Oct.-22-08
With leaves flying by in the blustery fall wind, I pull the cold silver door handle, step inside and catch my breath.
“Good morning,” says Carl, the security guard.
“Good morning, Samara!”
It’s Faye Saunders. Standing at about five feet tall, she hums in her chair behind a large desk covered with papers, pictures, a phone and computer. Several red and white boxes labelled ‘Basics’ are piled up beside a four-drawer filing cabinet, with more papers resting on top.
Signs about the size of car licence plates that read Ocean 100 and K-Rock hang from her desk. Bouquets of yellow, orange and red flowers surround her.
“I love seeing everybody every day and taking part in activities and being involved with the public,” she said.
The smell of fresh coffee is overwhelming and steaming Tim Hortons cups occupy almost every desk. Photos of kids, artwork, ribbons, media passes, schedules and even a pair of bunny ears clutter the space of all seven cubicles.
It’s only 8:30 a.m. so all is fairly quiet, with only Scott Chapman in the news room.
“Mornin’ Sosa,” he says as I peek around the corner into his cubicle.
Chapman went to a radio broadcasting school in Toronto and did his internship at CBC national radio sports. There he interviewed ball players such as Willy Mays and Mickey Mantle, “One of the greatest ball players of all time.”
Another time he interviewed former prime minister Kim Campbell. Laughing, Chapman recalls the day.
“She told me I had a nice voice!”
He worked in Oakville with ethnic radio programs for about a year, eventually moving on to writing national news for a news wire in Toronto. That company only lasted four months. Chapman found work in P.E.I at CFCY and Q 93.1. He started there in 1990 and spent three years as a promotions director until Ocean 100 and K-Rock were born in 2005 and needed a news director.
“I was only planning to stay on P.E.I. for a year, take my experience and move back to Ontario. I’ve been here almost 19 years,” he said.
He is happy of his choice.
“I love the camaraderie. The people here.”
The police scanner buzzes, “Insurance 4804-check that. What’s it say? Follow that car...”
The newsroom is quiet until murmurs interrupt the silence. It’s hard to make out where the high-pitched sound is coming from, so I peek around the corner and realize I should have recognized the voice.
The mile-wide smile overrides Jake’s inability to speak clearly through his cleft lip. It is Ocean 100’s biggest fan and a daily visitor of the station. As he points to the symbol on the battered Montreal jersey on his chest, he speaks words which I can’t understand, but I can tell by his wide eyes and grin is one of his most prized possessions. Everybody else at Ocean 100 is used to Jake, so they can carry on a conversation.
Receptionist Faye Saunders talks about the colder weather and it doesn’t take long for news director, Scott Chapman, to join in. The topic switches direction fast. Jake, a Montreal fan, and Chapman, a Toronto fan, quickly start to debate hockey, a conversation likely held on a daily basis. One of the only words I can make it out from Jake is “Montreal” while Chapman defends the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Jake doesn’t stay long, his departure signalled by shouts of goodbye from nearly everybody in the station.
“See ya in the mornin’, see ya in the mornin,” he calls back.
Laughter erupts. Kerri Wynne MacLeod and Kirk MacKinnon are doing their morning show. Pumpkins decorate the large, glass-bowl-like rooms where the radio announcers sit for four hours every morning and do their show, news and weather forecasts. Orange and black ribbon dance around the mug-sized microphones and skeletons stand in the corners.
You never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes it’s MacKinnon dancing foolishly, or MacLeod singing her favourite melody. The atmosphere is lively, despite the early hour.
Next door is brother station K-Rock with morning hosts Zack Bell and Colin McKay.
“Slammin!” shouts Bell as he offers me a high five.
Jane Harwood does her morning routine of coffee and a granola bar, reading and listening to the news of the day, and checking her e-mail, all while she keeps up a steady conversation with those around her. Soon things calm down again, the only sounds the typing of Chapman and Harwood drowned out by the printer and distant laughs.
“Ha-ha, that’s funny!”
It’s coming from the office of Gerard Murphy, director of programming.
“Slammin Sammy,” he calls out, accompanying it with a handshake and pat.
“You’re my best friend,” he adds.
“Hello, hello, hello!” says MacLeod while she dances in. She is interrupted by a loud beep. Heads rise. It’s the printer finishing the two-inch thick log for the day, which Saunders comes in to organize.
Nearby there is a 1950s brown record player with a real record sitting on top underneath a light layer of dust. Flowers surround it in bright fall colours of yellow, green, orange and red.
Underneath a shag of bangs and a black apron decorated with flowers, a smiling woman enters the station and walks into Saunder’s office carrying a sunflower the size of a meter stick.
“I just wanted to say hi,” she says as she hands her the flowers to add to her collection.
“Clink, clink.”
A small noise and a soft animated tune come from the newsroom. MacKinnon is bent over, twiddling with cords hooked up to the television. As he steps back he reveals a PlayStation.
