CKRZ-FM 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 ...

in Ohsweken,

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. Owned by the Southern Onkwehon:we Nishinabec Indigenous Communications Society (SONICS), the station airs a

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial broadcasting, commercial and public broadcasting. Community broadcasting, Community stations serve geographic communities and communities o ...

format for the region's Six Nations and

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

History

The station started broadcasting in 1987. Its frequency is 100.3 FM and is available on Rogers cable, channel 951 in

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully indep ...

, Kitchener,

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. CKRZ's broadcasts are multilingual, broadcasting in

Cayuga Cayuga often refers to: * Cayuga people, a native tribe to North America, part of the Iroquois Confederacy * Cayuga language, the language of the Cayuga Cayuga may also refer to: Places Canada *Cayuga, Ontario United States * Cayuga, Illinois ...

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people (Kanien’kehá:ka), an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language (Kanien’kéha), the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a ...

, and other languages. On Sundays, CKRZ still hosts a radio

bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** B ...

with jackpots of up to $16,000.

Financial crisis

On January 29, 2009, the station announced that due to a rising debt load of more than $100,000 and reduced advertising revenue, it would leave the air on February 1, 2009."Plug to be pulled on CKRZ"
''

Brantford Expositor The ''Brantford Expositor'' is an English language newspaper based in Brantford, Ontario and owned by Postmedia. It provides the readers with coverage of local news, sports and events to the community as well as coverage of provincial, national ...

'', January 29, 2009. At an emergency meeting of SONICS' board and membership, the members subsequently voted to continue the station, as they considered it an asset to the community. Walt Juchniewicz, a broadcast engineer from

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

who had worked with the station in the past, offered to donate services and equipment to help upgrade the station's studios. Juchniewicz called Six Nations one of the nicest communities he had ever worked in, adding that "there are a lot of good people at that station and it's got a better chance of recovering than some of the bigger broadcasters that are in trouble now, too.""Six Nations radio station back on air"
''

'', February 13, 2009. CDN Ohsweken CKRZ FM

The station resumed broadcasting on February 12. It was temporarily reduced to automated programming, with a single live personality to read news reports and community announcements, in order to give SONICS time to eliminate the station's accumulated debt.

References

External links

CKRZ-FM

CKRZ-FM
at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the

Canadian Communications Foundation The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) was a Canadian nonprofit organization which documented the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television networks, programs and broadcasters. The organization was established in ...

Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2016-449
* Krz Krz Radio stations established in 1987 1987 establishments in Ontario Mississaugas {{Ontario-radio-station-stub