained that she feels the AmérAsia Festival helps overcome that barrier by allowing art—whether fashion, makeup, music, dance, or film—to speak its own language, surpassing boundaries.
For Diep, the night was not only about bringing Asian and Western cultures together, but also about combining different Asian cultures. Originally, the night was scheduled to strictly be a K-Pop event. By introducing fashion and beauty produced by Chinese artists, the evening became more about cultural crossover, the festival’s core concept.
Ten minutes before his second performance, Kim went missing. A rush of people backstage scoured the halls of the Hotel Zero 1 basement to find out where he was. Questions began forming that maybe he was lost—or worse, that he was disappointed with the mild audience reaction of his first performance and didn’t want to go on again.
It turns out he was just getting awesome. Back in the holding area with two minutes to spare, a very different Kim appeared. Dressed now in what may very well have rivaled Lil Wayne’s jeggings at last year’s VMAs and a faux-fur bolero jacket showing off a sleeve of fake tattoos, Kim was ready to rock.
Flanked by two accompanying singers, Kim took back the stage to enormous cheering and applause and blew the place away with what could only be described as a mix of pop, electro house, rock, and hip hop.
Accompanying singer Taewan Kim (no relation) explains he tries to blend together elements of western music with K-Pop and was ecstatic with his group’s performance.
Then the dance battle happened.
Consisting entirely of young teenagers, the battle lasted approximately 20 minutes, in which groups of friends or solo dancers took to the stage to perform short dances they choreographed themselves. Maybe they would have looked better if Irratik, the multiple award-winning Montreal dance crew choreographed by former contestants on So You Think you Can Dance Canada and America’s Best Dance Crew, hadn’t gone on first.
At least they had fun. Noy Xayasane won the battle (measured by applause) after working multiple shirt lifting moves into his routine for an audience of mostly teenage girls.
The night ended with a dance party powered by a crazy-good DJ set by CJLO’s DJ Mike Vee, keeping the crowd entertained until well past midnight.

Categories
News

CJLO and CUTV gunning for fee levy increases

The futures of Concordia University Television and campus radio station CJLO 1690 AM are in students’ hands this week.

The student-run media outlets are asking for students to approve an increase in their fee levy— the amount of funding they receive from students—to $0.34 per credit, in this week’s Concordia Student Union byelections.

Both CUTV and CJLO are fee levy groups and non-profit organizations which exist separately from the university.

“What fee levy groups do is they provide services that the university either can’t or won’t provide,” said Justin Giovannetti, president of the Concordia Student Broadcasting Corporation. The CSBC oversees the governance of CJLO and CUTV, as well as Concordia’s HAM radio club.

“There’s this entire ecosystem that’s been built around Concordia in fee levy groups,” said Giovannetti.

Sir George Williams campus, meet CJLO
If the fee levy passes, CJLO plans to use the extra funds to expand their sound to a clearer FM frequency.

“Not all of Concordia can actually hear CJLO. With this fee levy we’d actually be able to get onto a small FM signal downtown,” said station manager Stephanie Saretsky.

The frequency would span the Sir George Williams campus east to west from about Atwater Avenue to de la Montagne Street.

The fee levy would help cover the costs of buying and installing the antenna, which according to Giovannetti can range anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 depending on the building it sits on.

“If we get a big prominent building like the MB building, a modern building with a roof that doesn’t need much bracing, you’re looking at a much cheaper antenna,” said Giovannetti, citing the long-term costs of leasing space for the antenna as part of the reasoning why CJLO is asking for sustainable funding in the form of a fee levy increase rather than just taking out a loan.

Available for online listening since 2001 and on-air since 2008, CJLO routinely picks up awards at the CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival College Day Awards in New York City, winning Station of the Year in 2010 and Best Student-Run Non-FM Station in 2008. They were also the only Canadian radio station invited to the International Radio Festival in Zurich, Switzerland this past summer.

“Only three years on-air and we’ve been doing really impressive work,” said Saretsky.

With the increased fee levy, she says the station hopes to reduce the amount of on-air advertising and set the groundwork for large-scale fundraising drives.

CUTV in your home
CUTV is looking to expand its content too—in its case, to cable TV.

Broadcasting on Vox, a public access channel owned by Videotron, is just one of several goals that CUTV outlined for itself in a strategic plan drafted last year and that the fee levy increase will be going towards.

“Space and infrastructure are the two biggest things that are holding us down right now,” said station manager Laura Kneale, explaining that the older building on Mackay where CUTV is located is not able to handle their electrical needs.

On campus in various forms since 1969, CUTV currently produces six different shows, while providing equipment and training to anyone interested in film. According to Kneale, approximately 400 students used their services in the last year and a half.

The station also live streams CSU council meetings online, a service which Kneale says they hope to extend to the university as a whole.

“There’s a need at the university for better meeting and conference rooms,” she said, describing “a room that would be a multi-purpose room for meetings, for press conferences, that would be fully equipped with the means to either project or fully live stream” as a potential solution to this problem and “a big investment in the long run for Concordia.”

Exit mobile version