CJSW-FM is a campus radio station broadcasting at 90.9 FM from the University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. CJSW is a member of the National Campus and Community Radio Association and the University of Calgary Tri-Media Alliance in partnership with NUTV (the campus television station) and The Gauntlet (the campus newspaper). CJSW’s studios are located in the MacEwan Student Centre on the University of Calgary campus, and its transmitter is located at Old Banff Coach Road and 85 Street Southwest.
The station is run by a small group of paid staff and over 200 student and community volunteers. In addition to FM broadcasting, the station can be heard via an Ogg Vorbis stream from its website. Some shows are also available as podcast downloads.
The campus radio station has a long and storied history, having first gone on the air before the University of Calgary was officially established.
On October 17, 1955, the University of Alberta’s Calgary branch aired a 15-minute program called Varsity Vista on CFAC radio. The show, directed by student Bruce Northam, was intended to give the community an inside look at campus life. The show eventually grew into programs such as Meet the Professors and the Hit Tunes DJ Series, along with presentations of radio plays at drama clubs such as Sorry, Wrong Number.
With the opening of the new campus in 1960, the University of Alberta at Calgary Radio Club (UACR), led by Doug MacDonald, built a radio studio in the small basement of the Art and Administration Building. Using self-built and donated equipment, they produced shows such as Varsity 62 and A Dimes Worth for broadcast on other stations. Broadcasts on campus began with a closed-circuit PA system created under the guidance of engineering student Wayne Harvey. Classical and light music was played in student living rooms and common areas, and the station itself became a popular gathering place, hosting several concerts.
During the late 70s, the station had a diverse format: punk was played alongside jazz, blues and reggae. After years of conflict with the student union over program policy and budget, the SU secretly voted to close CJSW without informing the station’s management and members or the university community. Notified of the SU’s betrayal, station manager Allen Beckeland slept in the studio, unaware of campus management and locksmiths sent to remove the shuttering at midnight.
Funding
CJSW funds its capital budget through a week-long funding drive held each October. After raising $13,585 in its first attempt in 1985 and approximately $21,000 the following year, the total amount raised from this appeal to the community’s students has steadily increased each year. In March 1987, the University’s students voted in a second referendum asking for a $1 per semester per student increase in station fees. In a highly controversial decision that involved partisan behavior by the chief returning officer, the additional fee was won by a single vote. Since 2001, the total amount of funds raised has consistently exceeded $150,000. In 2006, the station met and exceeded its goal of $200,000 (a feat repeated in subsequent years), and topped $240,000 in 2014.This extraordinary success has made CJSW a model for other campus and public broadcasters across the country, and the station shares its experience and expertise with those colleagues who wish to strengthen their finances and public image.