Townships
a re-print from “The Record”
Music is multidimensional, meaning that the human spirit takes control, expresses itself and possesses the material world for moments at a time. Brilliant moments, not so meaningful moments, and often just regular moments that become reflections of our lives frozen in time, replayed through memories and digital devices.
Radio Communautaire Missisquoi is part of this life process. It captures, presents and archives performances (musical or otherwise) presented by individuals/volunteers behind the CIDI microphone, who are willing to share a passion with RCM participants; stakeholders and listeners.
Julie Miller is one such person. Living in Ulverton, Quebec (around the Drummondville area), she drives once a week to Knowlton and records her show, The Wayfinders.
Fresh out of the sleeve
with Ruth Schweitzer
a re-print from “The Record”
The first time I met Brian Blain was when I hitch-hiked with Glen Whitehead, a friend of mine, to Hamilton Ontario. “You have to meet this guy my sister knows”, said Whitehead, who knew I was trying to get ahead in the music business. “He works for an ad agency and has a lot of contacts.”
To me, Blain had it made. He drove around in a sports car, had a cool job and listened to all the latest music. He had me listen to Crosby, Stills and Nash’s debut” vinyl” album fresh-out-of-the-sleeve. Wow!
Over the years we became friends, and as I was busy trying to establish Oliver Klaus, he was advancing his career as a songwriter, performer and producer. Finally our careers merged when I invited him to join Oliver Klaus back in the mid-seventies.
a re-print from “The Record”
What on earth is Radio Village Hall? A totally new idea, a unique broadcasting concept and project created specifically for the Townships community, right here in Ville de Lac Brome. Radio Communautaire Missisquoi (RCM), with devoted volunteers, has built a performance venue at 305B Knowlton Road in Knowlton (CIDI’s recording studios) ready to be wired to the world, positioned to send out messages of who we are and what we do.
RCM’s radio station, CIDI 99.1 FM with its global web portal www.rcmmedia.org, has been successfully broadcasting and internet streaming Townships life on a daily basis for the past three years. Radio Village Hall will be plugged into this network, feeding even more information about ourselves through press conferences, musical events and live programs to the rest of the world.
a re-print from “The Record”
Radio can be like a trampoline. A springboard of sorts. Launching the feelings, sentiments and interests of a community into the slipstream of magnetic airwaves and electrons, showing up on people’s Ipods, radios and computers. The better the capturing capabilities of CIDI, the more interesting Radio Communautaire Missisquoi becomes to its listeners.
By “capturing devices” I mean good microphones, a piano, and a live broadcasting facility. CIDI’s studio area is such a place, or at least will be by the end of the month. Now that we have removed a couple of walls and are having a stage built at one end of our newly designated venue, which will be able to seat close to 100 people, the mind-gears of CIDI volunteers have been churning coming up with possible artists to present to two audiences; on air, and in house.
a re-print from “The Record”
Radio Communautaire Missisquoi. What is it? Is it a radio station or a warm and fuzzy arts-development organization? Can anyone put a finger on the essence of this “new kid on the block”? I think it’s time to review who we are.
I never know how people are going to perceive RCM. We are multifaceted, producing radio programs, television shows and events. I guess you could say we are a non-profit production company. Our mandate is to operate community radio station CIDI 99.1 FM, and to produce fundraising events for local community organizations.
When brainstorming the company’s “raison d’être” our board of directors, back in 2005, decided that confidence would be RCM’s product of choice; the service it would offer the communities of Brome Missisquoi and Shefford. Right away, even though we felt strongly about our decision, we realized that it might be difficult communicating our goal to the general public.
a re-print from “The Record”
How many times have you heard “I’ve got two hundred channels and there’s nothing good on TV”. The other day, I was sitting on the couch watching TV, and after scanning through the channels for a third time, I realized there was really nothing worth watching or even mildly interesting. Nothing more than an electronic wasteland, awash in mediocrity and addressed to the lowest common denominator. Thank God for the radio.
In all the years that I’ve been listening to radio I have always found something interesting. From music to talk shows, I’ve been captivated. So, with nothing on the TV, I began to scan the radio channels. First I tried to find CIDI, but due to geography and the currently limited range of the station, I was unable to get the signal. This is a situation that will certainly change in the near future as CIDI continues to work on the building of the tower on Patch Hill. This will greatly expand the signal strength and geographic area to which we broadcast and that means more people, myself included, will be able to listen to what we are doing.
