• Establish one key partner and several support partners (in our experience effective community partners included national parks, regional economic boards and community development associations linked to education and youth.)
• If the key partner can also provide the venue it is a plus (but not essential)
• The key partner should play an active role in content planning and should be represented in the content (this gives them a vested interest in contributing to the program schedule)
• Other partners can contribute in a variety of ways (content, publicity, volunteer support during the event etc.)

Choosing the right venue is vital to pulling off a successful event. Several factors must be taken into consideration:

• The venue should be a visible, "high profile" location that is recognizable and accessible to the general public
• It helps if there is natural public traffic
• As mentioned above, it works well if the venue is associated with the key community partner
• It must provide sufficient space for:
• Technical set up
• Interviews
• A phone table
• Live music
• Live activities (panel discussions, presentations, games etc.)
• Technical considerations:
• Elevation
• Access to outdoors to run cable from the transmitter to the antenna
• Access to the outdoors is a plus for interviews, live music, activities etc. This works well and makes for a fun informal mood)
• Bathroom and kitchen facilities
• Phone lines (one for the web cast and one for general use/phone-ins etc.)
• Permission to make long distance phone calls

A participatory community radio/ web cast event can happen at any time throughout the year but we found our summer and fall events were particularly successful:

• Summer is a good time to hold an event especially if the venue is a public place with lots of natural traffic. (Our summer event took place in the Interpretation Centre of a National Park - this worked really well.)

• Good weather allows for outdoors activities — this creates a fun informal setting for live radio
• People tend to be on vacation and are available to take part
• Youth participants may be available through summer youth programs

• Schools are closed which cuts out a major source of youth participants

• Fall is a good time to hold an event since school is back in session and teachers and students are refreshed after the summer break — it’s a good time to recruit school/youth participation
• Winter/Spring are more challenging times to recruit youth from schools as exams are a priority and any time lost during the school year (to snow etc.) must be made up before the end of term.

Once the dates, venue, and key partner are confirmed allow at least three weeks to a month to plan the event. This includes:

• Recruitment of other partners
• Arranging for any technical requirements (e.g. installation of phone lines if those at the venue are not already adequate)
• Planning the schedule
• Lining up the schedule (booking interviews, musicians, presenters, panelists, moderators, live audiences, trivia competitions etc.)
• Recruiting volunteer staff (on-air hosts and technical support)
• Publicity
• General event support (catering, supplies etc.)

It is best if the planning and scheduling of content is carried out by a team rather than by an individual (i.e. the coordinator.) This not only shares the workload but also makes the process more enjoyable and shares the sense of commitment and ownership. A content planning committee can be made up of representatives from partner organizations. It is also easier if the coordinator is based in the same community as the event. If this is not possible make sure there is one reliable contact resident in the community who can be available to help out "on the ground." Here are some things to consider when assembling the committee:

• Be careful not to have too many members — four or five people is enough
• Be sure there is at least one representative from your key partner organization on the content planning committee. It is important that the key partners be represented in the programming.
• Make sure people are clear about what is expected of them — lining up 24 hours of programming is time consuming and requires a lot of phone calls — make sure your partners are committed!
• It’s often difficult to coordinate people’s schedules but try to gather the committee together for at least one face-to-face planning meeting. This will help get everyone on the same page and will reinforce peoples’ sense of commitment to the project.
• Ask members to come up with some "story ideas" to bring to the meeting and assure them there are no "stupid ideas"

Once you decide what your broadcast hours will be, draw up a blank schedule to distribute to the team. The schedule itself is divided into ten-minute blocks — if you expect an item to take ten minutes section off one block, if you think it will take twenty minutes section off two blocks and so on.

Content: Try to find a balance between live and taped content. You’ll need some taped material (music, taped interviews, PSA’s etc.) to play while transitioning between live item. However the majority of your programming should be live — it’s generally easier, less time consuming and more interesting for the people in the studio!

• Brainstorm on ideas for content:

• Interviews (live in studio, live by phone or pre-taped.) Subject matter can be issued-based (in our case it was climate change) or community based (representing partners and/or other interesting things that are going on in the community)
• Pre-taped material from other stations that might be appropriate and available (permission will be required to re-broadcast it)
• Panels (topic, panelists and moderator) try to pick something interesting that could potentially attract a live in-studio audience and/or callers.
• Activities (games, trivia competitions, theme-based performances etc.)
• Presentations (presenter and live participants)
• Live local entertainment* (musicians, storytellers etc.)
• Possible on-air hosts (the earlier they are recruited the better. This way they can be kept informed of schedule updates and can contact interviews in advance.) Contact planning members can also host.

• Book plenty of live musicians (aim for one act every two hours)
• Ask bands/acts to perform acoustic (this keeps things simple for set up and keeps a check on volume)
• Ask bands/performers to play a couple of sets of two to four songs per set. You can air an interview or other item between sets, this keeps the program varied and interesting and gives musicians enough air time to make it worth their while to come.

• Develop a "chase list" of ideas and assign items to the team to follow up on
• Exchange contact information (phone and e-mail)
• Decide how the committee will communicate — regular communication is vital in order to avoid overbooking! (We found e-mail was a very efficient mode of communication.)
• Pick one person — most likely the coordinator - to be the central contact for all scheduling issues and agree on a system of how to:

• keep the group informed on bookings
• avoid over-booking

• in Terra Nova each time someone booked an item she would e-mail the information to entire group who would add it to their schedule
• in St. John’s each time someone booked an item s/he would e-mail the coordinator who would send updated versions of the schedule to the entire group on a daily basis

When booking a guest or item always get:

• Names of all people who will be appearing
• Title and organization they represent
• Brief description of item
• Contact number (essential for phone interviews! and/or email)

All this information should appear on the schedule.

