CFRO-FM

CFRO-FM

File:102.7Coopradio.png
Vancouver, BC
Broadcast area	Greater Vancouver
Frequency	102.7 MHz
Branding	Vancouver Co-operative Radio; Co-op Radio
Programming
Format	public broadcasting
Ownership
Owner	Vancouver Co-operative Radio
History
First air date	April 14, 1975
Links
Webcast	Listen Now
Website	Co-op Radio CFRO

CFRO-FM, Vancouver Co-operative Radio, is a non-commercial community radio station in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on Coast Salish Nation territory, broadcasting since 1975. The station operates as a democratic co-operative and is called Co-op Radio for short. Their broadcast frequency is 102.7 FM. They have studios and offices in the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood at #110 - 360 Columbia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6A 4J1.

Vancouver Co-operative Radio is a member of the National Campus and Community Radio Association.

History

Vancouver Co-operative Radio received its radio license from the CRTC on May 7, 1974.

The station first went on the air April 14, 1975, launched by people mostly from various local activist groups in Vancouver. The station airs programmes in four categories: public affairs and news, music, multi-lingual, and arts. The group producing each programme is mostly self-governing–within the co-operative frame.

Programming

Public affairs programmes and subjects in English include Redeye (radio) (news and analysis on Saturday mornings), Wake Up With Co-op (three weekday mornings), The Brown Bagger (lectures and interviews four weekdays at noon), several programmes by and about aboriginal people, learning Coast Salish, Union Made (labour news), politics, women, international affairs (special programmes on Latin America, the Philippines, and Palestine), health, gay and lesbian, parenting, youth, the environment, animal rights, neighbourhood news, senior citizens, disabled people, yoga, and Democracy Now (from the USA).

Programmes air in ten foreign languages: Armenian, Azeri, Cantonese, Ethiopian, Persian, Korean, Kurdish, Polish, South Slav, and Spanish.

Music programmes specialise in one or more of these: aboriginal, accordion, African, alternative, bluegrass, blues, Caribbean, classical, Celtic, electronic, folk, fusion, gospel, hardcore, hip hop, house, India, jazz, Jewish, Latin, metal, old timey, punk, reggae, rock 'n' roll, roots, rumba, ska, soul, swing, tango, and world music.

Arts programming includes arts news, poetry, comedy, sound art, show tunes and other music, and story-telling.

Nearly 100 different programme series air each week. Most of the late-night and week-end programmes are music and repeats, with public affairs and specialty talk programmes running mostly Monday through Friday in the day and evening. (See schedule in the external link below.)

Some on-air announcers have built up followings over decades, and some have moved to other media outlets and made names for themselves.

Almost all the programming on Co-op Radio is "alternative" in the sense that people have great difficulty getting such material into the mainstream media.

Listening and technical aspects

Co-op Radio is now broadcast all day and night in four ways simultaneously:

• 102.7 FM radio.
• Cable television-radio throughout most of British Columbia. The cable company in each part of the province provides a frequency, some of which are 102.7 and 104.9.
• The Internet at http://www.coopradio.org. Some sound archives are there, too.
• Star Choice Satellite 845.

The station is licensed by the Canadian government's broadcast regulating agency, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), with occasional license challenges by members of the public who object to some view-points and statements being broadcast.

Organisational structure

The co-operative is governed by its thousands of members, who may attend and vote at its annual general meeting and special general meetings. The members exercise their will also through an unpaid elected board of directors and its committees, four part-time paid staff (in the Canadian Auto Workers Union), and hundreds of volunteers, the latter creating all the programmes.

To volunteer or serve the organization, those aged 16 or older must be dues-paid members, as are thousands of people who join mainly to support the operation financially and to vote at general meetings. The station broadcasts two major fund-raising drives a year, in the spring and autumn. Government grants are a very small part of the budget.

Radio Station Cafe

The Radio Station Cafe, a separate operation in the same building, hosts occasional special live Co-op Radio broadcasts.

Awards

Vancouver Co-operative Radio has received many awards and is sometimes called the leading co-op radio station in Canada. National Campus and Community Radio Association Broadcasting Excellence awards received by Vancouver Coop Radio include:

• 2007 Best Documentary (tie): Marc the Knife: The Overshadowed Career of Marc Blitstein (Steve Bowell)
• 2006 Best Documentary: 30 Years of Prison Justice Day by Emily Aspinwall and Tiffany Chong
• 2003 Programming Excellence; Redeye (radio) public affairs program
• 1997 Programming Excellence "Voices from the 11th International AIDS Conference"
• 1995 Programming Excellence "Earth Day on the Air"

External links

• Vancouver Co-operative Radio
• CFRO-FM in the REC Canadian station database