The above statement does not apply to Lions Clubs.

Chase (pop.2700) in south central British Columbia, Canada, between Kamloops and Salmon Arm has, at the time of this writing, a Lions club with 55 members. A popular fund raising event in Chase is our Lions Pancake Breakfast usually held on three or four long weekends throughout the year. Even though Chase is fortunate to have a small weekly newspaper it is still difficult to advertise an event in a timely manner. In June 2003 I was lamenting to a friend about the difficulty we were experiencing to advertise our forthcoming July 1st. pancake breakfast. Ken, who listened patiently to my moans and groans has a HAM radio licence, made the comment that a low power radio station licence wasn't too hard to get. I thought about Ken's comment off and on through the summer months until, on August 16t, a wildfire erupted a mere three kilometres from our Village. We were put on one-hour evacuation notice, but beyond that, accurate up to date news about the fire was hard to get. Other larger forest fires in the Province captured the attention of major news sources. There was very little mention of the fire near Chase.

INTRODUCE THE IDEA TO THE PRESIDENT:

I was beginning to think that Chase might be ready for a local community radio station. So near the end of August 2003 I approached our President with the idea that maybe the Chase Lions Club could pursue an application for a low power FM radio licence. We decided to approach the Principal of the Chase high school and see if he would be interested in a studio in the school. At the first Lions club meeting in September I obtained authority from our members along with a generous budget to pursue this as a project. I visited the high school principal and he was very enthusiastic. So the challenge was on. Bear in mind that up to this point my radio skills consisted of an ability to find a clear station on a radio 50% of the time. I surfed the internet and discovered that there are several classes of radio licences in Canada. The class that caught my attention was the Low Power Community Developmental FM Licence. This licence seemed to fit our needs and is described as:

DESCRIPTION OF A COMMUNITY RADIO STATION:

A community radio station is owned and controlled by a not-for-profit organization, the structure of which provides for membership, management, operation and programming primarily by members of the community at large. Programming should reflect the diversity of the market that the station is licensed to serve.

The primary focus of a community radio station is to provide community access to the airwaves and to offer diverse programming that reflects the needs and interests of the community that the station is licensed to serve, including:

· music by new and local talent;

· music not generally broadcast by commercial stations;

· spoken word programming; and

· local information.

All community radio licenses are expected to facilitate community access to their programming by clearly informing the public of opportunities for community participation. The Commission further expects community radio applicants to describe, in their applications for new licences or for licence renewal, their current and/or proposed measures to:

· facilitate community access to programming;

· promote the availability of training throughout the community; and

· provide for the ongoing training and supervision of those within the community wishing to participate in programming.

RESEARCH:

I spent many hours surfing the internet learning all I could about the CRTC and Industry Canada. In order to obtain a licence, detailed submissions had to be made to both federal departments simultaneously. Industry Canada required information regarding our suggested frequency, antennae location and effective radiated power at the antennae. The CRTC required information regarding ownership, public participation, Canadian content, financial stability of the applicant and access by the public to the airwaves.

Gathering all of the information, locating sources of hardware that conformed to Industry Canada specifications and preparing the technical brief all took time. Both the CRTC and Industry Canada provide extensive information on the internet. While surfing the net I also learned that there was a Low Power Community Station broadcasting from the High School in Lillooet B.C. and there was a Low Power Campus station in operation at the University in Kamloops. I contacted representatives of both stations and then visited each one where I gained very valuable information about the application process and hardware requirements. The manager of the Campus station in Kamloops has taken us under his wing providing support for our project throughout.

QUALIFIED TECHNICIAN:

Early in February 2004 I thought I had all my ducks in a row. All I needed was a qualified technician (Electrical engineer) to sign my brief. I had done all the calculations regarding contours and the 3.5 mv meter field strength tests. The technician only had to agree and sign the document. I contacted several engineers but all begged off feeling they were not qualified. Finally one of our Lion members suggested I contact his brother-in-law who was a retired electrical engineer. I spoke to Dwayne and learned that after graduation from the U of Alberta he worked for Alberta telephones preparing contour maps for the telephone antennae sites. He then moved on to the Federal government as project manager establishing ground communications at federal airports. Perfect. Dwayne signed my brief and it was submitted to Industry Canada along with an application to the CRTC. I did receive a few phone calls and emails asking for clarification of some issues. One issue was the fact that this is the first time a service club had made application for a Developmental Community Broadcast Licence. After several discussions it was decided, mostly from input from the CRTC that our application should be made by the Chase and District Lions Community club, our registered society rather than the Chase Lions Club. We then had to submit copies of our society documents, board of directors and financial stability.

One requirement of a Community licence is access to the public. We had several meetings regarding this requirement trying to find a way to legally get around the requirement that members of the society must first be members of our Lions Club. This requirement restricted public participation in the management and operation of the station. We finally decided that an organization of volunteers called the Chase Radio Advisory Committee would formulate policy, administer the station and report to the owners of the licence, the Chase Lions club.

