A Manual for Co-Op

BASIC

BROADCASTING

A Manual for Co-op

Radio Programmers

This copy belongs to:

______

Preface to the 2006 Edition:

The manual in your hands has been lovingly crafted to provide you with a lasting reference for Co-op Radio’s programming, broadcasting and station policies. This new edition would not have been possible without the hard work of Sage Aaron, Tameem Barakat and Elsie Kipp.

Thank you and enjoy!

Kristiana Clemens, Program Co-ordinator

April Fools’ Day, 2006

Preface to the 2002 Edition:

At last, another volunteer manual for Co-op Radio! If you’ve been around long enough, you’ll remember Behind the Mike. This manual is based on that incredible effort and updates and expands upon it…. The move out of our old home of 25 years beside PigeonPark and into our new home on the main floor of the Sunrise Hotel (one block east) spurred the need for a new manual. With three brand-new, state-of-the-art Control Rooms and one fabulous new Studio, we want to help people make the most of these facilities…. We hope that this manual will help us all become even better programmers at Co-op Radio.

This edition was the culmination of many people’s work, including: Alex Tate, Jay Hartling, Megan Adam, Leela Chinniah, Allan Jensen, Wade Thomas, Rob Gauvin, April Sumter-Freitag, Jane Williams, Lorraine Chisholm, and the many others whom we’ve missed (sorry!).

Thanks to everyone for helping keep Co-op Radio’s important and critical voice on the air: this manual will be completed almost exactly 27years after our very first broadcast. Let’s hope there will be at least as many wonderful years ahead for the People’s Station, CFRO, 102.7 FM, Vancouver’s Co-operative Radio.

Dave Olsen, Manual Co-ordinator

May Day 2002

PREFACE TO THE 1983 EDITION:

At last, a volunteer manual for Co-op Radio! This manual like many other things at the Station is the result of efforts by many young people. Among them are Jan DeGrass, Kandace Kerr and myself. The final edition and production work was done by Jan DeGrass.

We hope it is useful; to all volunteer who work to be part of a unique concept in community media in Canada. Your comments and suggestions for changes and additions are welcome.

Vinny Mohr, Station Co-ordinator

October 24, 1983

BASIC BROADCASTING:

A Manual for Co-op Radio Programmers

Table of Contents

ItemPage

Preface1

Table of Contents2

What is Co-op Radio?5

Herstory6

Timeline8

Organizational Structure9

Committees10

Funding11

Promotion11

Members’ Rights12

Programmers’ Responsibilities12

2 Hours Per Month13

Station Operations15

Getting in the Door
Opening the Door for Others
Logging In
Preventing Theft
Taking Calls
Making Calls
Delivering Messages
Getting Mail
Keeping Clean
Playing Safe

Programming Objectives18

Programming Applications20

BASIC BROADCASTING:

A Manual for Co-op Radio Programmers

Table of Contents (cont.)

ItemPage

Programming Procedures21

Log Sheets
Pre-Recorded Announcements (PRAs)
Public Service Announcements (PSAs)
Station Ids
Music
Program Length
Pre-emptions
Absenteeism
Reporting Technical Problems
Emergency Contacts
Rights To Programming
Co-ordinators
Operators

Equipment and Facilities24

Control Room A
Control Room B
Control Room C
Studio
Reserving the Control Rooms and Studio
Portable Equipment
Rental of Studios and Equipment
Computers

On-Air Policies and Broadcast Laws27

Airing Internal Correspondence
Obscenity and Profanity
Hate Propaganda and Abusive Comments
Balance of Opinion
Libel, Slander & Defamation
Elections & Referendums
Anti-Government Remarks
False or Misleading News
Trial Coverage and Media Bans
Food, Drugs and Medical Advice
Fundraising
Copyright
Permission
Open Line Programming

BASIC BROADCASTING:

A Manual for Co-op Radio Programmers

Table of Contents (cont.)

