Daniel T'seleie
Northern News Services

Coppermine (May 30/05) - Kugluktuk radio fans may have to tune to a different frequency.

The hamlet has asked the Kugluktuk Radio Society to vacate their room at the Horseshoe Property by tomorrow, an impossibility according to the society's acting president Mike Webster.

"Right now we're in limbo with the hamlet," Webster said.

The society, which broadcasts a range of traditional and modern music, has no formal agreement or lease with the hamlet on the space.

Kugluktuk's senior administrative officer Paul Waye says there has been a period of animosity between the radio society and the hamlet-run youth centre, located in the same building.

Disagreements over the temperature of the building - sometimes reaching 50C or higher in the studio - culminated several months ago when an expensive piece of equipment broke due to overheating, says Webster.

Shortly after, at the end of March, they were asked to leave.

Webster says the 20-year-old radio society has occupied the single room studio in the building for more than two years, and says the radio society was integral in the formation of the youth group itself.

They still work with the kids in an informal fashion, and have invested upwards of $27,000 in the building for renovations, according to Webster.

Waye is not aware of any such spending and says the youth group, sometimes accommodating 40 kids at a time, needs, "as much space as we can get."

The hamlet has offered, rent free, a building previously used to hold the town library to the radio society, says Waye.

They society has not responded to the offer yet.

The roughly $200,000 worth of equipment owned by the society must be stored in conditions with an appropriate temperature range and moisture level, says Webster.

The all-volunteer, non-profit radio society has hired a lawyer to protect its rights, and currently has 480 signatures on a petition asking they be allowed to remain in the Horseshoe Property, Webster said. They have stopped producing new programs.

Waye says the society does a "very good job" when it comes to broadcasting, and the hamlet would consider extending the eviction date, provided a timeline outlining the society's departure is drawn up.

If the society does not vacate, the hamlet may be forced into legal action he said.