CFUV 101.9 FM – 25 Years of Campus Radio

It’s been a year of personal milestones. 25 years since graduation from St George’s, then appearing a few months later as a fresh, eager, inspired and largely naive first year student at the University of Victoria. Those were heady days – full of energy and ideas, no clue about time management but we were all ready, able and willing to get involved in absolutely everything.

On Thursday Oct. 28th I hosted a dinner of 1984 St. George’s grads – those living close enough on Vancouver Island to attend, with a visiting Georgian from Germany, and one of the teachers who inspired all of us. The reason this is mentioned is what he instilled in me, and others – a love of language (he taught English Lit.), attention to detail, the use of voice in school theatre productions (directed of many school productions); ultimately the ‘art of conversation‘.

CFUV-FM

So, when perusing the booths at the Uvic Club Day in early September of that year my initial thoughts were The Martlet (visions of campus journalist becoming an award winning New York Times travel writer) or the amateur Theatre Club. As the line ups to either of those were long, I spied a table with a small sign ‘CFUV – Campus Radio‘ – but no wonder there were few takers. At that time the University radio station only broadcast internally, actually within the Student Union Building – not much of a platform for aspiring DJ’s. Oh, but they had plans. That was the year the station transformed (with hiccups) from background noise in the student coffee shop, to a full blown FM delight – and it continues today with a dedicated, and growing, audience.

My contribution was minimal. Floating for a while between equipment setup, office reorganization, spot production: there was an eventual opening for a slot Folk music show – which I took on with relish for over a year. ‘The Flip Side of Folk’ which used vinyl (remember that), cassettes, reel to reel – whatever could be found, borrowed or frankly stolen from the station collection, family and friends.

Those were formative years for an aspiring radio station, the staff and volunteers who made it happen. The transmitter initially could barely reach the confines of the campus, but when the power was eventually boosted community response was inspiring. Phone calls, letters (these were the days before internet, or even CD’s!) – every DJ and show received feedback, which led to new shows, changes in format, a more professional approach to production, but never a loss of the fun.

Some memories from that experience

• Running to the roof of the Student Union Building to prop up the antenna in high winds
• ‘Adjusting’ the Canadian Content list – ‘that drummer was from Vancouver (Wash. State, oops)’!
• Doing the weather from the roof of the station as we could not get through to Environment Canada “uhhm – looks like it’s raining”
• Off station interviews with a beat up tape recorder that never worked
• News: On the Hour, Every Hour – 10 minutes after

Returning to Victoria after over a decade away on another continent, it has been an wonderful experience to meet up again with people like Catherine Novak and Bernard von Schulmann, through unrelated networks – but with that A-HA! moment – ‘weren’t you at CFUV?’

On Saturday, thanks to Georgie Wilson (morning program), we did a pre-recorded session recounting some of those moments for an upcoming CFUV Anniversary Program, due in December or early in the new year. Everyone who has contributed to the station should contact the station, provide anecdotes – let’s make this come history alive.

Little did I know in those heady days of 1984 that 25 years later what we did was a part of Uvic, in fact radio, history.

Looking back at those years, and where it came from. A teacher who instilled an appreciation of the power of the written and spoken word, a radio station which provided an ‘open mike format’ (mistakes will happen!) – those leading into a life path…

Thanks

Tags: CFUV, Radio