Two hours of programmer created content, podcasts, music, interviews, and community announcements. Hour One airs Mondays from 11am to Noon; Hour Two airs Fridays from 3pm to 4pm.
Bob empties the last of the KWCon from his inbox to play all the latest new, local music. Also, Bob introduces Season three of She Is Your Neighbour
If you’re a local artist and want to have your work on the radio (music, poetry, short (or long) stories, comedy, radio theatre, &c) check out How To Submit Music and contact us at office@radiowaterloo.ca.
Today we’re featuring the new album Thieves Of Joy by The Soviet Influence, to be released on the first of May, otherwise know as May Day or Labour Day in other parts of the world.
What: Kitchener-Waterloo Rally When: 3:00pm – 6:00pm on Sunday, 1 May 2022 iCal Where: Waterloo Region Courthouse Location: 85 Frederick Street, Kitchener, Ontario Map Website: https://ofl.ca/event/may-1-kitchener-waterloo/
It’s time for a $20 minimum wage, decent work, affordable housing, paid sick days, well-funded public services, livable income support for all, climate justice, and an end to racism and oppression. Join us!
Other Resources
Jorts The Cat
Jorts The Cat
Jorts The Cat gets a mention at 17m00s in the podcast.
Local Music is Sexy – Austin Kleon Today we have nothing but KWCon music — music by musicians from Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Wilmot, Wellesley, Woolwich, and North Dumfries. All recent releases, too!
If you’re a Waterloo Region musician and want to get your music on the radio check out How To Submit Music and we’ll add it to our library!
Barbara Schumacher and Jim Stewart of the Waterloo Region Health Coalition join Bob Jonkman on a web conference to talk about the Ontario government’s creeping advances to privatized health care, the diminishing level of health care in Ontario compared to other provinces, ideas to improve public health care, the effects of having private hospitals, and an announcement of the upcoming Waterloo Region Health care Privatization Summit.
We had some technical difficulties during the live broadcast, but the podcast cleaned up nicely, although the web conference created some dropout in the audio at some points.
Introductions: Barbara Schumacher is a retired physician and the former Medical Director of the University of Waterloo Health Service; Jim Stewart is the chair of the Waterloo Region Health Coalition. WRHC is a chapter of the Ontario Health Coalition, a non-partisan public watchdog for health care. Provincial legislation is introducing privatization of health care by stealth; result of insufficient funding for the health care system. Canadian Doctors for Medicare has done studies of the administration of private health care: Canadian public health has half the administrative cost of private health care.
13m37s
Ontario is dead last among the provinces in funding public health care: fewest hospital beds, fewest nurses, and funding hospitals at the lowest rate of any province. We need to look for ways to invest in public health, not take funds out and drive them into profit-driven “Independent Health Facilities”. Federal health care transfer payments have dropped from 50% to 20%. There is a massive reduction in provincial health care spending. Federal government transfer payments are intended to administer a provincial health care system, not deliver health care. In 2019 the Ontario People’s Health Care Act created a super agency with powers to restructure the public health care system, now there is a patchwork across the province, different in Waterloo Region from Windsor, Toronto, Ottawa, Kingston, Sudbury.
17m14s
How to make things better? Focus on public health care, we paid for this over decades, why throw it out? Comparing England, where NHS privatized, but the private company went bankrupt and left. How sustainable are private companies for delivering health care. But Scotland’s NHS rejected privatization and focused on public infrastructure and create a strategy for sustainability for the NHS in Scotland. As a result, Scotland is a world leader in reducing wait times, reduction of hospital acquired infections, and reducing re-admission rates. They used four strategies: 1) Redesign and transform capacity on population-based requirements; 2) Information (linked electronic health records); 3) Planning strategy, including continuous quality improvement; 4) Peformance Management Strategy, holding regional health units accountable when they don’t reach targets. Canadian Doctors for Medicare has a lot of studies on how our Canadian health care system can be reformed. Private health care is not the only alternative. Private clinics primarily focus on profit, that’s what they’re designed to do.
