If you have a passion for local French public radio, you can help keep it alive and well this weekend.
Local francophone radio station CKGN in Kapuskasing is putting together the 23rd Annual Radiothon this Friday and Saturday in order to raise funds to help keep the station up and running.
Radio Host Chris St. Pierre says the station is not owned by a major corporation; therefore they need to find ways to fund themselves year in and year out.
St. Pierre says CKGN opened because of the people, so because of the community they exist and hopefully can continue too.
“From the get go the station, CKGN as a whole opened up because the community needed a french radio station. So the people wanted something which makes the station a station of the people, so it is because of them that we exist, and if we don’t have any members for our radio station, it dies off.”
He says the station has collected upwards of $10,000 each year consistently, meaning better content and quality back out into the community.
“In the past couple of years we have gotten up to 10 or 15 thousand dollars in numbers and that is important for us, because if ya look at that, 10 to 15 thousand dollars is almost one extra employee that you can pay for half the year, and for us that is big because if we have more employees we can pump out more content for the people so we can inform them on what is going on in town.”
To donate, St. Pierre says you can call their station line, or a 1-800-hotline for long distance calls that you can find on their website.
CKGN’s 23rd Annual Radiothon takes place Friday evening at the station from 6:00pm to 10:00pm, followed by a full Saturday of on-air events from 6:00am to 6:00pm.
