Noah Papatsie is the president of the Tassiujaqjuaq Tusaut radio society, a group trying to bring a local, Inuktitut radio station to Iqaluit. (Photo courtesy of Noah Papatsie)
Radio group eager to hit Iqaluit’s airwaves
Proposed community radio station would broadcast in Inuktitut
Noah Papatsie wants to bring more local radio to Iqaluit.
The president of Tassiujaqjuaq Tusaut, a radio society, just received official support from city council for his initiative.
Councillors passed a motion on the topic during Tuesday’s council meeting.
“I believe it’s very important we get [a local radio station],” Papatsie said in an interview the day after the meeting.
Papatsie said that while there are radio stations in Iqaluit, it is important to have an Inuktitut radio program that focuses solely on Iqaluit. He added that other communities have local radio and he wants Iqaluit to have the same.
Local radio can provide educational information, weather updates and opportunities for businesses to engage with the local population, Papatsie said.
It can also be an opportunity for storytelling, providing a place for elders to pass on stories to younger generations and vice-versa. Passing on information is important because using Inuktitut is part of the Nunavut Agreement, Papatsie said.
He added that adopting more use of Inuktitut over the radio is “what we need to do now and for future generations.”
There are currently five members of the Tassiujaqjuaq Tusaut radio society. People who have lived in Iqaluit for at least a year are able to join the society.
Now that Tassiujaqjuaq Tusaut has the go-ahead from the city to start fundraising, it will begin working on its $500,000 goal, Papatsie said.
Right now, the society is focused on tasks such as getting funding, equipment and a building, as well as other jobs like training people for radio.
The society is going to operate as a nonprofit organization, Papatsie said, adding it might become a business in the future.
But right now, he said the main goal is to ensure that radio “is going to work.”
“It is important that the community is participating, as well as our youth,” Papatsie said.
During the council meeting, deputy mayor Kyle Sheppard said anyone who has lived in other communities in Nunavut knows how important local radio can be. He added that while existing radio stations in Iqaluit do a good job, it is “vital” to have a truly local radio station that does programming and communications.
“It’s been a huge missing piece in Iqaluit for many, many years and I’m really excited for that to come to fruition,” Sheppard said.
will Mr Papatsie have better attendance there than at the Council Meetings?
Always so funny when people not liking the truth.
Hopefully it’s better than those 2 taxpayer funded inuktitut cable tv channels that are off-air 90% of the time
Local radio in the communities is super toxic. I hope this group can make sure this doesn’t happen with Iqaluit’s local radio station.
Which community radios are you talking about? The communities I come from our radio shows/stations keep us together and we love them. They are not toxic. Mind you the ones I talk of are small Hamlets where we are all related.
So very true. ?
Can you tell what super toxic is; I guess your have been listening to Howard Stern Radio too long…
That’s quite the blanket statement. The Tagjaaraqpaluk Radio Society in Rankin Inlet is great. They provide radio games for elders and conduct phone-in shows pertaining to current affairs and they even recently aired recordings from the Fifth Thule Expedition for a Kangiq&inirmiut. Nothing toxic about that at all.
Thought iqaluit has a radio station, it’s good to have a local radio like announcements, listen to some music etc. Our local radio have been going on for 40+ years and it’s out dated very much need to be updated like they need to change the rules seems like dumb rules like birthday greetings from 8:00pm to 10:00pm. Our local radio operates from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, 7:00 pm to 11:00 pm, when they’re out of town they’re allowed to say birthday greetings any time that seems like a dumb rule, locals have to wait till 8:00 pm. Sometimes some local businesses do go on air around 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm, sometimes they do games on local radio. 40+years is a alot of years that haven’t changed some dumb rules. But it would be good to have a local radio in Iqaluit like come on Iqaluit is the capital of Nunavut why not have a local radio too eh.
Radio in Iqaluit is so bad.
Raven Rock and Capital FM are brutal and run by some guy in Winnipeg who just puts a crappy playlist and doesn’t touch the controls for months.
CBC radio is 50% Inuktitut community radio, which I understand is important for elders, but it’s not the best content. CBC radio everywhere else in Canada is much higher quality programming. Would love it if CBC had a second station to rebroadcast Ottawa CBC radio.
We have no Radio-Canada.
Franco radio station is actually kind of decent, but they have a hard time staffing the manager position. They play more newer inuktitut than all the other radios in Nunavut.
This new station will probably be just like some of the radios in the communities, pretty much just CB-Radio. People complaining. Not moderated. No thinking outside the box. No programming geared towards youth. Telephone quality audio.
The worst thing is that CBC radio will probably keep going with their 50% call-in Inuktitut format, so we’ll have 2 competing stations in town doing pretty much the same thing, serving only a portion of the population.
If there was someone young and ambitious in Iqaluit who’d want to start a good radio station, they could easily dominate the airways, because everything that currently exists (including this new station) is half-assed.
“The worst thing is that CBC radio will probably keep going with their 50% call-in Inuktitut format, so we’ll have 2 competing stations in town doing pretty much the same thing, serving only a portion of the population.”
a portion of the population, are you referring to the population who was fortunate enough to retain their language in colonialism? I get you don’t think a radio station is useful without some serious thought about its programming….but to blatantly complain because it is a language that is dying, that sucks, and is the reason why people are giving up on learning their language. Let’s just have another failed english station.
Maybe don’t blame colonialism for the loss of language while using a tool of colonialism (radio) to be a benefit to gaining language.
thanks so much Noah, thanks for taking the initiative to start something and being active.
Radio is a dwindling format. Digital and social media are changing the information and entertainment landscape.
Great job Tassiujaqjuaq Tusaut. It will be great to hear more Inuktitut on the airwaves 🙂
Go! Go! Go! I can’t wait for Tassiujaqjuaq Tusaut. Something fresh, local, and Inuktitut. Right on, man. These naysayers are just that. Opinionated without you guys having the chance to even get off the ground. Lots of negative comments, but no initiative to start whatever it is they think there should be. Let them start their own stations.
There were a couple of good points though. Streaming on the internet would be good, if you have the means, and involving youth would be great too.
Looking forward to the big announcement for your first broadcast.