Radio Malaspina - chly

Radio Malaspina is a student / community incorporated society with a constitution and mission to broadcast an FM radio signal to a community of service which includes Nanaimo, Lantzville, Ladysmith and Gabriola Island. We have completed the required CRTC application and are waiting for a hearing to proceed. It is our intention to obtain an FM licence to broadcast and in preparation of that event we will be providing web cast services, commencing April 1st, 2000, using a suitable computer and shoutcast software.

We wish to observe "best practices" as they arise for web casting and will treat all recording artists' compositions with respect. It is our desire to foster the success of Canadian and other talented recording artists. Our choice of music selections will be made with the purpose of promoting all genres of music as they emerge and are sampled across the campus / community environment. Best Practices undertaken will include:

We agree to not widely advertise any uninterrupted webcast of a complete album. This practice is intended to prevent intentional copying for bootleg.

We agree to clearly indicate the recording artists played when possible. This practice would allow for listeners to seek out the artist's work; maybe even go down the local record store and buy a copy.

We recognize the emerging genre of turntablism with its unique characteristic of creating a mosaic of sound from existing musical recordings. We recognize it may not be practical to acknowledge the source of every track sampled. We will make every effort to recognize all recording artists played at our station.

Some material we receive and decide to broadcast may contain issues you don't want to hear about. We believe it is important to openly discuss some issues to increase awareness and encourage the opportunity for debate. Our Board of Directors have adopted our Principles of Programming in February of 2000 and in it we state that our programmers will be prepared to, "justify the airing of such material by identifying its redeeming factors and providing a context". Fair warning will be issued for all shows that programmers deem as "offensive to some".

Some material we choose to play may be obtained electronically using technology including the Internet, macster, etc. It is not our intent to encourage or participate in the unfair use of this material but to promote individual artists by sampling the musical environment as it currently exists.

Our program schedule is not yet at the desired 24 hours per day seven days a week service. It is our plan to digitally record the original programming created and repeat that material until the next scheduled block of programmers start the next day. This way we can maintain a 24-hour per day service maximizing the original content.

We are sympathetic to the efforts undertaken by individual recording artists to provide CD's (or other medium) to us for air play and will establish a catalogue system at the station to safe guard and protect the material we receive. Should any artist's material sent to us for airplay be damaged or go missing we will make every effort to contact that artist and request replacements.

All our training efforts for our volunteer programmers will be directed toward the semi-professional presentation of the composer's work in a manner consistent with their intentions. Some experimental efforts are to be expected by our programmers. We will make every effort to create an environment where the boundaries of the broadcast medium can be responsibly challenged.

We hope that these Best Practices result in a productive environment for the composer and listener. Please join us at www.radio.mala.bc.ca.Thank you,

Ken Zakreski
Station Manager
March 2000