“Great. The one day you decide to hook up a PlayStation and Sosa is doing her day in the life,” says Chapman, half joking.
“Wait, wait now,” MacKinnon responds. “This is for a radio station....thing. Look, there’s golf.”
K-Rock announcer Sherri K chimes in.
“Cool, and it’s my break too. Wanna come and play after our meeting?”
Their 10-minute break over, people work on news stories, leave for meetings and answer phones. Eventually, the smell of fresh pizza and chicken signal lunch.
The lunch room fills with people dressed in suits and skirts lined up behind the counter, checking watches, chatting on cellphones and anxiously waiting for their lunch.
A long climb of four flights of stairs ends at the heavy brown door that reads “Administration.” The area is filled with cubicles each personalized with piles of paper on top of phones and keyboards. Light streams in through several large windows that replace half the wall.
Here members of the Ocean 100 crew sell and produce ads. It is also where the stations commercials are written and produced.
It’s quieter here and the air is cold. Accounting administrator Amy Morrison sorts through a pile of 30-40 envelopes and hands them out to different people around the office.
“This is where it all starts, sales. It’s the advertising that keeps our radio station,” she said.
Back in the newsroom things are still quiet. Harwood is off to cover a story. Chapman and Chevrier are still typing. Occasionally chuckles come from Murphy’s room. Ocean 100 music comes from the fishbowl.
As I grab my coat and head for the door there are more handshakes and a bear-hug from MacLeod. The announcers wave.
Monday, November 17, 2008
UFIT exercise program a hit
Nov-16-08
Losing weight and staying healthy are only a few of the benefits of the exersice program UFIT, says a long-time member.
Anne MacArthur has been attending UFIT classes with a group of co-workers since its early days in 2002 when it was a small lunch-time exercise class.
The upbeat exercise program is now spread over three different areas across the province, has six one-hour classes a week and brings in hundreds of people.
“It’s a laugh and everybody’s a lot of fun. You just have a lot of fun. It seems that everyone is there just to laugh and have a good time,” said MacArthur.
UFIT started small at the old Charlottetown recreation centre with about 10 to 15 people taking part. As more people joined, it moved to UPEI after for about six months and continued there for about four years. After continuously growing, the program had to relocate again. The main base now is Queen Charlotte Elementary.
“Over the course of those years it really started to grow and be part of the culture,” said instructor Gord McNeilly.
McNeilly has been with UFIT since the start and has taught over 1,000 classes so far.
With his degree in kinesiology and background as a military fitness instructor, McNeilly is able to lead UFIT with experience. He said he liked the military but needed a change of pace.
“The military did good things, but they were really boring, so I just said, 'Hey if you could do this and be boring, what could you do if you could add music and excitement to it?” he said.
And as a result McNeilly recruited hundreds of people to join, old and young.
“It's not really an age group, it's more of a mentality and lifestyle. And I think that if you start young, you realize that exercise can be exciting and young, you'll stick with it until your old. So it’s a continuum of life really,” he said.
UFIT gave McNeilly the outlet to do what he wanted.
“I've always been active and wanted to help others and I really didn't think it was possible to do it to this magnitude. It’s grown so much so that it’s become my life. It’s become really exciting to help other people.”
McNeilly’s plan to make exercise fun was a success, said MacArthur, who attends class at Queen Charlotte four times a week.
Going to the gym is great, but UFIT allows you to get out of the continuous regime, she said.
“At UFIT you’re doing it all and you can do it all within an hour.”
The atmosphere is also more encouraging, she said.
“It doesn’t matter that you can’t do all the moves perfectly. It’s the high that you get because you get all this encouragement.”
Many people refer to UFIT as an addiction, said McNeilly. He is happy to hear the word used as a positive rather than negative.
McArthur agrees.
“People say they have an addiction, I’m addicted to UFIT.”
Losing weight and staying healthy are only a few of the benefits of the exersice program UFIT, says a long-time member.
Anne MacArthur has been attending UFIT classes with a group of co-workers since its early days in 2002 when it was a small lunch-time exercise class.
The upbeat exercise program is now spread over three different areas across the province, has six one-hour classes a week and brings in hundreds of people.
“It’s a laugh and everybody’s a lot of fun. You just have a lot of fun. It seems that everyone is there just to laugh and have a good time,” said MacArthur.
UFIT started small at the old Charlottetown recreation centre with about 10 to 15 people taking part. As more people joined, it moved to UPEI after for about six months and continued there for about four years. After continuously growing, the program had to relocate again. The main base now is Queen Charlotte Elementary.
“Over the course of those years it really started to grow and be part of the culture,” said instructor Gord McNeilly.
McNeilly has been with UFIT since the start and has taught over 1,000 classes so far.
