|
Finemaster: Jerome Martin challenged all with interesting facts about famous prairie people, some of which had had obscure linkages to CKUA.
50/50: Joe and Dan did not match cards; so the pot of $175 was carried over to next meeting.
 Rotary Spotlight: John Blimke introduced Al Hamilton and Father Jim Holland who are the key people behind the McCauley Rink project which Edmonton West in a proud participant. John presented Al and Father Jim with a cheque for $5,000 for the ongoing inner city project that is helping kids in need by providing them with ice time, equipment, friendship and lunches. Al Hamilton updated everyone on the program and how after a tough year, everything is now back on track. Both he and Jim were extremely thankful for the support of the Rotary club of Edmonton West.
Presentation/Speaker: David Gibbens introduced Ken Regan. David thought that with the strong cultural and musical history of our club, that Ken's talk would be a great fit for our club. Mr. Regan moved to Edmonton in 1982 as a recent journalism graduate and was hired by CKUA's news department and Ken read the morning news. It was during that time that ken learned the craft of radio and say he discovered the subtle, yet inescapably magical bond between the electronic radio signal and the human heart and mind. Ken left CKUA in 1994 to work in television with the CBC and Discovery Channel USA before returning to CKUA in 1999 to take the helm as the Chief Executive Officer of the CKUA radio network.
The focus of Ken's talk today was about CKUA, who they are, what they are and their role in the community as well as some insight into their unique and vast music library.
What is CKUA? First and foremost it is a great Edmonton invention! It was founded at the University of Alberta in 1927 as Canada's first educational and public broadcaster. The idea was to use this relatively new medium to serve the community. It was thought that radio would allow the people of Alberta to access university level education even though they could not physically attend due to economic or distance reasons. CKUA predates the CBC by almost a decade, CKUA pioneered what was then called "ethnic" broadcasting by hosting shows in various northern European languages as people immigrated to Canada and Alberta following the Second World War. Today, multicultural broadcasting is a multi-billion dollar industry, but it was pioneered by CKUA in the late 1940's.
CKUA did the first FM radio transmission in Alberta in the 1950's as well as being the first radio station in the British Commonwealth to broadcast the proceedings of a Legislative assembly, broadcasting Question Period from the Alberta Legislature. Today, there are parliamentary channels throughout Canada and the world. In 1995, CKUA became the first radio station in Canada to stream it's broadcasts on the internet, which of course is now done by almost every radio station out there.
CKUA also has many distinguished alumni including: Juno award winner and world renowned pianist, Tommy Banks; Founder of the Banff World Media Festival, Phil Fraser, International Singer and Actor, Robert Goulet; former MP, Jim Edwards; Actress and wife to W.O. Mitchell, Myrna Mitchell was one of the CKUA players.
Today, CKUA is a "not for profit", professional broadcaster that broadcasts across the province on 16 FM stations and worldwide on the web. The network is primarily listener funded. CKUA does not receive any goverment subsidies. They do receive government grants, but this works out to be less than 5% of the $3 million dollar annual operating budget. The vast majority of the funding comes from listeners who could just listen in for free if they choose. Because of this support, CKUA is the most successful listener supported radio station in this country and in the top 10 across North America. There is something profound about this relationship, which stems from the great programming, but also revolves around the roots of CKUA go deep into the social and cultural fabric of the province.
Musical programming includes Classical, Jazz, Country, Rock & Roll, Celtic, World Music, Bluegrass, Folk Music, Comtemporary Music and Blues which includes the longest running blues show in Canadian history. Many of the stations announcers are award winning broadcasters, such as Bill Coull, Holger Petersen, Cam Hayden and many others.
Another thing that sets CKUA apart culturally is that CKUA is the only Alberta owned and operated radio station in the province. All the other professional radio stations are owned by companies that are Canadian, but not Albertan. Radio stations that are run from away cannot tell our stories like the people who live and work here. CKUA is also committed to nurturing and showcasing Alberta talent, whether is in brand new cutting edge or an artist who has not had a hit for a while but is still producing high quality music. That type of commitment to local talent does not exist on commercial radio. International music stars like KD Lang, Ian Tyson , Corb Lund and Tommy Banks are all appreciative of this type of home-grown support.
Ken also talked about CKUA's incredible music library that currently contains 1.5 million pieces of music in their original format. The library represents almost 150 years of recording history which he demonstrated by showing us one of about 150 Edison cylinders that are kept in the library. These were created in the late 1800's. Ken played one of these on an original mechanical player, that used no electricity but could be heard throughout the room.
Ken also showed the group some other interesting artifacts from the library including an LP of " Ernest Hemingway reading Ernest Hemingway", a " Vogue record" that can now sell for up to $15,000 to a collector, and even an 18 inch "transcription disk" that were issued by the US armed forces during the second world war and entrusted to CKUA to play to the army personnel who were building the Alaskan Highway in Alberta to protect Alaska from being invaded by the Japanese. These discs contain Hollywood A-list actors reading and performing to attempt to raise the morale of the soldiers. CKUA doesn't only have the media in the library, but also the facility to play each of the items as well.
Ken went on to explain that CKUA is more than just a radio station, but a fundamentally important cultural institution in our province, across the country and around the world. And it is something that Albertans should be proud of because it was invented right here. Ken ended his talk by showing and explaining the history of the new CKUA headquarters in the rebuilt Alberta Hotel on Jasper Avenue.
Ken was thanked by Darrel Ripley.
The meeting was adjourned by President Ingrid.
|