• Any other background information that might be helpful to the host/interviewer

Also:

• Ask guests to arrive fifteen minutes early (so they can set up, chat with the host etc.)
• Explain to guests that interviewers are not professionals — if they want to suggest their own questions they’re welcome to do so.
• Ask guests if they can suggest anyone else who might be interesting and interested in being on the program
• When booking musicians ask if they have a CD they would donate and give us permission to play

The coordinator is responsible for organizing the publicity. For our project this was carried out through:

• Local Media
• Press release: a one-page announcement geared toward local media. It contains all relevant information about the event along with quotes from key partners. It reads somewhat like a newspaper article and some papers will simply print it as is. It should be sent to all local television and radio stations and newspapers.
• Public Service Announcement: a very short announcement containing the basic details on your event. Newspapers will print it in their community events section; radio stations will announce it; and cable TV stations will display it on their community calendar.
• Send out press releases and PSA’s roughly ten days before your event — some papers have very early deadlines especially for PSA’s so call and find out when they are.
• After sending out press releases and PSA’s call each agency and ask if they got it. If not, send it again and continue to follow up by phone.

• Poster
• Get started on poster design early as artwork and proofreading takes time
• Approach community partners for artistic youth who might do the poster for free
• Be sure to include logos of all funders and key partners
• Colour photocopies are economical and effective
• Recruit youth partner agencies to help hang posters — many hands make light work
• The poster should be up at least a week before the event

• E-mail
• Compose an e-mail similar in style to your PSA and send it to all friends and colleagues and ask them to pass it on

• Signage
• a professionally printed sign placed on the road outside the venue goes and long way to promote your event (but can be expensive)
• keep it simple, dates and call signal in large print are sufficient

• Flyers
• Place a simple hand bill or flyer at the front desk of your venue or other key locations
• It should include dates, times, call signal and phone number of venue. It could also list any special activities for which you need a live audience.
• Volunteers can distribute these by hand outside your venue

Participants can be recruited through:

• Partner organizations
• Schools
• Referrals and personal contacts
• Off the street (or as a result of publicity)

Besides content planning, people can participate in a variety of ways:

• On-air host
• Publicity/postering
• Assistant director
• Sound board operator
• CD operator
• CD recorder/log keeper
• Video cameral operator
• Video log keeper
• Roving reporter
• Greeter
• Panelist
• Trivia leader/contestant
• Entertainer
• Interview guest
• Workshop leader/participant
• Listener

People of all ages can take part in a participatory community radio event but generally the technology is handled by local youth. A crew of four to six youth should be present at all times (not including hosts.) Kids aged twelve and up can handle the technology.

It helps to recruit a team of two to four youth who can serve as your full time "staff." This team will take part in training on the day you set up (the day before you go on air) as will be available for the majority of the event. This works well because:

• it ensures you will have always have at least two people around at all times to cover the essential jobs
• the youth staff can serve as peer mentors to help train other youth who come for shorter shifts
• by being a part of the entire event it creates a sense of pride and ownership of the event among these youth

On-air hosting is carried out by local youth and other members of the community. Hosts should be:

• Energetic
• Confident
• Friendly
• Good listeners
• Interested in the subject matter and/or media

Hosts can be anywhere from high school-aged and up, though we found slightly older youth who were a little more mature and were better equipped to conduct interviews (though high school students had great energy!)

The coordinator should avoid hosting. He or she will have enough to do keeping the schedule on track, organizing musical set ups, greeting guests, taking phone calls, training tech volunteers, making sure volunteers have enough food, juice, coffee, and generally trouble shooting when items go long/short and guests don’t show up!

Two co-hosts generally work well. Most people have not done on-air hosting before and feel more comfortable with a buddy. With two people it’s easier to chat and fill air time if necessary. Hosts:

• Generally cover four hour shifts
• Announce the frequency/identity of the station; give background on the project and generally keep the program rolling along
• Conduct interviews
• Announce upcoming taped music/items, performers, activities

Director — (Usually the coordinator) keeps track of the schedule and is generally at the ready to pass last minute info to hosts, rearrange microphones and keep an eye on the schedule, ask people to be quiet if noise level gets disruptive etc.

Assistant Director — (Usually a volunteer participant) works with the director as a trainee and will gradually assume the role of director as s/he becomes more comfortable with the role.

The technology is very straightforward and is generally the same type of equipment people would have at home.

The jobs that need to be covered at all times are:

Audio board operator - basically controls what goes on the air. The audio board is hooked up to:

• four microphones
• a tape deck and
• a cd player

The audio board operator turns the sound up/down as needed and communicates with the hosts using hand signals letting the host know when the microphone is "live."

CD and tape deck operator — works hand in hand with audio board operator.

He/she keeps track of pre-recorded material which can be played from two sources:

• the cd player
• the tape deck

The CD player holds five disks at a time, so this person must know what CD is in what slot.

The tape deck holds two cassette tapes at a time.

When it’s time to put a recorded item on the air, the Audio Operator signals the CD/tape operator to press play.

CD recorder and log keeper - Everything that goes to air is recorded onto CD for archival purposes.

This person inserts tracks (breaks) onto the CD every time a new item starts.

This person is also responsible for labeling the CD's and keeping a program log.

Other non-technical jobs to be covered are:

Greeter - welcomes any studio guests who you may have invited.

Phone operator - answers phone calls and calls out to any phone interviews that have been lined up.

Signal Hill National Historic Site of Canada teams up with the Conservation Corps Newfoundland and Labrador and Ryakuga Grassroots Communications to present Tuning In To Climate Change - an innovative new project that encourages listeners and participants to talk about climate change and related environmental issues.