Miscellaneous
Is a far north Indigenous broadcaster headed for radio silence? Staff were let go. All live programing has ceased to remote communities across the Canadian arctic. For over three decades, CKLB broadcast in Gwich’in, Sahtu, Tlicho, Dehcho, Denesuline, and English. Old school, analog repeater stations were held together with duct tape. They relayed country music, news, cultural programming and crucial weather & emergency information from Yellowknife to 33 remote communities across the Canadian arctic. That is, until late July of 2014. East Van Calling spoke to CKLB’s director of radio, Dëneze Nakehk'o, just after he signed-off and let go 90% of his staff. Over the last couple of years, government funding has become “increasingly unreliable and inconsistent.” CKLB was the largest broadcaster of Dene language programming in the world. They aired government proceedings and community gatherings as well as critical information on environmental emergencies, and lots of country music. WIth the onslaught of southern signals, northern indigenous languages are in trouble. These languages provide direct access to an ages-old repository of hard-earned cultural and environmental knowledge. The little radio station has been key to their protection and revitalization. It’s not just losing a signal. Entire world-views, ways of living, are jeopardized. Support www.CKLBradio.com