CKDU’s Fundraising Drive aims to modernize station and digitize its 30-year legacy
This is the age of preservation. The past is safe with us, translated to a series of codes and preserved, timeless, digitally. We can scan through decades and pull up singular moments. We can now hear voices long gone, listen in on conversations past dead. For a cultural institution like CKDU, this transition into digital permanence means that radio waves sent out long ago can now be retrieved, and their contents replayed for future audiences.
“We often think of CKDU as more of a radio station or media outlet,” says Gianna Lalonde, CKDU’s station director. “We think of CKDU as a public record because it has been around since 1985 as a FM station. Previously it was commenced as a radio club in 1964. Just try and imagine the number of people who have come in and out and lent their voice to the station.”
CKDU is currently working to digitize over 20 years of archival content, ranging from session reels to advertisements and posters. Having collected nearly everything since their inception in 1985, CKDU’s office on the fourth floor of Dalhousie’s Student Union Building is a trove of memorabilia and artifacts from Halifax’s past.
Using funds acquired from the Community Radio Fund of Canada, CKDU hired Kim Hornak this spring to work as a temporary archivist. During Kim’s first week at CKDU, she went into the archives of the Killam Library to find nearly 3000 forgotten reels of CKDU material. These reels, unsorted and packed tight in boxes, had survived a flood in 2012 and a fire.
“Discovering the tapes was like uncovering a treasure trove of audio,” Kim says via email. “There is a lot of tape to go through, but the material I have been able to listen to is excellent. The research and documentary production side is fun because I get to be a detective attempting to uncover the history behind the station and how it has functioned throughout the years.
“At the same time, CKDU has produced fantastic news programming throughout the years. Listening to old audio from CKDU not only gives you a history of the station, it gives you a picture of Halifax and Canada throughout the years.”
Somewhere in there, in one of those spooled years, is CKDU’s first recording, broadcast Feb. 1, 1985. Gianna claims the first song ever played on-air was by Joy Division.
This discovery, while a great find, has made Kim’s job much, much more intensive than previously thought. And these tapes don’t last forever. They are, like any material, prone to deterioration and damage.
“We need to continue the archiving project,” says Gianna. “The project is five times bigger than we thought it was, thanks to the discovery of the treasure chest at the Killam Library. CKDU were only able to access so many funds from the grant, and after Kim is gone at the end of March, the project must continue. We must continue to preserve the history of Halifax.
“We’re finding that many of the older tapes are stuck together as a result of being in an uncontrolled environment,” Gianna says. “We’ve discovered that we need to bake the tape. It goes into the oven for an hour, at a low temperature, and that helps separate the wound tape. We didn’t realize that we’d need an oven for this project,” she laughs.
The continuation of their archiving project is one half behind this year’s CKDU funding drive. The annual, week-long fundraiser sees CKDU-sponsored events popping up throughout Halifax, including an indie dance party and a night of cover bands performing tracks from Quentin Tarantino’s soundtracks.
This year, CKDU aims to raise $25,000 through the fundraiser. With this, they aim to not only continue digitizing their archives, but to install a wireless connection between their station at the SUB and their transmitter, which is atop a CBC building in Fairview. Currently, CKDU’s broadcast console is tethered via phone line and has been facing increasing difficulty when it comes to servicing their connection. More than once this past year, CKDU’s broadcast has been hampered by this dated technology.
The studio transmitter link (or STL) required to set up a wireless connection costs around $10,000 alone.
While CKDU has always subsisted through their annual DSU student levy, as Gianna puts it, “We’re a student society and we’re so grateful for the student levy. Without it, there could be no CKDU. It’s been in place since 1985 and the levy fee has never fluctuated – it’s been the same since 1985. Things cost more nowadays, but luckily enrollment goes up more each year, so we’re just getting by.”
Gianna says that the student levy makes up about 80 per cent of CKDU’s annual budget, and any other costs are paid for by fundraising campaigns.
The discovery of the lost CKDU archives and their transition into a modern transmission system comes at an interesting time for CKDU. In February 2015, CKDU will celebrate its 30th anniversary as an independent voice in Halifax.
“We’re hoping – and planning – to celebrate together,” says Gianna. “Something on campus where we can invite everyone old and new from the CKDU extended family, to reconnect. We’ll be displaying physical pieces that we’ve been finding. There’ll be listening booths where folks can go and listen to old advertisements or interviews.”
The need to digitize the CKDU archives is partly due to this upcoming milestone. CKDU is planning to put together a radio documentary, chronicling the station’s history and bringing together the multitude of voices that have all been cast into the airwaves. The documentary will air Feb. 1, 2015. It is uncertain whether or not the documentary will feature the music of Joy Division.
“It’s been exceptional to remind ourselves and really understand why folks get involved with CKDU in the first place, as well as discover what CKDU can mean to the community,” says Gianna, reflecting on the process of contacting CKDU alumni. “We’ve been hearing of so many reasons for people to come to CKDU. We’ve had a really diverse and interesting membership.
“CKDU has always been mandated to be the alternative, but as a result, CKDU has kind of just developed its own … thing. And I don’t think CKDU needs to be compared to the other stations anymore. If you want to hear the same story over and over, you know what station to turn to. But I am constantly impressed by the determination to do something different here. I think that CKDU has developed its own hyperlocal, interesting and eclectic voice. I think we’re above being the Other. I just want to keep doing what we do and own it.”
Recent Comments