Defunded, Memorial University’s CHMR-FM radio isn’t throwing in the towel | Radio-Canada

If the student association of Memorial University decided Wednesday evening to cut the funding it pays to CHMR-FM radio, the station manager promises that the latter will not stop broadcasting.

Wednesday evening, around a hundred people attended a meeting of the board of directors of the Memorial University of Newfoundland Students’ Union (MUNSU), who made the decision behind closed doors after a four-hour meeting.

Rhea Rollmannthe manager of 93.5 FM, promises not to throw in the towel, even if cutbacks have to be considered. We’ll find a way to keep broadcastingshe maintains, the day after the closed-door vote of the board of directors of the MUNSU.

The motion adopted Wednesday by the board of directors specifies that from 1^isIn July, radio employees, who are unionized employees of the MUNSUwill be reassigned to other tasks.

It also stipulates that the association will cease offering CHMR-FM radio as a service as quickly as possible, if not no later than August 31, 2026.

Succession de déficits à la MUNSU

According to the latest financial statements published by the MUNSUwhich date from 2023-2024, annual radio revenues were $72,000, while expenses exceeded $266,000. The association had to cover the deficit of approximately $194,000.

The student association, which manages several services, including the café-bar Breezewaya fait un déficit global de près de 298 000 $ en 2023-2024 et indique que sa situation financière ne s’est pas améliorée depuis.

We need to have difficult conversations about the financial sustainability of the associationa expliqué Nathan Gillinghamdirector of external affairs of the MUNSUon Radio-Canada last week.

The MUNSU highlights in particular the continued decline in enrollment at the university of Newfoundland and Labrador alone. There MUNSU had 13,000 members two years ago. It currently has 11,000.

Rhea Rollmann underlines that radio has been in deficit for years and maintains that for a long time, MUNSU wanted to support a community radio station with the mandate to promote the music and ideas of its students. She adds that a long-time employee retired last year and was not replaced, which reduced costs at the station.

And at MUNSU has financial difficulties, I think it should be up to the students to decide on their budgetary prioritiesshe says.

She adds that while the last few weeks have been difficult, the media coverage has allowed the station to recruit many new volunteers who want to help keep college radio alive.