CKRZ-FM is Six Nations' CNN (fwd)

Tue Apr 25 20:16:09 UTC 2006

CKRZ-FM IS SIX NATIONS\' CNN

IT HAS RESERVE\'S EAR ON THE CRISIS

 By Wade Hemsworth
The Hamilton Spectator
OHSWEKEN (Apr 24, 2006)
http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1145829010142&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815

  In these times of trouble at Six Nations, a small radio station is speaking
with a big voice.

  CKRZ-FM, colloquially known as "Rez FM," has become a critical source of live
information for the residents of Six Nations and interested listeners beyond.

  It plays everywhere on the reserve -- in pickup trucks and tobacco huts,
restaurants and offices. The crisis over the occupation at Douglas Creek
Estates has made CKRZ the CNN of Six Nations.

  Official communiques and breaking developments in the crisis are often heard
there first. Six Nations has a cable station and two weekly newspapers that
cover the community well, said CKRZ's Diane Keye, but the immediacy of radio
has given the station a special role in the current crisis.

  "It's unfortunate that it takes an event like this, but it affirms that this
community needs this radio station and we need to be here," said Keye, who is
acting executive director.

  At best, the community-based, non-profit station (100.3 on the dial) reaches
50 kilometres from Ohsweken with its 250-watt transmitter. But streaming
Internet audio (www.ckrz.com)[1] takes it to listeners well beyond southern
Ontario.

  From far and near, they have been listening especially intently since police
moved in on protesters occupying the construction site of a residential
subdivision at the south end of Caledonia.

  Ever since Thursday morning when the OPP went in, the station has been
staffing the occupation site full-time and will continue to do so as long as
the situation remains tense.

  Despite the protesters' on-again, off-again relationship with the non-native
media, CKRZ has kept communications open with all its sources.

  It's no small task for a small outfit with just 10 staff and about 30
volunteers, but covering the crisis is critical to the station's mandate of
reflecting native life through music, information and education.

  "We're professional. We're trying to get the information out," Keye said. "If
you want to get our perspective, tune us in."

  Since Thursday, announcers and reporters have frequently been breaking into
regular programming with updates on the movements of police, announcements from
native politicians and other developments.

  CKRZ operates from a bright storefront headquarters in the Iroquois Village
Centre.

  The operation has the feel of a university radio station: informal but
earnest, not slick, but sincere. The station is on the air 24 hours, with 20
hours of live broadcasting and recorded programming between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.

  Regular programming features traditional and modern native music mingled with
non-native music that ranges from bluegrass to rap, interspersed with current
affairs. Twice a day, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., there are native language lessons.

  On Sunday evenings, the station earns its keep with radio bingo, where the
caller reads numbers in Cayuga, Mohawk and English and listeners play along
with tickets they buy at the station itself or stores on the reserve. Between
the bingo and some commercials, the station supports itself, after starting up
on federal grants.

  CKRZ studiously avoids aligning itself with either the elected band council
or the confederacy of hereditary chiefs -- the two major political factions on
the reserve.

  whemsworth at thespec.com[2]

  905-526-3254

Links:
------
[1] http://www.ckrz.com/
[2] mailto:whemsworth at thespec.com
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