25m00s
On 1 February 2022 the Ontario Health Minister, Christine Elliot, gave a press conference where she said “Let independent health facilities create private hospitals.” This is an alarming announcement, it speaks to the complete coring out of our public hospitals, having them recall diagnostic and surgical services, to be reconstituted in private clinics. In private hospitals the simple procedures and uncomplicated patients get drawn in the private system, then the public hospitals are left with the more expensive cases requiring more intense professional care, so public hospitals have expenses that far exceed those of private hospitals. Private hospitals also pull professional expertise out of the public system, but since there will be no additional doctors it leaves public hospitals with fewer resources. Private hospitals only benefit people who can afford it; poor people will go to underfunded, understaffed public hospitals. Public hospitals have a flat-fee system to compensate doctors; all neurologists or all obstetricians are paid the same. In a private system there can be a differential fee scale according to expertise. The public system doesn’t reinforce holding on to quality, we see physicians with specialized skills move to the US, draining the public care system. But some Canadian physicians find the private system in the US burdensome (health insurance costs, tracking down overdue payments, take orders from health insurance corporations) so their ability to deliver high-quality health care is diminished significantly, and they return to Canada.
30m33s
WRHC is trying to warn the Region of Waterloo what is happening with privatization. They are holding an emergency summit on Tuesday, 5 April 2022, at 7:00pm register with Zoom. Speakers include Natalie Mehra, Executive Director of the Ontario Health Coalition. Find out what’s happening so people can make a decision a the voting booth in June.
31m48s
Discussing the politics of health care. WRHC is non-partisan, but there’s no need to have a political affiliation, almost all parties support the public health care system. It’s not a political position, it’s a social position. Discussing the scope of health care delivery: Eye care, hearing care, dental care, pharmacare, and mental health care. “Health care above the neck.” Pharmacare on a large scale gets better competitive pricing, but the strong Pharma lobby is holding us back.
36m16s
Jim Stewart gives the WRHC contact info and Bob gives the credits as Extended Heatwarning plays out to the end of the podcast.
Article in The Record about the Mill Street development where the “worst case scenario” we warned about basically is what happened, with over 100 units lost without preventing displacement of the original homes.
This is the week of the U.N.’s International Women’s Day, and so we’re playing music by women in Waterloo Region and across Canada. New music and old music. Music that’s sad, music that’s happy; ballads and love songs; folk, country, rock, and pop.
If there are no breaking local news stories, this show will be repeated from 3pm-4pm on Friday, 11 March 2022.
Another music show as I continue to dig through my e-mail from last year. Today we have more recent releases, as I skim off the top layer of my InBox. No podcast, so if you want to listen to these tracks at your whim, click on the links for the artists and buy their music!
The studio remains closed, putting a crimp in getting musicians and community members in for interviews. Web conferences just don’t feel like real radio…
This is a repeat of the show from Monday, 28 February 2022.
James Blacktop on CKMS Community Connections, 18 February 2022Marc ReillyAdom Postma
The Boys & I are back in the studio! Well, on a web conference, because the CKMS studio is still closed to guests until the pandemic subsides. James Blacktop, Marc Reilly and Adom Postma tell us about their experience with the pandemic, their studio session, working with a producer, being a road band, and give us a brief rundown of upcoming gigs. Nathan Bonassin couldn’t be with us today, there’s that day job getting in the way again.
We play some music from their past appearances on CCC (19 August 2019 and 31 August 2020), James plays a love song for his fiancée Stepaniee (they’re getting married this summer — Congratulations!), and we play the brand new single White Hot which was released today.
When: Friday, 11 March 2022 Location: 4057 New St, Burlington, Ontario Website: https://www.slyefox.com/
EP Release Party
When: Saturday, 19 March 2022 Where: Descendants Beer and Beverage Company Location: 319 Victoria Street North, Kitchener, Ontario Website: https://www.descendantsbeer.com/
The Boys & I were in Chalet Studio in Uxbridge from September to November to record an EP, Ignite with 5 tracks. Worked with staff who recorded That Ain’t Me Any More, but learning all about distribution and marketing. On the web conference with James Blacktop (vocals), Marc Reilly (guitarist), Adom Postma (bass). Everyone is excited to be playing live in front of an audience again. The EP includes another track, Book Of Counted Sorrows, written during the pandemic. Marc created the riff, James wrote the lyrics.