With his degree in kinesiology and background as a military fitness instructor, McNeilly is able to lead UFIT with experience. He said he liked the military but needed a change of pace.
“The military did good things, but they were really boring, so I just said, 'Hey if you could do this and be boring, what could you do if you could add music and excitement to it?” he said.
And as a result McNeilly recruited hundreds of people to join, old and young.
“It's not really an age group, it's more of a mentality and lifestyle. And I think that if you start young, you realize that exercise can be exciting and young, you'll stick with it until your old. So it’s a continuum of life really,” he said.
UFIT gave McNeilly the outlet to do what he wanted.
“I've always been active and wanted to help others and I really didn't think it was possible to do it to this magnitude. It’s grown so much so that it’s become my life. It’s become really exciting to help other people.”
McNeilly’s plan to make exercise fun was a success, said MacArthur, who attends class at Queen Charlotte four times a week.
Going to the gym is great, but UFIT allows you to get out of the continuous regime, she said.
“At UFIT you’re doing it all and you can do it all within an hour.”
The atmosphere is also more encouraging, she said.
“It doesn’t matter that you can’t do all the moves perfectly. It’s the high that you get because you get all this encouragement.”
Many people refer to UFIT as an addiction, said McNeilly. He is happy to hear the word used as a positive rather than negative.
McArthur agrees.
“People say they have an addiction, I’m addicted to UFIT.”
The Post offers kids new place for fun
Nov-4-08
The streets are not the only place left for children who need a place to go to have fun.
A new drop-in centre, the Post, at 306 University Avenue, Charlottetown, offers children and youth games, activities and programs to join on their free time.
Darrell Williams, one of the directors of Post, said he sees kids hanging around the streets as a growing problem.
“We hope the kids will have something to do to get them off the streets,” he said.
And there is many options for the kids.
The bright purple main room holds many activities. A television with two dance dance revolution video games hooked up occupied two kids, and captured the gaze of a few others who watched, sitting on a brown couch on the opposite side of the room.
A craft table filled with multi-coloured painting pallets and paint brushes held by hands almost too tiny to grasp the handle sat in the corner, accompanied by a large plastic blue bowl topped with bright red apples.
In another room to the side was what the kids called the “wave” room because of the blue waves painted on all sides. It was filled with piles of books and games boards. An unfinished puzzle sat waiting to be finished on the empty pull out table.
The Post has two separate drop-in times - after school and evening.
The after-school drop-in is for kids up to the age of 13 and is open from 2:30 to 5:30. It offers homework help, snacks, games, arts and crafts, computer access, pool table, air hockey and karaoke.
The evening drop-in is for different age groups, depending on the night. There is at least one night a week for junior high age and one night for high school youth. During this time there will be things like food, board and video games, computer access, music, and the same games as mentioned above.
Kennedy Williams, 11, likes the new play area.
“I like playing dance dance revolution, and I like that all my friends come here.”
She also likes working at the canteen, which sells a variety of candy, chips, juice and pop.
Her younger sister, Mikaylah, 6, also likes meeting new kids.
“I like painting and colouring too,” she said.
The more volunteers the Post gets, the more activities they can pursue, said Williams.
“We're just working on it slowly and as we get more volunteers then we'll open more.”
Williams said getting started wasn't easy. He and wife, Sherry, started the organization with their own money and it is funded through donations. It is being run through a church.
“We started on our own, but then we decided it'd be best if we went through our church because its an existing organization that can offer us some logistical support,” he said.
And even though the program is through the church, Williams said it is not aimed at the religious community. Parents who don't practise religion don't have to worry about their kids joining. There has not been any concern over the issue, Williams said.
“We're not promoting our beliefs at all during the times that the drop-ins are open, so I can't see it being a problem. We've been open a month and it hasn't been brought up at all over that entire month.”
Williams has many things planned for the centre, he said.
“Open more, open as much as possible and just growing so that we're providing more times that the kids and youth can drop in. Lots of different things we have in mind for the future.”
Things Williams mentioned included a kids clothing depot where parents can get free clothing for their kids and a summer job placement program.
For more information contact Darrell or Sherry Williams at 367-5019, or visit www.thepostdrop-in.blogspot.com.
The streets are not the only place left for children who need a place to go to have fun.
A new drop-in centre, the Post, at 306 University Avenue, Charlottetown, offers children and youth games, activities and programs to join on their free time.
Darrell Williams, one of the directors of Post, said he sees kids hanging around the streets as a growing problem.
“We hope the kids will have something to do to get them off the streets,” he said.
And there is many options for the kids.
The bright purple main room holds many activities. A television with two dance dance revolution video games hooked up occupied two kids, and captured the gaze of a few others who watched, sitting on a brown couch on the opposite side of the room.
A craft table filled with multi-coloured painting pallets and paint brushes held by hands almost too tiny to grasp the handle sat in the corner, accompanied by a large plastic blue bowl topped with bright red apples.
