By Laura Murton
CKCU Radio is marching to the tune of a different drummer.
Matthew Crosier, formerly the program director at CKCU was named the new station manager in February.
He says he’s honoured to have the opportunity to take the reins at CKCU.
Crosier, who works for CBC Radio as an entertainment reporter and writes the Ottawa Vox column for X Press, has a vision for CKCU.
He wants to take the station back to where it once was almost thirty years ago.
“I really want to make sure the station fulfills a role in the community at large,” says Crosier, “In a way, we are returning to what we used to do, and I really think that’s the essence of why we’re here.”
When CKCU began in 1975, it had a very strong community base.
The station was involved in many local activities, and had a face in the community.
Crosier says he’s been aware that the station was beginning to veer away from this ideal, but until now there was little he could do about it.
The station was becoming less involved with the community, and slowly losing its unique feature as a volunteer-run, non-profit radio station.
What Crosier wants to do now is give CKCU back to the
communities it serves.
Crosier explains he wants CKCU to become more interesting and accessible to all groups in Ottawa including multicultural communities, musical enthusiasts of all sorts and social and political activists.
Crosier intends to keep up his other jobs while fulfilling his role as station manager at CKCU even though this means working seven days a week.
Station volunteer Sachin Bhalla, whose radio name is Flash, thinks Crosier’s extra jobs only add to his capability.
“Aside from CKCU, Matthew is a great community guy,”says Bhalla. “You can’t mention CKCU without people asking about Matthew.”
“I think he’s responsible for getting CKCU’s name out.”
Bhalla, who does the “Overnighter” on Thursday night/Friday morning from two until seven, says he’s looking forward to what Matthew will accomplish as station manager, and he’s confident it will be a lot.
“Before Matthew was station manager, CKCU wasn’t contributing to the community as much as we (the volunteers) think it should have,” says
Bhalla.
“What I think is going to happen with Matthew at the helm is that the station will be much more community-oriented, and as far as management material, Matthew is perfect for the job.”
“I can’t see our awareness going anywhere but up.”
Danielle Levac listens to CKCU and says what she likes most about the programming is how the station attempts appeal to all the communities in Ottawa, not just one.
“If the new manager continues to involve everyone with their programming,”she says.“I will continue to listen.”
Although he’s only held the position for a few months, Crosier already has a number of tricks up his sleeve.
This year, the station hosted radio camps for children on March Break.
The station also plans to hold multicultural week sometime this year, exposing different groups to each other and giving them the opportunity to learn about their differences and their similarities.
Sometime this fall, CKCU plans to release a cookbook with recipes donated by volunteers, staff and listeners. Because of CKCU’s diverse volunteer base, the cookbook will have a very eclectic style.
Crosier hopes that the result of these changes will raise internal moral, and offer better quality programming.
“CKCU is quite different to listen to, so we want to allow people to find out there is something here they like,”he says.
“We are not here to make money. This is a public service, but we’d like to show that radio can still be foreground entertainment.”
Bhalla says he likes the future for CKCU with Crosier in charge.
“In ten years from now I know I’ll see a station that has grown in leaps and bounds, creating a symbiotic relationship between Ottawa and the station,” Bhalla says.
“Matthew Crosier knows Ottawa, and Ottawa knows Matthew Crosier.”