DJ Donna is on the air
Cambridge Bay woman mixes up community radio
Beth Brown
Northern News Services
Monday, December 19, 2016
IKALUKTUTIAK/CAMBRIDGE BAY
There's a new DJ in Cambridge Bay. Donna Lyall, 22, started mixing up music at the community station this November.
Donna Lyall is Cambridge Bay's new radio DJ. She started broadcasting last month. - photo courtesy of Donna Lyall |
"Before I started working at the radio station, I thought I had a lot of music," she said. "When I started working at the station (I realized) there is way more music than I ever thought there was."
Since then, the Ovayok Broadcasting Society has set up a new kind of software that will eventually offer online broadcasting to the hamlet.
Lyall received training on the new program, and in the basics of radio, from Nov 31. until Dec. 7, learning how to use editing suites, build playlists and schedule shows.
"You can make an overnight playlist, a three-hour playlist or an hour playlist and it just takes 10 or 15 minutes," she said.
Her favourite music to play is dance music, or instrumental. But she takes requests for all genres.
"You can play whatever music you want, but you have to schedule it a couple hours in advance," she said. "It's all scheduled to play at a certain time."
Course participants also worked on radio language programming, to help with cultural preservation.
That is the reason the community service holds such significance, said Lyall.
"The radio is a part of the community and it has been for a long time," she said. "It's important because you get the message out there and people are listening."
Listening, not looking, which is just fine with Lyall, who said the role is giving her a new kind of confidence.
"There are different kinds of public speaking, there are ones where you have an audience (looking at you), which is hard for me because I don't like people staring at me. It makes me nervous," she said.
"When I'm here at the radio station on air, I feel very comfortable. I'm very confident and happy and excited to be here on the air. I don't mind it at all."
The new job is a career switch for the young woman, who used to work and volunteer in schools and daycare.
"I saw it advertised and thought, 'I need to do something different and this looks like it is way off the charts from what I do.'"
"Switching over to working on the radio is very different, but it's fun."
