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Can I Have A Word?
Thursday June 16th, 2022 with Bob LeDrew
CKCU past, CKCU future, with Kwende Kefentse and Esmée Colbourne

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CKCU is Canada's oldest campus-based community radio station. Most people connected with the station know the myth of a midnight launch with Joni Mitchell's "You Turn Me On (I'm a radio)" as the first song. But a graduate student has been digging into our station's past, and Executive Director Kwende Kefentse has been using what she's discovered as a way to envision a future for CKCU.
A Few Simple Words
Grit Laskin - A Few Simple Words - Borealis Canadian
You Turn Me On
Joni Mitchell - Hits Canadian
Interactive CKCU
David Dalle
Hi, been listening to the show on the drive home from the station :) When I first appeared at CKCU around 1993, punk, indie, garage rock were definitely king, but reading CKCU charts from back then might be deceiving. The no. 1 song in a given week might have been no. 1 because it was played 6x that week. Not like a no. 1 on commercial radio that was played 6x an hour. There was a very, very loooooong tail of music played! And it just gets longer. I am also confused when Kwende talked about the difference between CKCU network programming and volunteer programming. I am not familiar with the former, I thought it was only volunteer content always. I will re-listen to the program because I didn't catch everything. Very interesting... at least for a 28 year CKCU veteran... :)

4:53 PM, June 16th, 2022