Emily Plihal
Local Journalism
Initiative Reporter
NordOuest FM is introducing new programming to provide extra listening entertainment for people throughout the region.
Executive director Gisele Bouchard says the radio station is run by a non-profit organization called Société CKRP Radio Rivière-La-Paix. She notes the station is unique and provides entertainment for both francophone and anglophone individuals.
“We’re part of a consortium of 28 minority language community radio stations located all over the country,” explains Bouchard.
“We have two other sister stations in Alberta, Boréal FM in Plamondon/Lac La Biche and Radio CIté in Edmonton,” she adds.
Although most of the programming provided by the station is in French, Bouchard says they are open to welcoming interested individuals who would like to host an English program. According to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) guidelines, the station can have up to 35 per cent content in languages other than French.
“About 75 per cent of our operations are covered by project-based grants, mostly from federal funds such as Canadian Heritage, Community Radio Fund of Canada, New Horizons, Young Canada Works, Canada Summer Jobs and a variety of other grants,” explains Bouchard.
“We’re able to secure between $250,000 to $300,000 in grants every year.”
Bouchard explains the radio station’s remaining funding comes from donations, membership, and most recently equipment rental and technical services. The station also participates in casinos when granted and run a radio bingo, which she says is now profitable.
“We hope to increase our independent earnings to about 40 per cent of our $550,000 annual budget over the next two years,” she notes.
“Our situation is precarious because we don’t receive operational funding, which we are trying to secure through Canadian Heritage,” she adds.
Bouchard says the non-profit accepts donations throughout the year, but they also hold a major fundraising campaign in May to help fund their endeavours. She explains community radio stations are a rarity in Alberta; thus she urges anyone in the community to become a member of Société CKRP.
The radio station is excited to announce its lineup of programs, including Accent Nord-Ouest running for its third year and hosted by Bernadette Levesque. The program introduces interesting people from the area, experts in various fields with notable ambitions and successes.
“Bernadette brings such energy and conviction,” says Bouchard.
Last year, 157 people of all ages, from all walks of life, took part in one of the show’s 30 episodes. Levesque is a community-builder and she’s taken this on like she would take on a ministry and has made it her mission to give a voice to our communities.”
Levesque will be assisted in videography and social media by Apyna Roy and will have a co-host in William Fournier, who will also help her with technical support.
“I believe Bernadette’s show is really about discovery as she is able to unlock people’s secret garden, in a sense,” Bouchard notes.
“We cross paths with people but often we don’t truly know them. This year, she’ll be doing a series of interviews with community members, getting them to divulge a little about themselves. It’s an intimate look into people’s personal philosophies, into their passions and their world view.”
Accent Nord-Ouest is live on Wednesday nights from 7-9 p.m. and runs again Sundays at 3 p.m. Bouchard says the program will also be available Mondays following the live broadcast on nordouestfm.ca and on SoundCloud.
Monday to Friday from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. the local news show Échos du Nord-Ouest is broadcast. The show covers everything from weather, community events, news from the area and francophonie.
“It’s hosted by myself Monday to Wednesday, by Marianne Houle on Thursdays and by Justine Dubrûle on Fridays,” says Bouchard.
“I often try to interview community leaders, representatives from community organizations, local musicians, community members at least a few times a week. I occasionally share my opinion on controversial topics and am totally open to anyone who would be interested in sharing theirs,” she adds.
“I’d also love to find a Falher Pirates fan who’s interested in commenting on the games, especially during the playoffs.”
Nord-Ouest FM is committed to ensuring local news is provided to ensure listeners stay updated on events.
A unique program provided on the station is Tiernan depuis Tokyo.
“It’s a 30-minute show hosted by Laurier Tiernan, a Franco-Albertan that has been living in Tokyo for over 20 years now,” explains Bouchard.
“He lived in Falher years ago for about 10 months. He’s a musician, poet, journalist and model and his show focuses on Francophone new indie releases.”
Bouchard explains the program will provide people the opportunity to discover indie music in French.
One of the newest programs on the show is an English program called Holistic Wellness hosted by Simerjeet Sylvain. The program will provide listeners an opportunity to learn more about themselves and discover new ways of looking at wellness. The live show will be at 1 p.m. every Wednesday.
Talents caches is a program that was started in September, featuring musical talent from the area.
“We are working at developing a directory of area singer-songwriters and at adding their music to our database,” she explains.
“Once this is done, we’ll be presenting a curated bilingual show from May to August 2025.”
Bouchard says by hosting Les artistes de chez-nous through the last four years they discovered a lot of great talent in the area.
“The only English music we play is local music, it’s one of our station’s main goals,” she notes.
“Some of our board members and myself are really inspired by CKUA’s impact on Alberta’s music scene,” she adds.
“I guess you could say that we’re trying to do the same but on a much smaller scale.”
Finally, the station is partnering with Café Nord-Ouest to start a children’s series.
“This project is a great way to introduce children to radio,” Bouchard says. “We’ll be going into immersion and francophone schools from mid-November to early December to give workshops to four to seven-year-olds and to record content for the show.”
Bouchard says the station’s technical support expert Randy Fillion and show host Alexe Fortier will oversee the project.
“Thanks to funding from Canadian Heritage, we’re able to go into the schools for free,” she says.
The children will be featured in one or more of the 16 episodes. The station will do its best to let parents and schools know when they will be featured.
She explains the show will be 30 minutes long and will feature songs, excerpts from students, and storytelling by Genevieve Nicolet and Frigou. Café Nord-Ouest’s mascot will be co-hosting.
“It’s not only a great way to promote the radio station to children and their families, but also a way to introduce children to the medium of radio,” she says.
“One of our main focuses is to ensure we raise awareness with the next generation. We hope the children will experience a sense of pride when they hear themselves or their friends on the air,” she adds.
Bouchard explains the community radio station project started in the early 1990s when Denis Desgagné was working for the regional Association Canadienne -française de l’Alberta (ACFA) office.
“There was a wave of community radio station projects coming to fruition at the time,” she explains.
“They started with a temporary licence and broadcasted at events like the Ag Fair in Donnelly in the early nineties. In October 1996, CKRP was officially on the air.”
Bouchard says it was the first francophone community radio station west of Winnipeg at the time and despite being told the region would have a hard time supporting and funding a community radio station, they went ahead with the project anyway.
“The first few years, the community radio station had a strong following, especially when Patrick Henri (now with Radio Canada) was the station’s main host in the early 2000s.” she notes.
“(Later) ACFA struggled with funding and staffing, leading them to close the station in 2017. A group of residents decided they needed to try to preserve the community radio station.”
In 2018, the group took over the station, bringing it back to air in December 2019.
In 2020, the station was rebranded, taking on our new name Nord-Ouest FM and a new slogan, votre radio, vos accents (your radio, your unique voice).
If you would like more information on the station, would like to donate, host a radio program, or rent their audio equipment, please visit the website at nordouestfm.ca.