Funding allows community to finance radio station, website relaunch
- Tiffany Head | June 12, 2015
The Aboriginal community of Pinehouse, which has a population of 1,450 and is situated 480 kilometers north of Saskatoon on the beautiful Churchill River system, has just recently received funding to finance their radio station.
Pinehouse received $ 167,592 from the government in funding for their radio station, Minahik Achimowin Inc., in support of their production of up to 45 hours of radio programming per week; 30 hours per week will be new original content in the Michif-Cree language.
The funding is being provided through the Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting funding element of the Aboriginal Peoples' Program
“Our Government recognizes the importance of First Nations, Inuit and Métis cultures and languages for Aboriginal communities and for all Canadians. We are pleased to support Aboriginal organizations in their efforts to enhance their knowledge and use,” Said the Honourable Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages.
Minahik Achimowin airs on CFNK 89.9 FM, the signal which reaches a 30 km radius from the radio station. They have also re-launched their community website which now streams the radio content online which can be listened to worldwide.
“We continue to actively promote our michif-Cree language to all our community members including those who reside outside the community like Prince Albert, La Ronge, Saskatoon or Montana(which we have listeners there) and Texas! Streaming online allows this opportunity to hear news events in Cree,” said Vince Natomagan, Executive Director of Minahik Achimowin Inc.
Natomagan says they are different from MBC in terms of dialect and style.
“We do Michif-Cree and the Y-dialect as opposed to MBC’s TH dialect and Michif. Also, we carry out more quality language programming for more hours in a given day. Our programming and air-time is locally driven, locally owned and local content,” said Natomagan.
The programming includes daily news, weather, sports, health messages, storytelling, and interviews about community issues.
Natomagan says now that the radio station is alive and vibrant once again, the community members are receiving the radio station and its funding very enthusiastically.
“Part of the reason is the historic MBC radio announcers like Clarence “Tsi-Boy” Iron and Vince Natomagan are good radio personalities,” said Natomagan.
The usual schedule for hosts will be scheduled as:
- 8:00-10:00 am Vince Natomagan
- 10:00-11:00am Clarence “Tsi-Boy”Iron
- 11:00am-12:00pm Theresa K Natomagan
- 3:00-4:00pm Clarence “Tsi-Boy”Iron
- 4:00-5:00pm Theresa K Natomagon
You can stream in online via pinehouselake.ca or tune in on the radio or Facebook.
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