University Of Waterloo Campus Radio Station In Danger Of Shutting Down

11/16/09 2:14pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

CKMS 100.3 Sound FM, the University Of Waterloo's radio station, is in danger of going off the air after students refused to financially support the campus station in a referendum vote.

The station was off the air yesterday, according to Kitchener, Ont.'s The Record, after the doors were locked and BBC broadcasting replaced the station's programming on Friday. CKMS is back on the air now, and station president Steve Krysak says it can operate on its normal schedule for about three more weeks before closing.

"It gives us some time to explore some options that haven't been looked at before," Krysak told The Record. "Now it really is a last-ditch effort."

The station's programming was pulled after students voted in a campus-wide referendum on whether to pay $2.50 per semester to support CKMS. But The Record reports that less than 5,000 of a total 25,500 students voted, and the funding proposal was defeated by only 455 votes.

According to The Record, the station will likely have to relocate and get a new transmitter if it continues operating, and broadcasting will probably still temporarily stopped on Dec. 4 at 6:30 p.m.

CKMS began broadcasting in 1977. It plays everything from rap to rock to classical music, and is on the air from 6 a.m. to midnight every day.