CIWE-FM (89.3

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

, "89.3 The Raven") is a

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. Owned by the

Aboriginal Multi-Media Society The Aboriginal Multi-Media Society (AMMSA) is an Aboriginal publisher in Canada. AMMSA was established in 1983 under the Alberta Societies Act and launched its first publication in March 1983 – simply titled ''AMMSA''. The name of this publica ...

(AMMSA), it broadcasts a freeform format targeting

Central Alberta Central Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. Central Alberta is the most densely populated rural area in the province. Agriculture and energy are important to the area's economy. Geography Central Alberta is bordered ...

's First Nations communities.

History

Following the collapse of the

Aboriginal Voices Radio Network Aboriginal Voices Radio Network (rebranded as Voices Radio in 2014) was a Canadian radio network, which primarily broadcast music programming and other content of interest to aboriginal people. As of June 2015, the network operated stations in To ...

(which broadcast on 89.3 MHz in Edmonton as CKAV-FM-4), the CRTC pursued new applicants for indigenous radio stations to fill its frequencies. The Aboriginal Multi-Media Society, owner of the Edmonton-based CFWE radio network, was granted licenses in Calgary and Edmonton. While the Calgary station would air a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

format in the mold of CFWE, AMMSA founder Bert Crowfoot described the Edmonton station as a freeform station that would play "anything but country". As with the other AMMSA stations, its schedule would include specialty programming presented in Indigenous languages, and featuring

Indigenous music Indigenous music is a term for the traditional music of the indigenous peoples of the world, that is, the music of an "original" ethnic group that inhabits any geographic region alongside more recent immigrants who may be greater in number. The ter ...

. AMMSA prioritized constructing the Calgary station, CJWE-FM, which went on air in April 2018. The wait would be nearly three years longer in Edmonton; CIWE had been planned to launch in April 2020, but the

COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta The COVID-19 pandemic in Alberta is part of an COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The Provinces and te ...

prompted AMMSA to seek a one-year extension. Its transmission tower, named for long-time AMMSA board member Noel McNaughten, is located north of

Spruce Grove Spruce Grove is a city that is west of Edmonton, Alberta, in Canada. The city is adjacent to the Stony Plain, Alberta, Town of Stony Plain and is surrounded by Parkland County. With a 2021 population of 37,645, Spruce Grove is the List of cit ...

. The station began test broadcasts on January 11, 2021. On February 1, 2021, CIWE officially launched as ''89.3 The Raven''; it primarily plays classic rock and pop hits, as well as genre- and decade-based specialty shows (such as

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre, genre and form of rock music, rock and blues music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electri ...

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

, and R&B). Indigenous programming is carried in the

Cree The Cree, or nehinaw (, ), are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people, numbering more than 350,000 in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada, First Nations. They live prim ...

Dene The Dene people () are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal, subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term ...

Nakota Nakota (or Nakoda or Nakona) is the endonym used by those Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Native peoples of North America who usually go by the name of ''Assiniboine people, Assiniboine'' (or ''Hohe''), in the United States, and of ''Nakoda ...

, and

Michif Michif (also Mitchif, Mechif, Michif-Cree, Métif, Métchif, French Cree) is one of the languages of the Métis people of Canada and the United States, who are the descendants of First Nations (mainly Cree, Nakota, and Ojibwe) and fur trade wo ...

languages.

References

External links

* {{Edmonton Radio IWE IWE Radio stations established in 2021 2021 establishments in Alberta