I'm very keen to ask you about your recommendations, but I want to set this up with my own outsider's interest in aboriginal radio, because I've seen it in two contexts. When I worked with the Algonquin Nation in the Abitibi region of Quebec, we had a few isolated radio stations that were speaking to the aboriginal community, but we didn't have the framework that we see in Manitoba, of a much larger...where the communities could speak to each other. When I was working with the Algonquin community I certainly had the sense that regional alienation was probably exacerbated and the loss of language was exacerbated by the lack of a unifying Algonquin radio station.
In my region in the north we have Wawatay, which has done a phenomenal job in the northeast, where we have Cree Radio, and in the northwest, where they have OjiCree Radio.
You've talked about lessons to be learned from the public broadcaster, but I would also argue that the lessons need to be learned by the private broadcasters. The reason I would suggest that you have such a large radio listenership is not simply because you have a large aboriginal audience but because aboriginal radio is a lot more fun and engaging to listen to than private broadcast radio or, often, CBC.
You talk about it as a sense of home. I listen to aboriginal radio wherever I can pick it up because I feel I'm listening to something that's fun and dynamic. One song is by Ernest Tubb, the next song is by Led Zeppelin. People call in. People share stories. I have a sense of immediacy that I don't hear anywhere else in radio.
Is that the experience that you see here in Manitoba as part of the success of your radio network?