Karen Mackenzie
Northern News Services
Monday, July 23, 2007

GRISE FIORD - With the flip of a switch on a regular morning in Grise Fiord, 106.1 FM's territorial programming is replaced with a familiar voice and updates from home.

For the past two weeks, however, the hamlet's community radio station has been down, leaving some community members with a hankering for local news.

"Anyone could go on the radio to talk about anything. Well, practically anything," said resident Jimmie Qaapik.

"It was always good to listen to, and always different every day."

The hamlet has employed part-time announcer Jopee Kiguktak to man the airwaves for a little over two years.

Between 10 a.m. and noon during the week, he reads events listings, makes community announcements and answers the phone on air.

"It's very small, but it's important when you've got to know something," Kiguktak said. "It's pretty neat to have radio in town."

Aside from the occasional scripture reading, one of the highlights of the year is the call-in program on holidays.

"At Christmas, it's very good to hear somebody from out of town on the radio, sending their Christmas greetings to the family here in Grise Fiord," said Kiguktak.

The hamlet also employs a backup announcer, "for when I'm hunting or I have to do something else," he said.

Unfortunately, after about 20 years of wear and tear, the equipment was showing its age, and stopped working completely earlier this month.

"The transmitter's been around for many years. It's older than most people in town," joked Marty Kuluguqtuq, the hamlet's SAO.

The Hamlet council moved to replace the equipment with its own funds until it can be reimbursed, hopefully by the Department of Culture, Language, Elders and Youth, which regularly supports community radio programming throughout the territory.

It will cost about $5,000, Kuluguqtuq estimated, and should arrive within the next week or so.

The station "plays a very important role," he said. "It's crucial for community involvement, community information."

Qaapik said he hopes the community will go one step further, by instituting a new community radio society.

He said such a group could work toward expanding the radio station's hours and programming.

In the meantime, he said he and his officemates will tune into regular radio online, or make use of shortwave from around the world.