CKCU-FM

CKCU-FM
City of license	Ottawa, Ontario
Broadcast area	National Capital Region
Branding	CKCU, The Mighty 93.1
Slogan	Ottawa's Community Radio Station
Frequency	93.1 MHz (FM)
First air date	November 14, 1975
Format	campus radio
ERP	12 kW
Class	B
Callsign meaning	C K Carleton University
Owner	Radio Carleton Inc.
Webcast	Real Audio, MP3
Website	CKCU-FM

CKCU-FM is a Canadian community-based campus radio station, broadcasting at 93.1 FM in Ottawa, and offering a live Real Audio stream and MP3 stream from its website. The station broadcasts 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

The station's studios are located on the campus of Carleton University, on the fifth floor of the Unicenter building. The station's signal is radiated from the Ryan Tower in the Gatineau Hills, along with most of Ottawa's other private and public radio stations, meaning that it enjoys full broadcast power and a listening area with a radius of 100 km.

History

CKCU was Canada's first community-based campus radio station. It first broadcast on November 14, 1975 when it played Joni Mitchell's "You Turn Me On, I'm a Radio".

Often dubbed the mighty 93.1 by devotees, CKCU has a freeform format that allows the hosts to pick all the music played, and has many cultural/community programmes. The schedule includes both general and specialty music programs, public affairs and spoken word programming, and features many shows with a topical or international flavour. Some shows feature live in-studio performances by local artists. CKCU actively supports, sponsors and promotes local independent musicians, venues, concerts and festivals including the CKCU Ottawa Folk Festival.

The listener-supported station has an annual funding drive in late October and early November, to raise one-third of its annual operating budget. In 2006, this raised over $108,000 (unofficial total as of November 5, 2006). In recent years the funding drive regularly raised over $100 000 towards the station's budget of just over $300 000 per year. A further $100,000 is raised from university student levies, with the balance is supplied by advertisers and sponsors. The station self-produces much of the advertising material it carries, giving the advertising a campus flavour popular with listeners.

Each March break and several times during the summer, CKCU runs a unique Radio Camp for kids ages 9–12. The camp has been growing in popularity since 2003 and features a live two-hour kids broadcast.

Selected programs

• Special Blend - A morning show which airs weekdays from 7 to 10 a.m., the show follows a talk/music format with a focus on current affairs, particularly news stories of local interest.
• World Famous Dan Shields
• Canadian Spaces - A folk/roots/acoustic music show hosted by Chopper McKinnon, which has aired since 1980.
• Both Kinds of Music
• Remote Planet - A local comedy troupe including Tonia Snow, Richard Hemphill, Bill Demmery, Marc-André Bélair, Marg Tannahill-Wade and Richard Parks.
• An Indian Morning - Hosted by Harsha Dehejia and Pratibha Sampat, the show focuses on the music of India, including folk, classical and devotional and film music.
• In a Mellow Tone
• Black & Blues
• Reggae in the Fields
• The Sixties - A series profiling 1960s pop and rock music.
• Swing Is in the Air
• The Back 40
• Friday Morning Cartoons
• Multiple Personality Discography

Famous alumni

• Ian Mendes
• Jeremy Gara
• Ken Rockburn
• David Mowbray
• Jason Moscovitz
• Rob Braide
• Geoff Pevere
• Chuck Rubin
• Neil Bregman
• Max Wallace

External links

• CKCU-FM
• CKCU history at Canadian Communications Foundation
• Query the REC's Canadian station database for CKCU-FM