Inuvik (Apr 26/04) - Betty Vittrekwa-Firth barely has time to grab a coffee during her two-hour radio call-in show.

When she's not spouting the famous words: "you are listening to CBQM in Fort McPherson," she's answering the phone, madly scribbling down messages to read over the air, or dropping a demo tape in the machine someone has just rushed over to the station.

Vittrekwa-Firth is one of many volunteers who helps keep the 23-year-old CBQM station -- 690 AM -- on the air every weekday. She works for the Gwich'in Teaching and Learning Centre and on Friday afternoons she can be found in a radio room at the hamlet office. There she promotes language and culture through story telling and music over the airwaves.

"I love the music and when someone goes on and tells stories," said Louisa Kay, an avid listener who likes to tune in from home.

"People give out information and then we know what's going on, what's going to happen and whose birthday it is," said Kay.

"Everyone enjoys listening to CBQM," said Vittrekwa-Firth, while old-time fiddle music plays in the background.

"It helps get work done at home and when you're travelling it makes you feel good. You hear everything on this station -- health, social and land issues. When CBQM breaks down, it's just like we're sick."

A day at the station

Today, April 16, she isn't alone in the booth. She has Fort McPherson elder Neil Colin standing by to tell stories, sing songs and give great moose call impressions.

Colin is no stranger to the radio show circuit. He's been involved with CBQM since it's inception in 1981.

"It comes in handy when you need to send messages to people out there (on the land)," said Colin.

"People use satellite phones. Even from the Crow Flats they come in nice and clear and the music makes them feel good."

People from Old Crow, the Yukon, all the way to Inuvik listen to the shows, which range from bingo to RCMP messages, and weather warnings to housing information.

Colin has interviewed many interesting acts for the station, including musicians from the Toronto Symphony and Wayne Rostad, the host of CBC's On the Road Again.

He loves the fact the station is totally Gwich'in.

"We have Gwich'in jokes and funny stories and some of them are 100 per cent true," he said with a wink.

Radio fills a void for communities

Nearly every community in the Beaufort Delta region has its own radio station and they are linked by one common cause -- to keep people, young and old, connected in the community and on the land.

Just down the road from Fort McPherson is another popular station -- Tsiigehtchic's 101.9 FM station.

Since 1993, the small station has been home to the Jimmy Jones Country Show, hosted by local celebrity James Cardinal.

Cardinal's popular show airs from 9:30 a.m. to noon every weekday.

During the two and a half hours, Cardinal plays local music, makes community reports and announcements, and talks about the weather.

Filling gaps

He said community radio fills the local news gaps CBC no longer provides.

"CBC is not doing the same things they did 10 years ago," said Cardinal.

He said CBC used to take requests, conduct an on the land report and promote local talent. Now community radio stations are providing that service.

Every community may have a station, but most frequencies don't reach far beyond the community they're aired from.

Cardinal hopes that will change in the near future -- maybe even this summer.

Tsiigehtchic will soon be going digital and taking other community stations -- specifically Fort McPherson and Aklavik -- with it.

"Today, radio stations will change rapidly -- at the speed of light sometimes," said Cardinal.

He hopes to take the Tsiigehtchic station further across the Beaufort Delta under a new frequency -- 99.9 FM -- by June. New equipment and a satellite connection should link the broadcast to all the stations across the Delta.

"The main goal is to get all the radio stations in line here," he said.

"I already have music piled up -- hundreds of tapes and CDs ready to go. We're just waiting for the connection."

Computers will also soon come into play. Cardinal said the Internet is a great resource for hosts to get up-to-date weather information and to follow the caribou migration.

Community radio stations may also be the link to saving local languages.

Holman's local station, 101.9 FM CKHI, serves such a purpose with a regular language contest, sponsored by the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre.

Holman has had a community radio station since the early 1980s.

Annie Joss, one of the hosts, has been at the helm for the past two years.

Every Friday, Joss can be found closed up in the little radio booth building beside the school with some elders and a few high school students, while the rest of the community tunes in.

From 1 to 3 p.m. elders tell stories, music enthusiasts play their favourite instruments or demo tapes, and people call in with their contest answers. The words or phrases are posted around the community and then people are encouraged to call in with the translated version for a chance to win prizes.

"We've lost so much language over the years," said Joss.

"We're trying to get it going and this is one way to do it."

The Holman show has been so popular that the Inuvialuit Cultural Resource Centre has been trying to get a similar on-air attraction started in Aklavik and Paulatuk.

"It's really important," said Renie Arey, a resource centre staff member who sent the proposal out to the community corporations last month.

"It's something we really want to try and do because our language is dying off."

She hopes to have an elder and youth team on the air twice a week for two hours a day. The elder would contribute to the show while also training the youths to speak the language fluently enough to run the show themselves.

The shows will likely include a phone-in contest, where callers have to correctly translate and give the meaning of about 25 words over the air. The top translator wins a prize.

It's really like giving free language classes and should boost both speaking skills and an interest in learning, said Arey.

She hopes to have the Aklavik show started up by September.