CKLN-FM was a Canadian campus–community radio station in Toronto, Ontario, which broadcast at 88.1 MHz from 1983 until 2011. Based at Ryerson University, the station was known for alternative music, community affairs and multilingual programming, and for providing early exposure to Canadian hip hop artists. Its programs included Ron Nelson's The Fantastic Voyage, one of Canada's earliest radio programs devoted to hip hop.
CKLN experienced financial and governance difficulties during the 2000s. A dispute involving its board, staff and volunteers led to rival boards of directors, a lockout of its studios and months of irregular programming in 2009. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) subsequently found that the station had repeatedly failed to comply with federal broadcasting regulations and its conditions of licence. On January 28, 2011, the commission revoked CKLN's licence, effective February 12. The station remained on FM under a temporary court stay until April 15, 2011, when the Federal Court of Appeal declined to hear its appeal.
CKLN continued as an internet broadcaster after leaving the FM dial. It moved most of its production to the Regent Park neighbourhood and ceased operations on December 26, 2011, following the dissolution of CKLN Radio Inc. Many of its programs and volunteers subsequently joined Radio Regent. CKLN's former frequency was awarded to Rock 95 Broadcasting, which launched Indie88 in 2013. A separate campus station serving Ryerson, CJRU, began broadcasting in 2016.
Early history CKLN began as a closed circuit station set up in 1970 as Ryerson Community Radio, its broadcasts piped to loudspeakers around campus. In 1972, it became independent of Ryerson's Radio and Television Arts department and adopted the call letters CRFM. In 1978, the station adopted the call letters CKLN and was broadcast through campus via closed circuit cable. It was licensed as an over the air FM broadcaster by the CRTC in 1983 as a Ryerson University-based campus-community radio station and assigned the frequency of 88.1 MHz on the FM band and allowed to retain the CKLN call letters. Ryerson had announced that it would close its earlier radio station, CJRT-FM, in 1973 due to financial constraints; that station was saved in 1974 by the Ontario government headed by Bill Davis in 1974 as a government funded public radio station without formal ties to Ryerson.
Among CKLN's early accomplishments was the launch of Ron Nelson's new show The Fantastic Voyage in 1983, Canada's first radio show devoted to Rap."CKLN board ‘not going to lie down’ after licence revoked". Toronto Star, January 28, 2011. The program was influential in promoting and developing many of Canada's early hip hop stars."Dead air for Ryerson community station". Toronto Star, April 16, 2011. According to poet Clifton Joseph, the show was "the single most important agent responsible for the breaking of rap music in Toronto and laying the groundwork for the emergence of Canadian rap artists such as Michie Mee and Maestro Fresh Wes.", Toronto Star, April 1, 1992
Other artists such as Blue Rodeo and k.d. lang received airplay on CKLN prior to being picked up by mainstream radio. The Globe and Mail says of the station that "it sat at the forefront of independent music and radical politics in the city for more than three decades, working with a shoe-string budget, and yet it somehow always managed to survive."
In the 1980s, the station helped create a news service to share content among left-wing stations worldwide including those run by the African National Congress and the FMLN in El Salvador. The station aired live coverage of the release of Nelson Mandela from prison."CKLN: From revolution to radio silence; Ryerson's campus station may have lost its broadcast licence, but volunteers hope its 30-year history can put 88.1 back on the dial" by Adrian Morrow, Globe and Mail, May 21, 2011
CKLN was the first broadcast outlet to air Toronto's Gay Pride Day Parade.
In 1985, the station was estimated to have 50,000 weekly listeners. By 1991, its audience had grown to an estimated 140,000 listeners a week. In 1989, The Toronto Star voted CKLN as "best radio station" in its annual Sammy awards. In April 1992, one student successfully petitioned for a referendum to decide if the station should continue to receive student funding; CKLN won the referendum.
Former station manager Adam Vaughan, later a Member of Parliament, said in a 2015 interview that "What was great about CKLN is that it combined the strength of Ryerson with the diversity of Toronto... The diversity of the city and the diversity of the voices and the culture on air came to define CKLN and it was a huge part of our success." He added, however, that "The station, after I left, got very heavily invested in identity politics. And instead of bringing diversity together, groups kind of started to fight with each other and it was hugely problematic in terms of trying to unify an audience... You could see the station drifting further and further away from a position of strength and experimentation into bitterness and at times, straight up incompetency."
In its coverage of the Rwandan genocide, CKLN aired an investigation of the colonial history behind the events.
By September 2003, following the departure of station manager Conrad Collaco,"CKLN finally hires Station Manager" . The Eyeopener, 2007-11-06. CKLN was teetering on the brink of insolvency. As a result, the Ryerson Students' Union bailed out CKLN of $110,000 in debts."CKLN gets new lease on life: Summer board elections end power struggle over Ryerson radio". The Varsity, September 7, 2009. An earlier proposal by Collaco to deal with the station's financial problems with a $6 increase to the student levy was not approved by the student government which cited various issues such as the lack of audited statements, the lack of airtime for Ryerson students or acknowledgment of Ryerson on the air.
