The Raven takes flight

Move over, CBC. There’s a new sound in Iqaluit, the loud, sassy sound of private radio, brought to Iqaluit residents courtesy of CKIQ, located at 99.9 on the FM band.

To the CRTC, who had the good sense to grant them a licence, we extend our gratitude. To the Evaz Group of Companies, the new station’s proprietor, we offer our congratulations.

At Nunatsiaq News we know how tough it is for the private media to make a go of it in Nunavut — so we wish the new station and its employees the best of luck and every success in the future. We hope CKIQ enjoys a long and profitable life.

So far, the fledgling Raven’s prospects look good. Numerous Iqaluit businesses are already lining up to buy advertising spots. Numerous listeners are participating in a promotional contest that accompanied the station’s launch on May 26, and many more are flooding the station with request calls.

That’s not surprising. There aren’t many other stations that will let you ask for “Stairway to Heaven” — and play it for you with a straight face.

Their wide range of musical genres, programmed on a computer of course, is perfect for Iqaluit’s young, but diverse population. As their agreeable afternoon deejay Glen Craig says, “We’re playing the music you really want to hear.”

He’s right. Where else can you hear Johnny Paycheck, Steppenwolf, the Bay City Rollers, R.E.M., and Abba all within the same hour? That’s how the private market is supposed to work. So far, Iqaluit’s market likes what it hears.

CKIQ is talking about adding phone-in shows, special programs, and so on. With the good will they’ve built up among Iqalungmiut only a week after their launch, they’re sure to find a receptive audience.

As for CBC Nunavut’s dowdy old radio service in Iqaluit, CBC managers ought to already know that their listenership in Nunavut’s capital was shrinking rapidly even before CKIQ’s arrived on the scene. Southern FM radio signals packaged with cable and satellite television have been luring radio listeners away from CBC in droves.

Now that private radio is a reality in Iqaluit, CBC radio faces the prospect of being stuck with an aging, rapidly-shrinking base of listeners in Iqaluit. And after CKIQ figures out ways of piping its signal to other communities, the same thing will happen there too. All of a sudden, CBC radio looks old and grey and full of sleep.

The eastern Arctic’s public broadcaster will continue to play a crucial role, however, because there is one thing that they do that private radio cannot do yet — news and current affairs.

But their current radio news and current affairs offerings vary wildly in quality, ranging from excellent to dreadful. In Nunavik, CBC radio often appears to be on the verge of abandoning its mandate, missing story after story. At the same time, CBC appears to be moving its most talented people into its excellent northern television news programs produced out of Yellowknife. Now would be good time for CBC to closely examine its radio operation in Iqaluit. It’s too important a service to be allowed to drift into irrelevance.

CKIQ’s launch last month was the business event of the year in Iqaluit. The Raven rules. JB