Press Release: Community Pickets CKLN After Volunteers Locked Out

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Community Pickets CKLN After Volunteers Locked Out
Management, board, voted out in February, refuses to cede control, bans volunteers

TORONTO, ON, June 26, 2008 --- Locked out CKLN 88.1 FM volunteers and community supporters will hold their first picket outside the community radio station on Friday, June 27 beginning at 6 PM and continue through the evening. The pickets will be led by programmers who would normally be on-air at these times. However, several weeks ago, Mike Phillips unilaterally cancelled these programs and many others, and barred dozens of long-time volunteers from entering the building, sometimes hiring police to guard the entrance.

Phillips continues to misrepresent himself as CKLN’s Station Manager, refusing to recognize the Feb 23 vote of dismissal. Along with Phillips, former Interim Program Director Tony Barnes and former board members Josie Miner and Doug Barrett, will not accept the 90 per cent vote of non-confidence at a meeting of 144 community, volunteer and student members. The CKLN membership democratically elected new community representatives on April 29 and new volunteer representatives on May 3 in accordance with CKLN bylaws, but the old board has refused to relinquish control.

The Friday programs taken off-air are Frameline, Word of Mouth (which also hosts OCAP Radio, No One Is Illegal Radio and Anti-Psychiatry Radio) and Reggaemania. Those claiming to be CKLN management have now locked out over 25 volunteers, including those behind CKLN’s only feminist programs, Radio Cliteracy and Frequency Feminisms, and silenced the the voice of Audrey Redman, the only First Nations woman to host a show on the station. Redman was last heard on Honour the Earth May 11, when Phillips cut her off mid-show as she interviewed other locked-out CKLN members.

Locked out volunteers are urging supporters to sign the online petition to CKLN’s lawyer Paula Boutis at http://www.gopetition.com/online/20115.html. The petition calls for Boutis to recognize the democratically elected board, chosen by CKLN members by elections in late April and early May. This board, elected in accordance with the CKLN bylaws, includes Heather Douglas (volunteer rep), Ron Nelson (volunteer rep), Geoff MacDonald (community rep), Arnold Minors (community rep) and Conrad Collaco (former core staff rep) along with the student representatives elected last Fall.

Contacts:
Verlia Stephens (locked out volunteer, Limin’ in De African Diaspora): 416-530-1492 (h), 416-723-1271 (c), verlia@hotmail.com
Barbara Goslawski (locked out volunteer, Frameline): 416-778-9157, bgos923@hotmail.com
Susy Alvarez (locked out volunteer, Word of Mouth): 416-996-5540, susy.pocasangre@gmail.com
WEBSITE: takebackourradio.blogspot.com
EMAIL: takebackourradio@gmail.com

Volunteers on the Following Programs Have Been Silenced:

ANTI-PSYCHIATRY RADIO
DAT DERE
FRAMELINE
FRQUENCY FEMINISMS
HONOUR THE EARTH
LIMIN' IN DE AFRICAN DIASPORA
LOWDOWN 2 UPTOWN
NO ONE IS ILLEGAL RADIO
OCAP RADIO
RADIO CLITERACY
REGGAEMANIA
SATURDAY MORNING LIVE
SOUNDS OF AFRICA
UPSURGENCE
WORD OF MOUTH NEWS