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Montréal sur les ondes dans les radioromans de Robert ChoquettePublished on July 06, 2020
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Augustin Frigon et la naissance de Radio-CanadaPublished on June 01, 2020
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« Hello Ottawa! Hello Montreal! » Première diffusion radiophonique musicale en direct au CanadaPublished on May 04, 2020
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La première partie de hockey radiodiffusée à MontréalPublished on April 06, 2020
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En ondes avec Idola Saint-Jean et Thérèse Casgrain!Published on February 28, 2020
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Les concerts radiophoniques montréalais: de la salle de danse au salon! Published on February 03, 2020
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Montréal à l’heure de la radioPublished on January 06, 2020
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CFCF, CJBC, CKAC: les premières stations de radio montréalaisesPublished on December 05, 2019
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Paul-Émile Léger : un homme et sa croisadePublished on January 21, 2016
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Des ondes et des hommes : une première radio à MontréalPublished on January 18, 2016
Walking the heritage trail: Anja Borck explores Circuit 1
Whether you know Montreal or you do not – walking along a heritage trail is a great way to discover a city and see familiar places with new eyes. I am the director of the Musée des ondes Emile Berliner, and I was curious to explore with our heritage trail Montreal’s radio past on the actual sites. I took some photos of all the mentioned locations in Circuit 1 and wanted to share them. You can get an idea of the experience and, if you cannot make the trip to Montreal, you can still participate online. I had a great time and I learned a lot thanks to Alain Dufour’s great research.
The images were taken on May 7th 2020. The tour took me 2 hours and 15 minutes, including some longer stops and a short detour. I decided to drive to the first location by car due to the coronavirus crisis. However, parking can be difficult even during the lockdown of the city. At the end of the tour, I walked from location J to location A down on Peel Street which took me 10 minutes. I was walking fast. Visitors who would like to use public transportation could take the Metro to Bonaventure Station, the closest metro stop to the beginning of the circuit. I had a paper printout of the circuit guide with me, which I like because the text is large enough that I did not need my reading glasses. I will walk Circuit 2 using my smartphone and share my feedback on that option.
When you go, be advised that Montreal is in major construction mode. Take a map with you or your smartphone should you need to take a detour. The PDF map provided online is a good tool for general orientation, but not sufficient for people unfamiliar with the city. During my tour on a Thursday, social distancing was always possible, even in the popular Old Montreal and Downtown. The walk is easy, with some short down-hills and up-hills. The circuit works well on a bike or with a stroller as long as you do not plan to visit the inside of buildings, where you will often find stairs.
I wish you, online or on the street of Montreal, a great time with Montreal’s Radio Pioneers.
Radio100@CKUT: Women in radio
Broadcasting the day after International Women’s Day, the second show of the Radio100 residency features the roles that women have had throughout the development of radio technology and content. During the first half of the show, Alain Dufour (SQCRA president) shares with Anja Borck (MOEB director) and Mariana Mejía Ahrens (Centennial Program Coordinator) his research on the historical background of women’s work in radio, from scientific endeavors to community activism. For the second half of the show, we feature a panel discussion with three CKUT content coordinators.
< < First broadcast | Third broadcast > >
BEHIND THE SCENES: PREPARING FOR A LIVE PANEL DISCUSSION
Early in the pre-production process of defining what kind of content we wanted to transmit during our CKUT residency, the team thought it would be a good idea to reach out to a broader network of radio history and culture experts. Since we were planning on organizing each show’s content around a specific theme, seeking experts that could give our listeners a better understanding of specific topics within the field of radio technology and content seemed like a great fit for our broadcast goals.
Deciding the theme for our second show was easy due to a simple scheduling fact: the show was meant to air the day after International Women’s Day. With that in mind, we set ourselves to create a show that would feature the impact that women have had in the development of radio as inventors, researchers, academics, show presenters and content creators. Alain had already been working hard on tracing the historic accomplishments of women during his centennial related research, and successfully identified key local and international figures worth noting. But what about the current role of women in radio? Could we find an expert to talk about gender issues in the context of radio history? Could we offer a space that included diverse voices during our broadcasts?
We started by reaching out to female experts who work in academic research about the history of radio. Due to communication and scheduling challenges, we were not able to confirm the participation of any guests and we were running out of time to prepare our broadcast. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The team had not realized that most of the people leading the centennial residency at CKUT were women involved as active content creators, producers and coordinators at a thriving local radio station. What better way to celebrate the impact of women in radio history than by featuring women who currently work in radio!
