Sunday, January 22, 2012

Ewipkek Radio from Flat Bay

On January 19 and 20, 2012, The Flat Bay Band Council hosted a historic community radio event, the first Mi'kmaq radio broadcast in Newfoundland.

Over the 2-day broadcast, youth and elders came together to share stories, music and traditional knowledge from the community.  Students from the College of the North Atlantic Community Studies program were also welcomed into the community and assisted in the broadcast, providing technical support with the broadcast and social media promotion.

Some highlights of the broadcast included:
  • Knowledge about traditional Mi'kmaq drumming with the help of members from Grandmother Drum, Flat Bay's Women's Drumming Circle, and listeners enjoyed recorded and live performances from them.
  • A history of the Mi'kmaq in Flat Bay was read online by Elder Calvin White and his nephew Ivan.
  • Information about the upcoming Flat Bay Pow-Wow, taking place July13-15, 2012, and gave listeners a detailed account of what a Pow-Wow was, its importance for the community, and how it worked.  Including a discussion of Pow-Wow traditions and expected behaviour of participants.  
  • An interview with Chief Liz LaSaga
In addition to the FM broadcast, Ewipkek Radio was simulcast online, and social media tools were implemented to engage participants from away.  Facebook and Twitter were used to promote the event and solicit greetings; the Twitter hashtag #flatbayradio was active with over 40 tweets being tagged.  People from Flat Bay who were located elsewhere in the country and world tuned in indicated they were so happy to bring a piece of Flat Bay into their homes and offices for those broadcast days.

Between January 18 and 21 our Facebook page recorded visits from the following towns in Newfoundland: St. John's, Stephenville, Corner Brook, Bell Island, Branch, Mount Pearl, Fogo, Placentia, Baie Verte, Witless Bay and Bonne Bay.

Across Canada, people checked out the broadcast from: Halifax, Winnipeg, Yellowknife, Ottawa, Fredericton, Niagara Falls and Toronto.

Globally, people tuned in from the USA, Greece and Kreuzberg, Berlin.

Ryakuga was honored to be a part of this historic event.  We hope that it is the first of many community broadcasts from within the Mi'kmaq community, in Newfoundland and the whole Atlantic region.


Friday, January 13, 2012

Network 12 Handy Social Media Link List

Here is a list of useful Network 12 social media links for
communication, organization and promotion of the event in addition to
this mailing list.  This will come in handy particularly for those who
are planning on participating virtually.

On Facebook
Network 12 Group (formerly Network 11 Group) - currently 59 members -
http://www.facebook.com/groups/network11/
Radio Bell Island Group - currently 318 members
http://www.facebook.com/groups/radiobellisland/
Ryakuga Page - currently 35 followers
http://www.facebook.com/ryakuga

On Twitter
@ryakuga - 77 followers - http://twitter.com/ryakuga
hashtag #network12

Skype Name: ryakuga

Blog
The Ryakuga Blog http://ryakuga.blogspot.com/

YouTube
Channel is in development.
http://www.youtube.com/ryakugacollaborative

There is a handbook for virtual participation available at the end of this link:
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1NbZzbBgat3h38Yf4Dmn9M1PqW4Hlgyih2BmfrSC6Jzk&pli=1

Announcing Community Radio NL - Network 12 Conference

Radio Bell Island is very pleased to announce that we will host
Network 12 on March 23 & 24, 2012, here on Bell Island. We will have
our radio station set up here at St Michael's High School and will
broadcast with lots of interesting programming from March 19 to 25.
Similar to Network 11 in Bonne Bay, we hope to invite participation
from other Community Radio Enthusiasts from all around the Province
with a particular empahsis on "electronic media participation". This
means to wouldn't have to "physically" be here to take part. However,
for those who would like to come "in person" we hope to facillitate
this as well and are in the process of applying for funding to cover
your travel, accomodations, meals, etc.

Please contact us if you:

1/ would be interested in connecting with us via Skype, Facebook, even
telephone, twitter or text at some point during this Conference (March
23/24)

2/ would be interested in visiting us here at Radio Bell and taking
part in person

We are also interested in re-broadcasting Programming from your Radio
Station so please consider submitting something interesting from your
archives. We will have an emphasis on "Youth" as well and hope to have
a feature panel discussion on youth issues, in particular "staying in
your community vs. moving away to work". All ideas and input welcome -
it's community radio after all

You can find more information out on Facebook at
Network 12 Group
Radio Bell Island Group
Ryakuga Page

or subscribe to this here blog!