October 13, 2015

Publication title: Vancouver Sun, vol. -, Iss. -, pg. –
Place: Unknown
Writer: John Mackie

A different kind of radio

Don Shafer has run some of the most successful commercial radio stations in Canada, including CFOX and Rock 101 in Vancouver, and CHUM-FM and Q107 in Toronto.

But he’s always harboured a deep, dark secret: an admiration for the CBC.

“CBC stations are almost always the No. 1 station in almost every market across Canada,” he said.

“CBC does some terrific programming. Forget all the arguments about funding and where the money goes and how much money they need. Forget that for a moment and just appreciate the creative, quality work that goes into that product.

“They do a great job, and clearly, because they’ve put so much into their product, the audiences followed.”

Shafer is using the CBC as the model for his new commercial station, Roundhouse Radio. And he hopes to attract some of the CBC’s audience, as well.

Roundhouse Radio launches Thursday at 98.3 FM out of a storefront location at 714 Alexander Street in Japantown.

The big draw on opening day will be a live performance by Sarah McLachlan from the Roundhouse studio at noon. Dan Mangan will follow with a live show at noon Friday.

McLachlan and Mangan will be performing on a daily show featuring local broadcast legend Terry David Mulligan. But most of the programming will be “spoken word” — the format will be 80 per cent talk, 20 per cent music.

Hosts include former mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe in a morning show called Our City; Rhona Raskin doing a show called Love and Lust; and Samantha Parton of Be Good Tanyas fame doing a “free-form” all-night show that mixes “classic songs, electronica, blues, experimental jazz and everything in between.”

In a departure from most stations, Roundhouse will be completely focused on the city of Vancouver. In fact, the “low power” FM station’s signal won’t be strong enough to pick up in many of the suburbs. (But anyone can listen at roundhouseradio.com.)

The “hyper-local” angle was the main pitch in the 1,000-page application Shafer submitted to the CRTC in 2013. The station was approved in 2014.

“Most radio stations, in my opinion, have to flatten their content to make it generic enough for the whole Lower Mainland,” Shafer said.

“Where we don’t. We’re just talking about what’s happening in Strathcona, or what’s happening in the east end or the West End, what’s happening in those 22 neighbourhoods (in Vancouver).”

It sounds like the kind of thing you’d hear from somebody at Co-op Radio or CITR. In fact, Roundhouse Radio may be a bit like both.

“We’re doing something a little bit different,” he said. “It will sound like NPR-meets-CBC-meets-college radio. And that’s just a different conversational (approach), more open dialogue. Not compressed, not narrowed or limited. I’m jazzed about it.”

Roundhouse’s new approach begins with its location, which is near the Downtown Eastside.

“It’s one of the poorest (neighbourhoods), and it’s got one of the highest crime rates,” he said.

“But I think it’s the best place for us to be. How can we talk about the city, if we don’t know what’s going on? How can I ask you to be part of our radio station if we’re not in it, and we’re not part of it?

“We’ve got everything going on in this neighbourhood, it’s a microcosm of everything that happens in an urban city. It’s the best and the worst. There’s some wonderful people, there’s some great residents. We’ve got lots of social housing, and we’ve got million-dollar condos.

“It’s a real hodgepodge of industry, and lots of social activity and engagement from the community. And we can watch it happen 24/7. If we were on the 35th floor of a highrise, we wouldn’t be part of it.”
The audience for the station?

“The audience is people who live, work and play downtown,” he said.

“It’s mostly those people that live here, that are in the city, that a Vancouver Foundation (report) said are disconnected and looking for places to get together.

“That audience is roughly 25 to 54, and our target is probably in the 40-year-old range, skewing female. So our content, and the focus of what we do on air, will be skewed to roughly a 40-year-old and people who have similar interest.”

Shafer is older than the target demographic. He laughs when asked if he’s retirement age.

“I retired once, for about two months,” said Shafer, who was born in Pittsburgh and came to Canada in 1969.

“I was bored out of my mind. I’ve always been passionate about radio, and I love this idea. I love the team we’ve attracted, because half of them are not from radio.

“My program director is from the National Film Board, Tracy Friesen. A lot of people here are from other media, whether it’s print or it’s television or other electronic media, and don’t know a lot about radio. So there’s been a really nice collaboration of different ideas.”
Today Vancouverites find out just what that means.