We had met Tamara Filyavich, Arts and Culture Coordinator, and Mariam Salaymeh, McGill Events and Outreach Coordinator, early on during the planning meetings of the Centennial residency. Naturally we approached them first with the idea of including them in our March 9th broadcast and were overjoyed when they were willing and excited to be a part of it. Tamara then suggested adding the participation of her CKUT colleague and News Coordinator, Gaushika Mahadevan. Our search for panelists was complete and we were thrilled in anticipation to having a full studio the day of our second broadcast.
A MIC FOR THE MIC-LESS: HOSTING A DISCUSSION PANEL
Now that the main questions of “who to invite to our panel?” had been answered, we continued planning the content of the second broadcast similarly to our first. Alain had again laid out the show plan in a spreadsheet with a minute by minute breakdown of all the sections to be included in the broadcast.
As we had done the week before, a couple hours before we went on the air, the Centennial team (Alain, Anja and Mariana) met in a coffee shop to go over the show plan together. We felt a bit more confident about the experience after completing our first show the previous week. Some additional music would give us some option to adjust if the talk of the panel discussion would go on too long during the second half of the broadcast.
The day of the show, the feeling in the studio was lively and exciting. The first half followed closely the segment timing from the week before, where Alain shared his research about historical female figures in radio. The Centennial team was happy to share the studio with our CKUT colleagues, who joined us a bit before the beginning of the show for a short briefing about the timing planned and what to expect during the panel segment.
Knowing that you lose a sense of time when talking without following a script, we kept our questions to our panelists short and direct. There was again the clear awareness to be live on air. When radio started in 1919, content was always live, immediately listened to by the audience at home and gone forever. How little had changed in the concept of radio! People in interviews must have felt even more strange than we did because the experience was unprecedented. The CKUT team in the studio was much more at ease in this setting than the Centennial team, a bit of an unusual twist. And yes, time rushed through the hour. Producing a live interview requests discipline in talking. Another skill that we would improve on as we produced and delivered the content in the remaining broadcasts.
Luckily, it being 2020 and with the technology available today, the broadcast was again recorded and made available online. As you can hear in the recording of the show, the panel discussion in the second half of the show touched on important topics like the importance of representation of minority voices in the airwaves and community building efforts that are fostered by community radio stations.
Towards the end of the discussion, we realized that all women in the studio, both the ones representing the Centennial and CKUT, are first generation immigrants. Taking airwave space took courage for all of us, as we used the mic to add our voices to a conversation beyond mainstream radio, not just as women, but as immigrants as well.
Radio100@CKUT: Celebrating 100 years of radio
In our first show of our CKUT residency, Alain Dufour, president of the SQCRA, leads us in learning about the technological discoveries that created the invention of radio broadcasting more than 100 years ago. He also offers an introduction to the beginnings of radio in Canada and the great success that the new medium had in the first decades since its inception. MOEB director Anja Borck, and Centennial Program Coordinator Mariana Mejía Ahrens, join Alain in the studio to kick start this celebration of radio history, live on the CKUT frequency.
THE CENTENNIAL AT CKUT: HOW THE RESIDENCY BECAME A REALITY
When the museum announced its participation in celebrating the centennial of radio broadcasting, Mariam Saleymeh, a McGill student and MOEB volunteer, asked if the museum would be interested in a month-long residency at the CKUT station. The radio station approved the idea. The team at the museum excitedly agreed to the residency, not quite grasping the real magnitude of the project. We have many radios and related objects all over the museum, but we had never ‘made’ radio.
At the end of 2019 we agreed to produce 4 live shows of one hour each that would broadcast during the month of March, a date that was fast approaching. Luckily, Alain Dufour, President of the Quebec Society of Vintage Radio Collectors and Mariana Mejia Ahrens, sound engineer and centennial Project Coordinator, took over the project. Anja Borck, the director of the museum, completed the production team as the official voice of the museum.
The first task in the early production stages of the residency was defining the main themes that each show would explore. The four themes selected by Alain and Mariana included the historic background of radio development, women in radio, radio entertainment content, and Canadian radio pioneers. The next task was writing the script and timetable for each show. The content of the shows heavily relied on the extensive research that Alain had done over the past two years in preparation for the centennial of radio broadcasting in Montreal. Naturally, Alain led the weekly script writing process, aided by Mariana, who offered feedback, comments and helped choose the music and sonic samples that would complete each broadcast.