In another room to the side was what the kids called the “wave” room because of the blue waves painted on all sides. It was filled with piles of books and games boards. An unfinished puzzle sat waiting to be finished on the empty pull out table.
The Post has two separate drop-in times - after school and evening.
The after-school drop-in is for kids up to the age of 13 and is open from 2:30 to 5:30. It offers homework help, snacks, games, arts and crafts, computer access, pool table, air hockey and karaoke.
The evening drop-in is for different age groups, depending on the night. There is at least one night a week for junior high age and one night for high school youth. During this time there will be things like food, board and video games, computer access, music, and the same games as mentioned above.
Kennedy Williams, 11, likes the new play area.
“I like playing dance dance revolution, and I like that all my friends come here.”
She also likes working at the canteen, which sells a variety of candy, chips, juice and pop.
Her younger sister, Mikaylah, 6, also likes meeting new kids.
“I like painting and colouring too,” she said.
The more volunteers the Post gets, the more activities they can pursue, said Williams.
“We're just working on it slowly and as we get more volunteers then we'll open more.”
Williams said getting started wasn't easy. He and wife, Sherry, started the organization with their own money and it is funded through donations. It is being run through a church.
“We started on our own, but then we decided it'd be best if we went through our church because its an existing organization that can offer us some logistical support,” he said.
And even though the program is through the church, Williams said it is not aimed at the religious community. Parents who don't practise religion don't have to worry about their kids joining. There has not been any concern over the issue, Williams said.
“We're not promoting our beliefs at all during the times that the drop-ins are open, so I can't see it being a problem. We've been open a month and it hasn't been brought up at all over that entire month.”
Williams has many things planned for the centre, he said.
“Open more, open as much as possible and just growing so that we're providing more times that the kids and youth can drop in. Lots of different things we have in mind for the future.”
Things Williams mentioned included a kids clothing depot where parents can get free clothing for their kids and a summer job placement program.
For more information contact Darrell or Sherry Williams at 367-5019, or visit www.thepostdrop-in.blogspot.com.
Prince Edward Island communities soon to have access to highspeed
Nov-14-08
Every community across Prince Edward Island will soon have high speed internet thanks to Aliant’s new agreement with the government.
Aliant will invest $8.2 million to invest in broadband services across the Island in exchange for a five-year telephone service contract with the government.
Premier Robert Ghiz made the announcement at a news conference Nov.12. He said he wants to make sure every Islander has an equal opportunity to access the internet.
“Aliant will finance and build the network on its own. Aliant has agreed to use the same rich structure as applied to residents in urban centres. That means that all Islanders will have access to the same level of service at the same price.”
The project should be completed within the next year, he said.
“This new service will be offered on a timely, reliable and affordable basis to virtually any Islander who wants it. Aliant will invest $8.2 million to build a full broadband network with the project to be completed in 2009.”
In the last election campaign the provincial government said it would provide broadband services to the entire Island and this was later enforced in the 2008 budget and the economic blueprint, Island Prosperity, A Focus for Change.
Bruce Howitt, president of Aliant P.E.I., said they’re very pleased to partner with the government.
“We share the Island’s vision for the future. Island prosperity and change.”
Aliant is very happy to partner with the government, Howitt added.
Fisheries minister Allan Campbell said he looks forward to working with Aliant.
“We are confident this is the right way to go.”
“My first reaction was, sounds too good to be true, as I’m sure everyone in the room is thinking today,” said Ghiz.
Every community across Prince Edward Island will soon have high speed internet thanks to Aliant’s new agreement with the government.
Aliant will invest $8.2 million to invest in broadband services across the Island in exchange for a five-year telephone service contract with the government.
Premier Robert Ghiz made the announcement at a news conference Nov.12. He said he wants to make sure every Islander has an equal opportunity to access the internet.
“Aliant will finance and build the network on its own. Aliant has agreed to use the same rich structure as applied to residents in urban centres. That means that all Islanders will have access to the same level of service at the same price.”
The project should be completed within the next year, he said.
“This new service will be offered on a timely, reliable and affordable basis to virtually any Islander who wants it. Aliant will invest $8.2 million to build a full broadband network with the project to be completed in 2009.”
In the last election campaign the provincial government said it would provide broadband services to the entire Island and this was later enforced in the 2008 budget and the economic blueprint, Island Prosperity, A Focus for Change.
Bruce Howitt, president of Aliant P.E.I., said they’re very pleased to partner with the government.
“We share the Island’s vision for the future. Island prosperity and change.”
Aliant is very happy to partner with the government, Howitt added.
Fisheries minister Allan Campbell said he looks forward to working with Aliant.
“We are confident this is the right way to go.”
“My first reaction was, sounds too good to be true, as I’m sure everyone in the room is thinking today,” said Ghiz.
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