ItemPage

Complaints33

The Rights of Listeners
The Responsibilities of Programmers
The Responsibilities of Programmers: Contextualization
The Role Of The CRTC
The Role of the Station
Case Study: Let’s Talk About Sex

Using Your Voice39

Interviews41

Pitching42

Appendix I: Log Sheet43

Appendix II: PRA Sheet44

Appendix III: Security Log Sheet45

WHAT IS CO-OP RADIO?

Vancouver Co-op Radio, CFRO, 102.7FM, is a community-based, multilingual, non-commercial, listener-supported, volunteer-operated, co-operative radio station.

Vancouver Co-operative Radio is a community-based radio station, governed by a license with the Canadian Radio, Television and Telecommunications Commission or CRTC. As a community-based station, our programming is aimed primarily at people without access to mainstream media. We endeavour to be accessible to artists, local performers, working & unemployed people, as well as to the economically, socially or politically disadvantaged. The station and its programs provide a forum for the expression of differing views on a wide range of issues, including issues which are controversial to the public at large or controversial within the communities to which particular programs are directed. We try especially to include points of view, information and music that are rarely expressed on other broadcast media. One of our goals is to provide programming and a working environment that is not sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ageist, ableist or anti-poor.

As a multilingual radio station, we provide airtime for communities to express themselves in their own languages. At present, we broadcast in Amharic, Armenian, Azeri, Cantonese, English, Farsi, Korean, Kurdish, Polish, Punjabi, Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Spanish. Approximately 15% of our airtime is devoted to what the CRTC calls “Ethnic Programming.” According to the CRTC, “Ethnic” programs are those that are mainly presented in languages other than English, French or those of First Nations peoples.

As a non-commercial radio station we offer an alternative to mainstream media. We do not advertise over the airwaves. We recognize some of the financial support we receive in the form of sponsorships and we promote cultural and political events in the form of co-sponsorships, but our goal is to inform, not to advertise.

As a listener-supported radio station, we organize twice-yearly on-air fundraisers (Spring and Fall Member Drives) to ask listeners to support us by buying a share in the co-operative and becoming members of the station. About 65% of our budget comes from memberships, and we are striving to increase that percentage.

We are a volunteer-operated station. More than 400 volunteers produce and broadcast more than 80 different radio programs every week. Volunteer members make decisions at the station by participating on different committees and by voting at the station’s Annual General Meeting. Our committees include: Finance, Technical, Training, and Programming. Our Board of Directors is made up of volunteer members elected at the Annual General Meeting. Each Board member participates in at least one committee. The station’s unionized staff includes a Financial Administrator, Technician, Program Coordinator and Membership Co-ordinator.

Co-op Radio is structured and managed as a co-operative. Co-op Radio members own shares in the organization and participate in it at all levels. For this reason, we are governed by the Co-operative Associations Act of BC as well as the CRTC. On top of these regulations, Co-op Radio has its own rules or by-laws, and policies governing many aspects of the station’s programming and day-to-day operations. This manual is a compilation of history, policies, regulations and guidelines that all programmers at the station should be aware of before they go on the air!

HERSTORY

Co-op Radio is one of Canada’s oldest and most vibrant community radio stations. Here is a brief overview of some of the highlights from our more than 30 years of “herstory!”

In 1973, two groups who eventually formed the nucleus of the Co-op Radio idea decided to join forces: the Muckrakers (Community Research Service), who clipped newspapers and met weekly to discuss current events behind the news, and Neighbourhood Radio, a group who produced programs for other stations.

As the two groups assisted others in the community to learn radio production and produce programming on local issues, they felt the need for a better forum for their work that existing radio stations failed to provide.

The group made a presentation to the CRTC (Canadian Radio and Television Commission) in March of 1974. Sixteen people were in attendance representing the 231 shareholders that were to be the first members of Co-op Radio. The vision described to the CRTC was of a Station that would better serve the needs of greater Vancouver, and would provide an alternative to “existing commercial programming and the national focus of the CBC.”

