Community radio station aiming for November launch at 92.5 FM
CRTC approval could still be months away but the people behind StokeFM, Revelstoke’s fledgling community radio station, are hard at work getting the station ready to go once the go-ahead is given.
While waiting for approval, station founder Scott Duke and the rest of the StokeFM board – which includes Amy Flexman, Annie Hewitt and Joey Norsworthy, have been working on formulating a business plan and lining up programming. A website is also nearly done and will be located at www.stokefm.com.
“Right now Annie and I are working hard on getting content – building up our music library,” Duke said. “I’m talking to a lot of other community radio stations to figure out exactly how they run their stuff. We’re getting spoken word content, dealing with the BBC for world news, dealing with Democracy Now for political news – all that stuff. Getting all the content ready to role.”
Duke is currently promoting the Stoke Card – a way of partnering residents and businesses with the new community radio. The way it works, he said, is that residents can buy a card for an annual fee. The card will makes them members of the radio station and will also give them discounts at participating businesses.
Businesses, meanwhile, will get on-air advertising and will benefit from members spending money with them, Duke said.
“When people become a member of the station, which seed funds the station and gives us money to operate, then they can get discounts at all the partnering businesses. Basically it helps the businesses out because it drives traffic to their door and it helps consumers out in town because they’re getting discounts by shopping locally.”
The cost for membership in the station ranges from $30/year for a youth to $200 annually for an established business. You can also buy a membership for two month or six month periods.
Hewitt and Norsworthy will be handling some of the on-air hosting but Duke said to expect a call for DJs and show hosts to go out on the Stoke List once final approval is received from the CRTC.
After that, it’s a matter of getting everything organized and ready to go for the launch.
The station is a non-profit community radio station and any profits would be invested back into community organizations, Duke said. Members would have a say in the direction of any donations.
The Times Review will have more on the station once it’s officially approved.