Another problem was access to the studio. If we housed our studio in the high school, how could the public have access during evenings and weekends when the school was closed and the alarms set. The Chase Recreation Centre Society came to our aid. There was some space available in the mezzanine at our new arena. The Society invited us to consider a studio there where public access was available. After consulting the high school principal we decided to set up the radio studio in the arena rather than the school.

Our application progressed through the system when finally early in July 2004 I was notified that our application would be scheduled for public hearing on August 9 with the deadline for submission of interventions being July 15. We were very pleased that two interventions were submitted, both in favour of our application.

COST AND IMPLEMENTATION:

On October 6th. 2004 we were notified by the CRTC that we had authority to construct a Low Power Community FM station that would broadcast on 103.5 FM with an effective radiated power at the antennae of 4.7 MHz. This would give us a fairly strong signal up to eight km from the antennae. From the very beginning of this project to this point in our application we spent a total of $172,75. The cost to construct the facility was $7,924.81, which included studio renovations and radio broadcast equipment.

We then called a series of public meetings seeking volunteers to operate the station, find local talent, set up broadcast schedules maintain equipment and so on. We also approached other organizations, the Rotary, Legion, J.C's and Chamber of Commerce for support. Finally on January 10th. 2005 we were visited by a technician from Industry Canada who gave us authority to power up our transmitter. A series of tests were conducted for NAVCOM interference, our frequency and power was set and we were granted authority to broadcast.

At the conclusion of several weeks of testing and program trials we commenced regular broadcast schedules for twelve hours a day seven days a week. Sometime during the next three years we will upgrade to a higher power output and will consider the re-location of our antenna.

To date we have raised $22,665.25 from corporate sponsorship and donations and $1,587.25 from advertising sales. We have also entered into a 52 week contract with the Canadian government under a Job Creation and training Program where we have been able to hire two people to operate the radio station and be paid by the program. One position is “Station Co-ordinator” (Manager) and the other position is “Sales and Promotions”. This contract is worth almost $50,000.00. Future sources of financing to support the on going operation of the radio station will be from advertising sales, supplemented by rentals from the recording studio. To date (Oct. 15, 2005) the total expenditure on the project, which includes procurement of all transmitting equipment, computers and daily operating expenses is $13,936.91 plus the salaries paid under the JCP program. The original budget approved by the members was paid back and the entire expenditure has been met from other sources.

We have been supplied with free office space in downtown Chase where we have established a recording studio and administrative offices. We now have the ability to create recordings of spoken word and music away from the main studio.

PROGRAMS AND LOCAL CULTURE:

Our programming is very eclectic in nature providing a very broad selection of music. To date we have not had to purchase any music with all of the new labels being provided by recording companies. Local citizens have donated other music with one Chase resident donating approximately one thousand LP's.

Individuals with an interest in community radio are donating their time a talent producing regular “shows”. J.J. Johnson, who has produced several cd's produces a daily show from 8:30 A.M. to 12:00 noon, live from our studio in Art Holding Memorial arena. JJ's music selections are primarily Country and Western with some neo classical and local productions. Three teenagers in grades eleven and twelve do a show Monday from 5 P.M. to 6 P.M., with the entire show directed to teens. Two sisters produce a one hour show every Friday playing music by Canadian artists. Another volunteer, Mike Parks, produces a two hour show on Saturday with selections and comments ranging over the entire musical spectrum. Local volunteers produce all of our ads in our recording studio.

VALUE OF THIS PROJECT:

To date we have not been able to take an accurate measure of the size of our listening audience, however phone calls from local citizens and comments from people indicate that our fledgling community radio station is very well received. A direct benefit to the community is the ability to provide local programs that reflect the cultural needs and preferences of the community. We realize that eventually we will probably turn the entire project over to a volunteer group in the community dedicated to operating and supporting the station. Meanwhile the project has brought considerable favourable publicity to the Chase Lions club as the station has proven to be a very popular contribution to our small community. We have conducted limited research to determine if there is any other Lions club that has taken on a project similar to ours. So far we have found reference to a “Hospital” station operated by a Lions club in St. Helier in the Channel Islands. Here is the lead paragraph of an article found on the internet.

HOSPITAL RADIO: Radio Lions has been broadcasting each evening since 1975. Programmes are transmitted through an exclusive cable network serving the General Hospital in St. Helier, the Jeanne Jugan Residence, The Limes in Green Street and Sandybrook in St.Peter's Valley. Radio Lions is run by a voluntary team of enthusiasts, from studios in the basement of the General Hospital in St.Helier.

The members of the Chase Lions club would be very interested in hearing from, or about, any other Lions club with a similar project.

Lion Ron Fairhurst Program Chairperson. Box 12 Chase, B.C. V0E 1M0 (250)679-8622 or ronfair at cablelan.net