The written application stating the goals of Co-op Radio forms the basis for station policy today:

To keep people informed about local cultural and public affair
To provide an outlet for local artists and musicians

To make radio more accessible to minorities and community groups

Two months later the CRTC granted Co-op Radio a license for the frequency of 102.7 FM. The excited delegation promised to be on the air by September 1974, saying, “We won’t be more than 30 days out.” However this ambitious claim was confronted by several major difficulties.

An extensive search for a building to house Co-op Radio began that summer. When it was finally located in the Downtown Eastside, it had been unoccupied except by pigeons for the previous 15 years. The three story heritage building with its marble bathrooms and graceful winding staircase was selected as Co-op Radio’s home because of its central locations and accessibility to major bus routes. Built in the early 1900’s, it had house a merchant’s bank for tailors and garment sweatshops in the Gastown area and later a bank. The bank’s vault can still be seen in the basement of the building.

However, the building’s old world charms were lost on the volunteers who scraped six inches of pigeon droppings from the floors without the benefit of functioning plumbing. Workers were hired that summer through local employment programs and the cleaning began: the floors were sanded, waxed and varnished, new plumbing was installed, and studios and control rooms were built and soundproofed.

Money was raised by any means possible. Four individuals used their own property as collateral to secure a loan from the Gulf and Fraser Fisherman’s credit Union for $25,000 to start the ball rolling. Corporations were approached for donations of carpet, lumber, typewriters, furniture and practically everything else. By fall, the studios and offices were completed and the transmitter had arrived from the east. It would have been a memorable occasion except that on its arrival, frantic engineers noted that several important parts were missing!

Mock broadcasting in preparation for the big day helped to ease the waiting. The transmitter was installed on the BCTV tower on BurnabyMountain and a fresh hitch became apparent – there was no clear line of sight from the studios to the transmitter, therefore an already purchased microwave link could not be used to send programming from the studio to the transmitter.

HERSTORY (CONT.)

Despite these difficulties, which had already set the Station back some eight months on its original promise, broadcasting began in May 1975. The first programs were pre-recorded. The operator took the tape, caught a bus out to Burnaby, went up to the transmitter shack at SFU, and then broadcast the tape. This was later improved when a phone line was installed at the transmitter shack, so that programs could be sent from the studio directly to the transmitter. The transmitter power at that time was 3,717 watts. However, many parts of Vancouver had poor reception because of the effects of surface geography on the FM signal coming from BurnabyMountain.

In 1978, when the CRTC approved our first license renewal, it commended Co-op Radio for “providing a valuable alternative community service responsive to the cultural, information and entertainment needs of its listeners.”

By April 1979, Co-op Radio extended its original mandate and was carried throughout the province via cable. In October 1980, Co-op Radio received the Media Human Rights Award, its first national honour from the League for Human Rights of B’nai Brith of Canada. This annual award recognizes and encourages special efforts by the media to sensitize the public to human rights awareness. Co-op Radio received the award in recognition of programs produced by the Chinese-Canadian public affairs program Pender Guy, which is no longer on the air.

In October 1982, Co-op Radio was forced to move its transmitter from BurnabyMountain to the CFMI tower on MountSeymour. The new location improved the quality and reception of the signal, giving the station an effective radiated power of 5,500 watts. This increased the listening audience, and incurred such large moving expenses that it plunged the Station into the worst financial crisis in its seven-year history. Thanks to a successful $10 levy on all Station members, combined with outstanding fundraising efforts on the part of programmers and staff, the Station slowly rose out of the red.

After 27 years of enduring a slow disintegration of the studios and offices at PigeonPark, Co-op Radio moved one block east into the ground floor of the Sunrise Hotel. On Friday, July 27, 2001, we started broadcasting from these brand new, state-of-the-art and accessible studios. This historic event followed years of planning, months of preparation, and an entire weekend of moving! In fact, we are still unpacking…just ask staff for a tour of the basement some day!

timeline

1973Co-op Radio began as an idea between two different groups - the Muckrakers and Neighbourhood Radio – who were producing materials for radio stations and alternative press services on issues that were usually ignored.