In August 2005, CKLN shifted its broadcast studios from the basement of Jorgenson Hall at Ryerson University to the second floor of the newly constructed Ryerson Student Campus Centre.
Internal conflict and loss of licence In November 2007, CKLN's board appointed board member Mike Phillips as interim station manager. It had been over four years since the position had been filled. On December 21, 2007, CKLN program director Tim May resigned "suddenly and questionably""CKLN Hire in Hot Water ", eyeopener, January 29, 2008 and within days CKLN's board appointed board member Tony Barnes as interim program director without first advertising the post. The new hires, and the manner in which the hirings were carried out, proved unpopular with some and resulted in a special general meeting being called, which was attended by over 150 members,"Fightin’ words" , eye magazine, February 27, 2008 more than 90% of whom voted to impeach the board of directors."CKLN tunes out volunteers" , The Varsity, September 28, 2008 The management and board of CKLN viewed the Special General Meeting as illegitimate along with the impeachment vote and subsequently dismissed several dozen volunteer programmers as well as two paid staff, including the station's news director,"Out of tune at CKLN", Now Magazine, August 26-September 2, 2008 who was allegedly told she was being fired for not seeing "eye to eye" with the board. Station manager Mike Phillips claimed that members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and Ontario Coalition Against Poverty had stacked the February meeting and defended the dismissal of volunteer programmers by arguing, "If you have people decrying the station that is allowing them to go on the air, and breaking CRTC rules in the process, that can't be allowed to go on for very long."
For a time, the station had two rival boards of directors, both claiming to be the legitimate management. The first board, which hired Barnes and Phillips, was chaired by Josie Miner while a second board led by Arnold Minors was elected by opponents of the first board."Deadlock and dead air on Ryerson's radio" , eyeopener, September 9, 2008 The Ryerson Students' Union, which administered a student fee that, at the time, provided the station with 60 per cent of its budget, withheld funds until the conflict between the two rival boards was resolved."Live Ryerson radio to hit the airwaves again" . The Ryersonian, September 16, 2009. Responding to this action, the first board initiated a statement of claim in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice naming the RSU and Ryerson University as defendants.The Varsity (newspaper), "CKLN sues Ryerson, student union" February 23, 2009.
With CKLN's financial situation deteriorating due to the RSU's withholding of funds, and with members of the first board fighting among themselves, on February 28, 2009, CKLN's studios were made inaccessible except to a faction on the first CKLN board and those they chose to admit. Live programming was suspended and previously aired material was repeated in its place.
On March 1, 2009, two individuals, Paulette Hamilton, one of the members of the first board who had been locked out the previous day, and Daibhid James, a programmer, were arrested after they "barricaded themselves into the radio station's studios.""Levy: 'They've overstayed their welcome'" , eyeopener, March 3, 2009 Ryerson University president Sheldon Levy reacted to the incident by stating that "I think they've overstayed their welcome if that's the welcome that we have on our property. I don't like it, I don't want it, and we don't need it here."
Later that month, the Ryerson Student Centre board voted unanimously to close the station until both sides of the dispute could negotiate CKLN's future."Students caught in the middle of conflict at CKLN 88.1 FM" , Ryerson Free Press, April 14, 2009 The Palin Foundation, which governs the student centre,"CKLN Kicked Out Of SCC", eyeopener, August 6, 2011 consists of representatives of Ryerson University, the Ryerson Students' Union and the Continuing Education Students' Association of Ryerson (CESAR).2007-2008 FULL- AND PART-TIME UNDERGRADUATE CALENDAR , Ryerson University
During the period of the lockout, which lasted until mid-September 2009, CKLN broadcast unattended loops of previously aired programs, jazz and pre-recorded speeches. Dead air was heard for sometimes weeks at a time.CRTC revokes licence of Toronto campus radio station . January 28, 2011. In June 2009, CKLN's broadcast antenna was damaged resulting in the signal strength being drastically reduced. CKLN's online stream was still operational through this period.
On July 9, 2009, in a statement by Chris McNeil, president of CESAR and chair of the Palin Foundation, CKLN was provided a deadline of July 24, 2009 for the station to elect a new board of directors or risk eviction."CRTC yanks licence of Ryerson's CKLN radio". The Globe and Mail, January 28, 2011. The July 24, 2009 meeting and elections were held, but became the subject of a legal action filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice Commercial Court by former CKLN board member Mary Young claiming it was "improper and illegal".CKLN leadership battle continues . The Ryersonian, December 7, 2009. On December 14, 2011, the legal action against CKLN was permanently stayed and a motion by Young to launch a derivative action was dismissed with Young ordered to pay CKLN $10,000 in costs.
Licence revocation