“Doc & Bowl”: Feb 24, 2017 Listening Party for CJMP at Westview Bowling and Billiards

Around 25 audiophiles attended Powell River’s possibly first-ever Listening Party at Strikers Pub/Westview Bowling and Billiards last night, where 5 short audio documentaries were played, two of which had never aired on CJMP. The docs were produced through a CRFC Radiometres grant received by CJMP in 2016. All five producers [Janet May, Zoë Ludski, Ionanthan Waisgluss (Ioni Wais), Sandra Lopez, and Giovanni Spezzacatena (rabideye)] were in attendance at the event that was held with the financial support from a grant awarded by The Powell River Council for Arts, Culture and Heritage.

The surprisingly intimate gathering (seeing as it was held in a bowling alley) listened attentively, some with eyes shut, while the short documentaries played. The audience did not hold back on reactions to the material, providing a new an interesting way to deliver audio docs: in a live setting and with the producers present. A brief q&a period followed, where some audience members pointed out how inspired they were by the unique the multi-faceted docs, two of which prominently featured the T’a’amin Nation, and all of which really got to a very specific sense of “place”.

Many kudos to former CJMP News Director Carrie Swiggum who planned the event, acted as emcee, and who provided direction and assistance in the production of the docs.

This event also marked the close of the Radiometres grant period, that helped fund three part-time staff members [Carrie Swiggum (News Director), Mel Edgar (Station Manager) for 20 hours per week and Giovanni Spezzacatena (Community Engagement/Producer) for 8 hours per week], who were also joined in the summer of 2016 by intern Ioni Wais at 20 hours per week. The grant helped produce 7 months of weekly 1-hour CJMP News programs, two major fundraisers (Top the Tower and the Fall Membership Drive), CJMP presence at loads of public events (Canada Day, The 2016 People’s Prom, Movie Under the Stars, Blackberry Fest, and many more), community engagement via these events, monthly e-newsletters, maintaining of the CJMP events calendar, the production of a dozen PSAs for community organizations as well as internal promos and graphics, a serious uptick in new programming with 7 new programs, and the documentaries screened on February 24th.

This good work would not have been possible without the dedication, hard work and attention paid by the volunteer board that operates CJMP, the Board of Directors of The Powell River Community Radio Society.

To listen to the audio documentaries produced, visit https://cjmp.ca/radiometers-2016-radio-documentaries/ for links.