THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA
DECEMBER 11, 1998
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THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA |
It's been on campus for 17 years,
broadcasts from the student union building, and accepts
funding from the University of Victoria's student society,
but CFUV FM102 is more than just a university radio
station. The station has listeners across
Greater Victoria, and is picked up on cable from Whistler to
Washington State. More than half of the 150 volunteers who
keep it on the air are not students. And Offbeat Magazine,
CFUV's listings guide, is delivered to outlets across
Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. "We want to avoid the term college
radio," says CFUV manager Magnus Thyvold. "We think of
ourselves as a campus-based community radio station," he
adds.
For Thyvold this means reflecting
the diversity of the wider community through a variety of
programs and presenters. "People expect student radio to be
full of extreme music and views, but that's only a small
part of what we do," he says. "So many of our presenters
come from off-campus that we have a much broader
perspective, with shows from blues to folk to
classical." Many of CFUV's off-campus
volunteers are active in the local community and, adds
Thyvold, they come to the station because they're passionate
about the music. Amanda Heffelfinger, who presents
world music on the station, agrees. She was busy raising
children when she started at the station four years ago.
"CFUV gives someone like me, with
an offbeat taste in music, a chance to play and learn about
the music I love. I can't think of anywhere else in Victoria
I could do that." And the wider community does
listen, Heffelfinger adds. "My doctor told me he'd heard me
on the radio," she laughs. During the station's recent fund
drive, which raised a record-breaking $20,100, there were
calls from across Greater Victoria, including one from an
office at the legislature saying that CFUV is "on all the
time down here." This kind of community support
doesn't surprise Thyvold, who says that in a recent survey
by UVic marketing students of 400 randomly selected radio
listeners across Victoria, 17 per cent said they listen to
CFUV at least once a week. "That's a very healthy figure for
a small station like ours," he says, adding that CBC's
figure in the same survey was around 35 per cent.
The arrival of the new CBC station
in Victoria has had little impact on CFUV, says Thyvold.
"What we do here is completely different from the CBC."
According to Heffelfinger, that's
why CFUV is so important. "There is more attention paid to
non- mainstream ideas and voices at CFUV, and we have much
more local coverage than the CBC." Thyvold, though, is not complacent.
"It's always a challenge to make sure people know we're
here, and there are still some misconceptions about CFUV,"
he says. "Our diverse programming can have a downside
because we don't have an easy slogan that represents what we
do. We're not just a rock station, and we're not just a jazz
station." CFUV FM102 broadcasts 24 hours a
day on 101.9 FM, 104.3 FM cable, and on RealAudio via their
Web site <http://cfuv.uvic.ca>. For more information on volunteering
call Magnus Thyvold at 721-8607.
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