Welcome to CKUT’s Time Capsule!

New content is dated to when it happened, not when it’s posted – so have fun digging through the archive.

 

But to help you out, here’s an index by decade:

1980’s AND Earlier

1990’s

2000’s

2010’s

25th Anniversary

30th Anniversary

Here are some newer posts:

Sex Garage 25th Anniversary

Oral History with Andrea Jane Cornell

Oral History with Ian Pringle

Vince Tinguely’s 20th Anniversary Reflections

Oral History with Sue Elrington

Oral History with Bryan Zuraw

Oral History With Stuart Greer

History of the Community News Department

Oral History with Samaa Elibyari Dec. 2017

Interview with Rev Jesse Jackson by Christopher Heron April 2018

Feminism On the Radio 30th Anniversary Special March 2018

Oral History lesson with Pat Dillon Moore March 2018

A Letter To Kiss

March Montreal Sessions opens up the Time Capsule. Episode 1 – March 6 2018

Tactical Squad 1996

CKUT MOVES TO 3647 UNIVERSITY IN 1995

30th Anniversary – In Conversation with Rickey D

 

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Voices of CKUT Station id mid Nineties

How many voices can you recognize?

How many Languages ?

Oral History with Andrea Jane Cornell

Andrea Jane began listening to the CKUT radio show AACK as a teen.  When in University Alex Moskos walked into her class and did a presentation.  He mentioned volunteering opportunities at CKUT and before long she was filling in for Where’s the Beat , then became the Music Resource Coordinator and then Music Department Coordinator (2006 – 2011). She talks about the passion she had for the music library and some of the unexpected challenges she faced as Department Coordinator (like the time someone broadcasted a police scanner over the air!). She describes the listening experience as an eclectic mix and “just as you don’t know what your are going to hear when you tune in to CKUT, you do not know what your are going to encounter when you walk into the station”.

 

Oral History with Ian Pringle

Ian Pringle was a Bookkeeper, then Spoken Word Coordinator from 1987-1991.

He discovered CKUT when he was a McGill student, assigned to do a piece on CKUT getting our FM license for the student newspaper The Tribune. Taken with the diversity and excitement of the station he became a volunteer and ultimately staff member.   In this interview he talks about the passion and commitment to diversity and the democratization of media. He also talks about the profound impact people like Martha Marie Kleinhans, Lisa Vinebaum, Christof Migone and especially hosts of the Homo Show, David Shannon and Donnie Rossiter had on him. He also recollects the infamous and historic turning points in the Queer Community, the death of Joe Rose and the Sex Garage raid, police brutality and community uproar.  

He went on to work internationally in communications and radio, and now resides in Ottawa.

Oral History with Sue Elrington

Sue arrived at CKUT in ’86 and was station manager from 1987-1989.

In this clip we talk details on the switch from cable to the FM signal, the controversy of the licence being granted to an Anglo station, digging our way out of financial debt and coordinating a stream of volunteers parading up  and down to the Mountain where our transmitter is housed for frequent – frequency tests. AND- discovering at midnight the night before we went to air for the first time, that we had to be incorporated (first call to the CRTC, second to a lawyer).

Also the writing of policy such as the Statement of Principles (which still is the backbone of CKUT today) ,  understanding what Balance of Programming means and convincing CRTC of it. the origins of “Gay Day” (the brutal murder of Joe Rose and subsequent community outcry) , amazing CKUT staff and volunteers, and a wild Molson fuelled first anniversary including an earthquake at midnight that, of course, did not stop the party.

She mentions Christof Migone, Pat Hamou, Ian Pringle, France Chevalier Stewart, Joel Savage  and has special fond memories of David Shannon and Don Rossiter.

After taking Montreal by storm, Sue moved back to her home coast, Victoria, BC, and now works in podcasting.

Oral History With Stuart Greer

Stuart volunteered and worked at CKUT from 1991-95.  He worked in the Spoken Word and News Department.  He describes arriving at a time that spawned a lot of activism as it just followed the Oka Crisis and infamous Sex Garage also just following the Gulf War.

He describes what news gathering looked like during this period, receiving communiques in the mail, making cold calls  and organizing broadcasts on a bulletin board.  A time when people smoked a lot, right in the station, and embraced the misfits.

Stuart went on to cover news with Global News, CBS, SKY and is currently residing in Prague working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

 

Oral History with Bryan Zuraw

Bryan Zuraw was at Radio McGill/CKUT from 1983-1997 as a volunteer, music librarian and music coordiantor.

He discusses what was going on musically at the time, musique actuelle, (the beginnings of Ambience Magnetique), college indie rock (pre-Nirvana), hip hop, dancehall reggae (when these genres really started to bloom)… the interest of community members to do radio (given that there isn’t an Urban radio station in Montreal)… establishing an identity and mandate for the station, maintaining a diversity of perspectives and benefiting from this process both personally and intellectually. And of course, conducting all station business (i.e. Steering, Programming, Committee meetings) in the hallway as there was no room to do so at CKUT. All of this was pre-internet. It involved writing to labels, researching magazines such as the Village Voice, OP (Option) Sound Choice, The Wire, newsletters and tape trading networks.  He also speaks on picking up the habit of waking up at 3am to make sure that someone is On Air, because if not, he would make his way to the station in the middle of the night.

Bryan now lives in Los Angeles with his wife (ex CKUT programmer Kie Ross Zuraw) and is still finding strange music to vibe to.

 

 

History of the Community News Department

As part of CKUT’s 30th Anniversary festivities we hosted a panel on the evolution of CKUT’s News Department.  CKUT has covered issues from street level emphasizing the voices of those not heard in mainstream media, namely those affected by the policies, regulations and political decisions.  In this panel past Community News Coordinators, Gretchen King, Aaron Lakoff and Courtney Kirkby recount the numerous ways their department covered the prevalent news items of the times.  The panel took place at the Anarchist Bookfair in Montreal.  

A history of CKUT’s T-Shirts

Here is a sample of some of the t-shirt designs over the 30 years.  Video by Rebecca Gekht.