1974On behalf of the first 231 shareholders of Vancouver Co-operative Radio, representatives presented to the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission) and received their first licence! The group set up the station in the former Mercantile Bank building in Vancouver’s PigeonPark (at the corner of Carrall and Hastings St.). The building had been empty for 15 years and the founders of Co-op Radio had to shovel 2 inches of pigeon droppings from the floors of the building.

1975 First broadcast on April 15, 1975! In those early days, tapes were carried by hand up to our transmitter on BurnabyMountain (3717 watts).

1978Renewed our CRTC license and were commended for “providing a valuable alternative community service, responsible to the cultural information and entertainment needs of its listeners.”

1979Carried on cable to most parts of BC

1980Won the national Media Human Rights Award from the League for Human Rights of B’nai B’rith.

1982 Moved transmitter to MountSeymour (5500 watts) – that’s our current transmitter

1984Began full daytime programming – prior to that we were only broadcasting after 5pm on weekdays. Mayor Mike Harcourt declared the first week in May to be Community Radio Week, in honour of Co-op Radio.

1997Began the process of finding a new home for Co-op Radio. The decision to move went to 2 AGMs. We were offered a space by the Portland Hotel Society – it was important for us to stay in the neighbourhood due to accessibility and line-of-sight to our transmitter.

Won the NCRA’s Standard Award for Programming Excellence.

2000 Won the Roger Inman Memorial Award for Community Economic Development.

2001Moved to the new station at 360 Columbia St. (220 metres away from the old one!). Our new space offered us more accessibility, more visibility and more financial sustainability.

2003 Won the NCRA’s Standard Award for Programming Excellence – again!

2004 Won the MOSAIC Human Rights Award

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

Co-op Radio was run largely by volunteers for the first seven years of its existence. A monthly decision-making meeting of staff and volunteers, which came to be known as the Workers’ Forum, made most operational decisions. The Workers’ Forum was disbanded in 1981. Since that time, Co-op Radio’s Board of Directors, Staff and Committees have become the main decision-making bodies and working groups at the station.

The Board of Directors is made up of nine volunteers who are elected at the station’s Annual General Meeting (AGM). This meeting is open to all members of the station and usually takes place in November. In order to be elected to the Board of Directors, a person must be a member of Co-op Radio in good standing. Most Board members are required to have been active at the station for at least six months and to be Canadian citizens. Board members are elected to terms ranging from one to three years and must be re-elected after that if they wish to serve again. The structure and composition of the Board of Directors is detailed in the station’s rules and by-laws. Board responsibilities are as follows:

Produce and update job descriptions for paid staff
Ensure new paid staff members are evaluated according to policy and collective agreement
Deal with contract negotiations and union business
Oversee and supervise the functioning of Committees
Steward the financial well-being of the station
Update, develop and create policies necessary to fulfilling Co-op Radio’s mandate.
Help to resolve disputes and conflicts that arise within the station and act as an appeal body for decisions made at the Committee level.

Board meetings are held once a month. The date and time of the next Board meeting is posted on the “What’s up at the Co-op?” bulletin board at the station. Board meetings are open to all Co-op Radio programmers and members, who can speak to the meeting but do not have a vote. Non-members may attend Board meetings at the discretion of the Board. A member wishing to present to the Board must give seven days’ advance notice to one or more Board members, with a general outline of the topic to be presented. Presentations by guests at Board meetings may be limited to 10 minutes’ length at the discretion of the Board.

Staff are unionized and operate as a collective. The station has four paid staff members: a Program Coordinator, Membership Coordinator, Studio Technician and Financial Administrator. Staff members are responsible for distinct areas of the station’s operations, but manage the station collectively: there is no boss or station manager! Staff members report to the Board of Directors and work closely with one or more committees to make decisions in different areas of the station’s operations.