The National Campus and Community Radio Association/L'Association nationale des radios étudiantes et communautaires (NCRA/ANREC) is a non-profit organization of campus radio and community radio stations in Canada.
It works closely with other regional, national, and international radio organizations to: provide developmental materials and networking services to its members, represent the interests of the sector to government (particularly the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)) and other agencies, and promote public awareness and appreciation for community radio in Canada. Since 1981, it has affected changes to national radio policy, helped lower tariffs affecting radio stations, and has helped stations open doors while preventing others from closing. Core initiatives include GroundWire, Dig Your Roots, !earshot, Women’s Hands and Voices, the Community Radio Fund of Canada, sector-wide listservs, and an annual radio conference. The NCRA recognizes the cultural and social diversity of the Canadian population and is committed to facilitating the expression of this diversity and vitality within the campus and community radio broadcasting sector.
The head office of the NCRA/ANREC is located in Ottawa. A majority of English-language campus and community radio stations in Canada are members of the NCRA.
History
In February 1981, the first National Campus Radio Conference (NCRC) was held in Ottawa, hosted by CKCU. At that conference, the National Campus/Community Radio Organization (NCRO) was formed to exchange ideas, share experiences, publish a regular newsletter, and work on networks to promote campus radio across Canada. In August 1983, NCRC delegates voted to formalize the structure of the NCRO further and to establish a volunteer office to carry out a variety of services for member stations. The office initially operated from CKCU-FM, at Carleton University in Ottawa. That year the Alternative Radio News Service, a regular mailout of alternative news and information to campus and community stations, was started at CKMS-FM at the University of Waterloo.
In the early years, the NCRO published a monthly newsletter and alternative album chart. It also made presentations to the CRTC on a number of issues relating to community radio in Canada, including efforts to reduce content restrictions the CRTC had placed on the limited form of commercial advertising allowed on campus and community stations at the time. The organization was also actively involved in assisting the growing number of campus-based radio groups applying for FM radio licenses in the early 1980s.
In July 1986 the NCRO was incorporated as the National Campus and Community Radio Association Inc./L'Association nationale de radios étudiantes et communautaires Inc. (NCRA/ANREC). In the early 1990s, there was a national office and executive director for a short period of time, but due to lack of stable funding, among other problems, the office closed after less than one year. In February 2002, a new office was formed in Montreal with a national coordinator, which moved to Ottawa in May 2005, where it currently operates.
Chart and !earshot
The Canadian music magazine Chart was founded as an internal NCRA/ANREC publication; when it incorporated as an independent newsstand title, the NCRA began publishing !earshot, which is a regular supplement in Exclaim!. Many campus and community radio stations continue to file airplay charts with both publications.
Dig Your Roots
In 2001, after Corus Entertainment, a major broadcasting company in Canada, bought out a number of radio stations across Canada, the CRTC required that they put a total of 6% of the assets from this transfer of ownership towards artist development. (This is a requirement for all transfers of ownership for radio broadcasting companies in Canada.) After a year of lobbying and negotiations, the money was given by Corus Entertainment to the NCRA/ANREC to start up and maintain the Dig Your Roots/Découvre tes racines project. Dig Your Roots concluded in 2007.
Dig Your Roots/Découvre tes racines aimed to develop and promote new Canadian music from the four corners of this culturally diverse and musically rich country. It was an exploration of independent talent from the Canadian underground. Its scope was wide ranging and focuses on original forms of music that are currently under-represented in the Canadian music scene. The project featured a series of genre-specific compilation albums that coincided with live concert simulcast broadcasts. For each compilation, there was: a nationwide call for submissions; an online promotion involving artist MP3s; an esteemed panel to choose the compilation artists; and a nationwide "tour" of the compilation. Rather than artists going out on the road, this tour involved live coast-to-coast broadcasts of regional concerts on radio stations across the country. Compilations were: Hip-Hop (2003); Spoken Word (2004); Electronic Dance/Danse électronique (2004); Roots (2005); Aboriginal/Autochthones (2006); and Experimental Jazz project (2007).
National Campus and Community Radio Conference
The NCRC is an annual national gathering of community-oriented radio broadcasters who provide alternative radio to a diverse audience. It has been offered every summer since 1981, and it is one of the core activities of the NCRA/ANREC. It is usually hosted by a different radio station in different locations each year. During the conference, delegates attend workshops, seminars, the annual general meeting of the NCRA (during which board members are elected, the treasurer's report is approved, the business of the association is accomplished by the membership, and the next conference's host radio station selected), seminars, live shows, and feature presentations. To celebrate 25 years of late nights, learning, and valuable networking, the NCRA/ANREC itself hosted the silver anniversary edition of the conference in Ottawa.
National Women in Radio Conference
Up until 2012, a Women in Radio Conference was held during the national conference. This was replaced with the Equity Radio Day to be held on a weekend during the conference.
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