Do Not Fix Your Antennas, Radio Is Not Dead!

By Logan Schunk

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Do not fix your antennas, radio is not dead! UBCO just needs a station of its own! 

Through my first couple of years at UBCO, by far the one of the most common complaints has been that Kelowna’s radio sucks. The initiative to create a UBCO radio station has been an ongoing one for some time.  A radio station did exist on campus in the past, but when UBC moved into town and the construction of our new UNC began the radio station was no more.  But I believe that the students of UBCO’s vibrant, youthful campus have the capacity to change and revive radio in the place we call home. So what would a radio station on a campus of 8,000 strong look like? 

The radio station I propose will be Internet-based. Run entirely by students and a faculty of volunteers, an online station will be fast and easily accessible.  You would have the ability to listen to it from anywhere in the world. It would provide students with experience in radio, broadcasting and production. Imagine this, UBCO - having the ability to be heard not only Kelowna and the Okanagan but to be heard from the corners of the globe, with just the click of a mouse.  The rest of Canada could listen to our perspective and opinions. Kelowna would become a hub for information and knowledge.

There are certainly some who believe radio to be an old form of technology.  But if this is so, why is it that close to fifty campuses in Canada have radio stations? What makes UBCO so hesitant to obtain a radio station? Surely something as beneficial as a radio station can only help the community experience on and off our campus. 

Take, for instance, the sense of disconnect that exists on our campus, felt by many students on a daily basis. In a 2010 Maclean’s article, a former student brought the term “disconnect” to the forefront of issues at UBCO. The University has attempted to eradicate this issue through the creation of The Collegiums, as well as through on campus events like Community Day and Club Day. Aside from the Collegium space, campus wide events happen sporadically and their full effects are in doubt. Through the implementation of a radio station on campus these issues could be discussed and a conversation could be initiated. Our campus would have the ability to reach its fullest potential.  Students will have the ability to give UBCO the community feeling it lacks, collectively with faculty, as well the outside community.     

Once implemented, a radio station would provide the public with innovative and alternative radio programming directed specifically at students that would enrich both academic and cultural life at the University and the community as a whole. It will create an awareness of local issues and it will create a voice for marginalized groups within the community. Without hesitation, I believe the time is now for UBCO to break new sound in radio and obtain a radio license.