CKUA Radio on Location at Summer Festivals
Summer is such a great time to get out and enjoy the various arts and music events throughout Alberta. With so many fun places to be, CKUA is hitting the road and will be on location at the following events:
South Country Fair, Fort MacLeod – July 17-19
Kensington Sun & Salsa Festival, Calgary – July 19
Calgary Folk Music Festival – July 23-26
First Friday, Canmore – July 31st
Canmore Folk Festival – August 1-3
Calgary International Blues Festival – August 6-9
Edmonton Folk Music Festival – August 6-9
Edmonton International Fringe Festival – August 13-23
Alexander Keith's Celtic Festival, Edmonton – August 14-15
Don’t forget to stop by and say hello to our amazing volunteers and CKUA staff while out enjoying the summer festival season!
Also please visit ckua.com for a complete list of festivals and other arts events in your community and around Alberta.
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On Podcasts
On January 18, 2009 CKUA Radio launched a new program called Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On hosted by Michael Asch. This program brings focus to the music Moses "Moe" Asch, Michael’s father, created during his 38 years with Folkways Records a company Moe founded himself.
The Smithsonian acquired Folkways from the Asch estate in 1987, and Smithsonian Folkways Recordings has continued the Folkways commitment to cultural diversity, education, increased understanding, and lively engagement with the world of sound.
Not only does CKUA host the on-air broadcasts of the diverse music that came out of Folkways Records, but also features podcasts of each episode that airs. Please visit ckua.com to find a link that will take you to the Smithsonian Folkways website where podcasts can be accessed anywhere/anytime.
Smithsonian Folkways: Sounds to Grow On broadcasts province-wide on the FM dial, and online Sundays from 3 PM to 4 PM and in rebroadcast Mondays from 4 AM to 5 AM.
First Friday Fort McMurray recap
On Friday, July 3rd, CKUA’s First Fridays series saw Andy Donnelly, Bobby Cameron and the CKUA crew rocking out in Fort McMurray.
Alexander’s Lounge in the Merit Hotel was packed at 6pm for the Celtic Show as Andy got the crowd going with great music and spoke with members of Fort McMurray’s vibrant arts scene.
Guitar slinger Bobby Cameron stole the show at 8pm with a live hour-long concert broadcast. The high-energy singer certainly knew how to grab the crowd’s attention, performing his own brand of roots, folk, and blues-rock.
See highlights and hear audio from the show at ckua.com.
The Last, First Friday
Join CKUA Radio at the Canmore Civic Centre on Friday, July 31st when our First Friday series continues.
This is your chance to kick off the Canmore Folk Festival weekend with a great party, CKUA style.
Andy Donnelly will set the night in motion at 6 PM with the Celtic Show, followed by an hour-long live concert broadcast featuring Juno-nominated reggae band, Souljah Fyah, hosted by Folk Routes announcer Tom Coxworth.
You will find us outside of the building if it's a nice evening, or just inside if the weather warrants it. Be sure to get there early for a good vantage point!
This broadcast marks the end of our First Friday series.
U22 at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival
This summer, the world-renowned Edmonton Folk Music Festival will host a roster of Canada’s most talented and promising young musicians, all under the age of 22.
Presented by U22 Music Productions and sponsored by CKUA, Joe Nolan, Lindsay Ell, Paul Cresey, Stephanie Bosch, Daniel Moir and Kaley Bird, will perform throughout the festival, running August 6 - 9th.
U22 Music Productions exists to provide mentorship and credible performance opportunities for outstanding musicians under the age of 22. For detailed information about the program and the artists, please visit u22.ca.
Facebook 5000 Challenge update
CKUA listeners have continued to rally to help us reach our goal of 5,000 Facebook fans by August 1st. With only two weeks left in the challenge the numbers are promising. We are only 500 fans short of reaching our goal. We’re so close, we can taste it!
Why join up as a Facebook fan? The benefits are tremendous: we offer exclusive ticket giveaways, sneak peaks at CKUA merchandise, up to the minute CKUA news, including interviews and announcements, and we encourage you to share your thoughts about your favourite radio station. And don’t forget to invite your friends to join, the more the better!
To join the CKUA Facebook fan page, go to ckua.com and link to the Facebook 5000 Challenge.
Scenes From the Library
It's summer in Alberta and festival season has begun. From the beginning of June through to the end of August, CKUA is keeping tabs on over thirty different arts and music festivals. From the Edmonton and Calgary Folk Music Festivals to the Wild Mountain Fest in Hinton to the South Country Fair in Fort MacLeod, CKUA has got it covered.
For the CKUA Library, festival season means one thing: who's playing and do we have their album?
CKUA does its best to promote each festival throughout the season, and to support the participating artists through airplay. Quite often this is no problem at all – of course we have the latest albums from headliners such as Neko Case, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Michael Franti, or Sarah Harmer. But what about the countless number of smaller and wholly independent artists? This is where our research begins.
Starting in the spring, as each festival unveils its upcoming lineup, CKUA’s library staff peruse and pore through websites, brochures, and press releases. If we don’t have the latest album from an artist, how can we get it? Well, we contact the artists. If an artist is represented by management or signed to a record label, we make contact with those companies. If an artist is independent and representing themselves, then we find a means to contact them directly. Sometimes it's an email to a website, but more and more often it’s a message through an artist’s MySpace account. And you know what? More often than not, an artist responds with a "thanks for your interest! I’ll throw a CD in the mail for CKUA right away."
As we gather festival information, each festival and participating artist is entered into a spreadsheet, along with the date of the performance, a link to the artists' and the festivals' website, the location of the festival, and of course, exactly where in our library each artist can be found. It’s all about doing the hard work so that our announcers have all the relevant info right at their fingertips – and have each album available for airplay.
To date, our spreadsheet contains information on over thirty different festivals and over 500 artists. That's a lot of info to keep track of, and a lot of CDs to catalogue as they arrive at the station. But it's festival season and CKUA believes in supporting the festivals, the communities, and the artists who work so hard to bring a summer of music to Alberta. Whether it’s a major label artist pulling in the large crowds at a main stage, or a relatively unknown first-time performer at a small town festival, Alberta's festival season is a time to celebrate the music.
So tune in, hear some great songs, and then get out into the province and enjoy a festival or two!
Got some feedback for CKUA? We love to hear from listeners – send us your comments.