The basic structure for the shows was decided during the completion of the first script: the three production team members would be live in the studio, Anja would lead the main conversation with Alain through the different segments, while Mariana would oversee the timing of the show and playback of the prepared sound samples. This structure saw us through our first broadcast successfully, encouraging us to follow the same format for the rest of the shows. Little did we know that content variants and external circumstances would prevent us from repeating the same structure.
For the second show, which broadcasted a day after the International Women’s Day, we saw it fitting to include a round table discussion with women active in the radio world. The most logical choice was to invite Mariam and her fellow CKUT colleagues. The basic show structure was therefore modified to include a list of possible questions that would let Anja lead the discussion, but without knowing exactly what we or our guests would say.
For show number three, Mariana had the idea of including an interview with an expert that could give us deeper insight into the field of radio entertainment. She recorded and produced an interview with Andy Stuhl, Ph.D. student in Communication Studies at McGill University, who’s main advisor happens to be professor Jonathan Stern, an old time friend of the museum. The structure challenge this time was blending the pre-recorded interview with the rest of the scripted in conversation that occured live the studio.
The last show would have been just like the first show, a live production with Alain, Mariana and Anja. However, the Covid-19 pandemic response escalated quickly and the station closed right after our third broadcast. We had the choice to cancel, to postpone or to pre-record our last hour. So far, each show had offered a new challenge. Keeping with that concept, we decided to take on the challenge of pre-recording the entire last show. To accomplish this, each team member recorded their spoken collaboration from home following Alain’s script, which had been written with this challenge in mind. Having a clear script was quite helpful since we each recorded without having the other person’s recordings. Mariana then edited the hour-long show, following the script to piece together the different discussion segments with the music and other sound samples of the discussion. There was some uncertainty to be conquered during the production process of our last show, but we were pretty happy with the final result.
While we know that our broadcasts were far from perfect, we greatly enjoyed having the opportunity to write and produce our own radio shows. Plus the experience of being live on air was thrilling and nerve wracking at the same time. This residency allowed us to experiment and break the ice, since creating content for this medium was new to the whole team. It also led us to realize what makes radio special beyond being a common staple of daily life and reaffirm the importance of having access to community radio stations like CKUT. We are happy that we agreed to do this project. Our sincere appreciation to the CKUT team, and to Mariam for her initiative.
BEHIND THE SCENES: PREPARING FOR THE TEAM’S FIRST LIVE RADIO SHOW
The first step in preparation for the residency was to meet at CKUT a week before the first show. We were introduced to the studio, learned about how to work with the microphones, saw the equipment and received instructions on how often to announce the radio station and how many ads would be included in the show. All seemed straightforward. A technician would be there to work the board and turn the mics on and off. We were also asked to fill out a log for all the music played after each show so that the station could pay royalties. Overall, the place was great, not too neat, not too organized but warm and friendly.
What was not quite clear was how to create a program. How to make sure we would not run out of content in an hour, but also not running past our allotted show time. Talking on live radio is scary and being well prepared seemed the way to go. Alain created a spreadsheet with a military style time schedule by the second. You can find some scans of the schedule with our last minute additions as PDF on this page. He added the text for each person leaving some room for free talk, and timed the music, sound samples and all the other details in the same sheet.
Then, there was the challenge of language. Alain is French Canadian, while Mariana and Anja are immigrants from Mexico and Germany respectively, both more comfortable in English than in French. To not add additional stress, we decided to have the show in both French and English depending on our language preferences. Thanks to the prepared text, we knew what was said because with all the nerves on edge, listening or speaking in any second language can become a minefield for embarrassment much more so than a conversation in your mother tongue.
When the first show was over, we were all happy yet super tired. In older times, the experience would have ended here, since the radio show would have become ephemeral content, only available during the show. But today, each show is recorded and archived online, so we were able to listen back to our first ever attempt at making a radio show from scratch. Overall, we found that our first show on live radio was not too bad. However, doing professional radio is an art that needs to be mastered. Off we went to the next broadcast!
Marconi: from wireless radio to artificial intelligence
Conference by Denis Couillard that explores Marconi’s inventive journey, from being an entrepid entrepreneur to the creator of wireless radio transmissions, and how this technology paved the way for the internet and eventually the development of artificial intelligence. Organized by ÉTS.