Radio Heads

KIRSTEN MURPHY

The sound of pop sensation Enya stops with the click of a switch.

“Joanasie go home,” instructs Julie Emikotailak, 20, into the lone microphone at 105. 1 FM in Sanikiluaq.

The soft-spoken message is broadcast within a six kilometre radius of the community and Enya’s melodic voice returns to the airwaves.

Emikotailak, the station manager, and co-volunteer Jessie Fraser spend Saturday morning fielding phone calls and playing music requests at the Nuiyak school radio station.

The tiny station, known as Kunnie-Kunnie (kiss, kiss), is run from a corner at the Najuqsivik daycare. The station hit the airwaves in December.

From the time volunteers sit down to the time they leave, the phone rings off the hook.

“It’s instant communication,” says principal John Jamieson of the favourable response. “If you want to find someone, you call the radio station. The feedback has been very positive and the kids sure like being on the air.”

About 20 core volunteers run the student station. Students reach for the microphone when the community radio station is off air.

“We wanted to fill in the gaps,” Jamieson says.

In addition to playing music, announcing birthday greetings and telling people to go home, the station is a platform for the RCMP, wildlife officer and justice committee.

The latter groups use to station to hold phone-in talk shows, which Jamieson says generate considerable public discussion.

Funding and equipment came from the Pauktuutit Inuit Women’s Association and CBC North in Yellowknife.

Plans are under way to add a video component to the station.