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Flemo City Radio (media) |
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Reference: Investing in Flemingdon Park youth
Vision | Mission | History | Current status | Future
Vision
To connect the community by building relationships through information and technology.
Mission
We are committed to promoting the best interests of the residents of Flemingdon Park through media and providing youth with transferable skills that will create opportunities for future success.
History
The radio station started out as an idea of an employee of the Ontario Science Centre (OSC). The idea was to show how simple it is to actually build a low power transmitter and be able to broadcast your voice to your community. As the project evolved and gained support from the OSC, the idea was then brought to the Flemingdon Resource Centre. The plan was to gather some community interest and broadcast live from the recreation facility.
OSC staff provided the equipment as a loan and worked with the staff at Flemingdon Resource Centre to make it happen. The first couple of broadcast sessions were an instant success. It was an open mic format and the community involvement was overwhelming. Everyone was excited with the fact that, what they were saying into the microphone could be heard on the radio.
In addition to the broadcast sessions, some production sessions were organized where a knowledgeable and experienced person from the OSC taught youth how to use the production software as well as how to create a song completely from scratch. They were taught how to produce original loops and backing tracks, import material from other sources, record vocals, arrange everything into a song and then perform post-production editing and enhancement.
While the open mic broadcast format was good to start, it lacked structure and organization. That's when our group decided to take on the project. The eight of us were part of an existing community group and are all active in the Flemingdon Park community. Our group seemed like the perfect fit to add structure and organization to the project.
We set out and developed two hour-long pilot shows that we felt would be of interest to the community. Once again, the community was very responsive, as both shows allowed the community to get involved, by encouraging live studio audience participation in the shows, while on air.
Our first show "Sports Talk", offers up-to-date and entertaining commentary on a variety of sports while at the same time highlighting the successes of local athletic talent. It is also used to promote the local athletic facilities in the area.
The second show called "Edutainment" aims to bridge the gap between education and entertainment. On the entertainment side, it acts as a showcase for local musical talent by playing independent works created by members of the community, including tracks created during our production sessions. It also helps keep the community informed about what events are going on in the community and what the local artists are up to by way of interviews and live on-air performances. On the education side, the show discusses current issues facing the Flemingdon Park community and also keeps the listeners informed about the resources available to them in the area.
Based on the success of the first two shows, we then decided to add another educational show called "Mind Your Business" which aims to increase the financial literacy of the audience as well as educate them in the areas of personal finance, real estate, business ownership and investing.
Current Status
Our group decided that in order for this initiative to succeed we would need a community organization set up to run it, which is why we have sent in an application to become provincially incorporated as a non-profit organization called Flemo City Media. This organization will serve to ensure that the best interests of the community are being maintained and that the community will remain in control of the direction this initiative will take.
We currently broadcast from a room in the Flemingdon Resource Centre. It is not a dedicated room for us, so before each session we have to set up the equipment and then pack everything up when we are done. We have used this as an opportunity to teach a couple of the youth in the area how to set up production and broadcasting equipment.
Our usual broadcast times are on Wednesdays from 7 to 9 p.m. and have several completed shows to date. The quality of the shows has been dramatically increasing, as the hosts get more experienced and familiar with how everything works. The feedback has been tremendous and the community has been recommending other show ideas.
Another major comment that we received is that people want to be able to hear what's happening at the station while in their house or in their car. The current broadcast range is currently limited to the Flemingdon Resource Centre and immediate parking lot, which doesn't allow the station to reach the people who have expressed an interest in listening. To improve this situation, we are currently working with the OSC to get a stronger transmitter and an antenna so that we can broadcast to the approximate 300m radius that we are legally permitted.
The production sessions have recently been running once a week due to the overwhelming enthusiasm from the local area youth who are jumping at the opportunity to express their creativity, while at the same time improving their skills both technically and musically.
Future
Based on community feedback, we feel the time is right to take the station to the next level. We have decided to turn this small project into a more sustainable long-term community economic and educational development program.
The first step toward this goal is to get financial support to purchase our own equipment to run the station, since the existing equipment has just been a good-faith loan from the OSC. Foresters, a private corporation located in Flemingdon Park, area has graciously committed to assist us with some of our start-up equipment purchases. We will also need to increase our audience by improving our broadcast range, as well as making the current and past shows available on the Internet for easy access.
Even though Flemo City Media will be managing the station, we will continue to get support from our strategic alliances the Ontario Science Centre, Foresters, and the City of Toronto. These organizations fully support our organization, and have offered to help wherever possible.
Once we have achieved these short-term goals, we will be well on our way to accomplishing our longer-term goals of being a self-sufficient permanent fixture in the community with strong relationships with the area schools and local businesses. These relationships will help us create mentorship, high school co-op, and training programs for community youth. This will help us continually improve the quality of life for residents of Flemingdon Park by providing those involved with an opportunity to learn transferable skills while at the same time providing the educational and valuable information that is necessary for the listeners to have a better chance at success. Also, advertising spots will be made available to the local businesses for a modest fee, to help offset some of the costs of operating the station.
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