HAY RIVER - Will Sprake wants to make community radio an even more important part of Hay River.

Sprake, the volunteer manager of CKHR for about a year, said some listeners have drifted away from the community station to satellite radio, to the Internet and to CDs.

Will Sprake is station manager, and a deejay, at CKHR community radio in Hay River. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

"We need to find a way to get them back and keep them listening," he said in a recent interview.

Sprake believes the way to make the station more relevant is to get more people hosting programs.

"The death of a community radio station is if you can't get people to be deejays," he said.

The community wants to hear people on the air, he added. "We have the capability. We just lack the manpower."

The biggest complaint the community has with the station, which broadcast 24 hours a day, is there is often no deejay and music is played by computer in an automatic loop.

Currently, there are 12 different hosted programs a week with 10 different deejays. Those programs and a bingo account for 21 hours a week.

Eight programs feature Christian-themed music and messages, but there is also classic rock, country and a seniors' hour.

Sprake said there is lots of room for all kinds of music, as long as it is appropriate for the public airways.

Sprake, 32, noted the youngest deejay on CKHR is 28, but he also wants younger voices on air.

He hopes to interest young people in becoming deejays, possibly beginning with work experience students from Diamond Jenness Secondary school.

The idea is students would get on-the-job training in the radio industry and earn school credits.

Sprake said experience on the radio helps students, and anyone else, develop public speaking abilities. "You really open people up."

Plus, he said being on the radio is enjoyable. "It's always fun."

Another of Sprake's ideas is to have CKHR report live from community events, such as the NWT Track and Field Championships, so the radio personalities will get more in touch with people.

"They need to see the faces, not just hear the voices," he explained.

Sprake has 7,000 songs in his private collection, and for the past three years he has been sharing them with Hay River as a CKHR deejay.

But Sprake's collection on computer is a bit unusual in that it consists almost entirely of Christian rock and rap.

"The difference is I'm putting out more of a positive message," said the stay-at-home parent.

Sprake and Dallas Coulson host the program "The Kry," which is heard every Friday from 9-11 p.m.

While he does not have exact numbers on how many people listen to CKHR, Sprake knows a lot of people are listening because of feedback, including complaints. "It might be negative, but it shows people are paying attention."