I am currently in Montréal for my visit at the CKUT radio station, run by McGill students and Montréal community members. This week, my aim is to gain an understanding of CKUT’s history through interviews and the station’s physical archives, which include printed memos, newsletters, program guides, photos, news clippings, and the station’s music collection. I am particularly interested in the station’s history of engagement with resistance movements — from their start with McGill students organizing for their university’s divestment from apartheid South Africa to their coverage of the 1990 Oka Crisis to their recent live coverage from the ongoing Gaza Solidarity Encampment at McGill University. My research will also investigate the contexts in which stations like CKUT exist – how the station has built local and global relationships, what is the culture of the station that supports its work, and what is the organizational structure of the station.
So far, I have a few interviews set up with current and former station members to discuss their experiences at CKUT and gain understanding of the station’s history from their perspective. This week will be critical in helping me structure the rest of my research — figuring out which topics I want to focus on and which, if any, other stations I want to include. Although I have lots of specific questions for the individuals that I am meeting with this week, my main question for the interviewees is: Why radio? What about a radio station — and specifically CKUT — makes it an important site for communication and connection in an age of rapid and instant digital communication?
My only other updates is that I was originally hoping to include oral history accounts from members of Radio AlHara — the Bethlehem-based station that I came across last fall through their “24 Hour Palestine” program that stations like CKUT and Montez Press Radio (New York) rebroadcast. I reached out to them and, unfortunately, Radio AlHara members are not doing interviews at this time, but the person who responded to my email is going to send me some recent coverage of the station. I still plan to include Radio AlHara in my research, it just won’t be in the same capacity as CKUT.
