The New Coast 89.7 FM

For those Cape Bretoners who would like a break from the standard "top 40," there is now an alternative right in their own back yard. Coast 89.7 broadcasts local music, and community news and information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In fact, they are the only Cape Breton station that plays almost exclusively East Coast music and runs live local news every day of the week.

This non-profit community radio station is the brainchild of Bill MacNeil, a veteran of both the music business and commercial radio. "Being in the music business is where this idea came from. I knew how much great music was being made locally and yet, very few stations were playing it."
 
Back in 2003, MacNeil founded Coastal Community Radio Cooperative Limited with the intention of starting a community-based, non-profit radio station. Four years later, his dream came true when Coast 89.7 burst onto the airwaves last December.
 
But it took a lot of time, money, and effort to make the move to a permanent radio station. "For three years we were a special events station, conducting 28-day broadcasts on behalf of different community organizations and events." They were licensed by Industry Canada, rather than the CRTC, and as such were only allowed to use 50 watts of power. "We covered everything from the Vince Ryan hockey tournament to Celtic Colours to the ECMAs. The public got behind us and the events were just non-stop." They broadcast almost continually in month-long segments for three years prior to their December 2007 launch.
 
Today, listeners span the entire Cape Breton Regional Municipality from Glace Bay, where the station is located, through the Sydney area and up to Ingonish. The station is also available online with listeners from around the world. “Our website is averaging close to 2 million hits per year,” says MacNeil who is the general manager of the station. Of those, 55 per cent are international, with the United States, Europe, Mexico, and Australia topping the list. Within Canada, the station’s biggest audience is in Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia.
 
Labeling themselves "adult contemporary," the station provides an alternative to existing radio stations and reflects the culture and traditions of Cape Breton. As MacNeil is quick to point out, this doesn't just mean Celtic music. "We've worked really hard to build our library, so it is balanced. I'm confident that if someone is listening to a song they don't particularly like, odds are they're going to like the next song."
 
It’s not unusual to hear Joel Plaskett followed by Rita MacNeil – something for every age group. They promise good music, with a focus on Nova Scotian talent, and deliver 80 per cent Canadian content. "It's not your standard top 40," says MacNeil. "Regardless of whether it's an artist from 30 years ago or a new artist on the scene right now, it's all Nova Scotian music. It doesn't matter if it's rock or pop or folk or country, it all seems to work together because of that common denominator."
 
In addition to offering an alternative, MacNeil feels that the station is filling a void in programming. "We're providing the local content and providing fair airplay to local artists,” he says. “The American artists influence the charts so much that the commercial radio stations typically just play the top 40 hits. That means a lot of East Coast artists, including Cape Breton artists, aren't being heard."
 
Like every good non-profit, the station is aided by scores of dedicated volunteers. Some of these individuals are launching "specialized community programming," including Vintage Views, a show hosted and produced by seniors, for seniors. Coast Book Club is a station-produced program featuring Atlantic Canadian authors, poets and playwrights,and Sentimental Journey is comprised of easy listening tunes from the 1940s and 1950s. Also in the works is a European show for listeners overseas.
 
The new station is designed after other successful community radio stations across Canada. "The wonderful thing about community radio is that everyone helps everyone else,” says McNeil. “What goes around comes around, and now that we've gone from being an idea to a full-fledged community station, we're starting to get calls from other folks looking to do the same thing in other Maritime communities."
 
Their cooperative is unique in a few ways. Being a "non-dividend" co-operative, members pay nominal annual fees but will never get rich off the business. Any money the station makes is applied directly to their operating costs. They are also 100 per cent locally owned, a definite rarity in today's media.
 
As someone who's been working in the radio and music industries since he was 19 years old, MacNeil considers himself extremely fortunate to have been able to stay in his birthplace and make a living. "There are so many good people here," he says. "Nova Scotia is a really great place to be, especially right now. There's a growing sense of celebrating our own talent.”
 
In a demographic where radio listeners tend to turn the radio on in the morning and leave it on all day, Coast 89.7 is getting rave reviews. "The audience response has been absolutely fantastic. It's overwhelming. So, far we haven't had one negative comment."
 
MacNeil says the station receives calls and emails from people all over the world saying how good it was to hear a particular song or artist or to hear news from the community. "Judging by the response we've been getting, I’d say we've got several thousand listeners and counting. I think it will grow faster than even we anticipate."