Marc says the music in a minor key with an interesting riff sounded sad, fitting with the pandemic. Started as a remote collaboration, passing music and lyrics back and forth before working together. The full EP, remaining four songs will come out together on 18 March 2022, Book Of Counted Sorrows will be the second single off the EP but released on the same day. Introducing Nathan Bonassin (drummer) can’t make it due to work. James working on another song, Old Fashioned Kind Of Love, a summertime love song. We’ve been playing Lay Down Easy at the station.
Why release a song in Winter? We all need a bit of White Hot in the winter. But it builds up an audience for summer concerts. There’s a concert from 8pm to 10pm tonight (Friday, 18 February 2022) at Descendants brewery; James lists other upcoming events. How far do The Boys & I travel? Welland, Oshawa, usually within about an hour and a half. They’ve been approached to join the “Extreme Tour”, with shows throughout the United States. But 2020 and 2021 happened. Maybe this summer. Is streaming worthwhile? Not as a revenue stream. But it helps get gigs. James promised Stephaniee to play a song live on the air, the song they will dance to at their upcoming wedding.
32m25s
Here I Stand Live, On-air
Stephaniee and James Blacktop
36m24s
Discussing James and Stephaniee’s wedding. Looking forward to the honeymoon in Europe. Adom and Marc leave the lovesong writing to James. This studio session was a totally different experience than the one in 2020. The band had a producer that nitpicked technique to get the best out of the band. That has affected the live performance, but they sneak in some of the old-style riffs, the “OG Version”. But no background vocalists! White Hot came out today, eagerly looking forward to streaming hits. James quit smoking and has improved his vocal range, looking to increase his repertoire to take advantage. James tells us the inspiration for White Hot — James didn’t think it was very good, but Adom recognized it as a banger right away. Bob heard White Hot as the theme on Wide World Of Motorsports, but without James’ singing!
It’s Valentines Day, and what better way to celebrate than by playing love songs? It’s a day for songs about true love, unrequited love, spurned love, lost love, and spiders.
Spiders? OK, I didn’t know how else to fit in a track from Active Dark Filament. Erroll Zastre writes:
“Lake of the Spiders”, I don’t know, a romantic place to take your significant other… get eaten by a giant spider? I’ve been watching too many Saturday night Svengoolie horror programs.
Also on the show today we have the debut radio performance of Talk by Living Room For Small. Many thanx to Owen for getting the track to us with virually no advance notice!
There’s also a teaser of the new single from The Boys & I, White Hot which comes out on all streaming platforms on Friday. We’ll have an interview with James Blacktop on our Friday afternoon episode at 3:00pm.
Did you ever see the Johnny Cash biopic Walk The Line? Until I saw that movie I didn’t know that Ring Of Fire was a love song written by June Carter Cash to Johnny Cash. We start off the show with a beautiful rendition by I, The Mountain.
Since there are no interviews but it’s all CanCon music (and mostly KWCon music) there won’t be a podcast. Sorry. Once the studio re-opens for guests I’ll step up my game and get people in for interviews, Live On-Air In-Studio performances, and podcasts.
Digging a little deeper into the InBox to find more KWCon music! All the artists on today’s show are from Waterloo Region, or were in their pasts. Bad news: I’ve only dug as deep as July 2021. Good news: There’ll be lots more KWCon music coming in the next few weeks!
This show will repeat on Friday, 4 February 2022 at 3:00pm.
Map of Waterloo Region where KWCon music comes from!
I am so behind in my e-mail. Almost a year behind. And that means that people from Waterloo Region who have been submitting music haven’t heard from me, and have probably given up hope of getting their music on the radio. To you I say Do Not Despair! I’m digging my way to the bottom of my InBox, and I will get to your music submissions. In fact, I’m playing a bunch of them today.
To submit your music send an e-mail to office@radiowaterloo.ca with the subject KWCon Music Submission (substitute CanCon if you’re not from Waterloo Region), and check out our detailed music submission guide.
I have now worked my way down to June in my InBox, and will probably do a few more KWCon shows in the next few weeks until all the backlog of both KWCon and CanCon submissions have been heard on the FM airwaves. So to start, here are today’s selections.
This week I’m playing KWCon music, that is, music by local musicians from Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, Wellesley, Wilmot, and Woolwich (and maybe some who have friends and relations in the area)… This is all new music from 2021, or newly discovered in 2021. Sadly, I’ve only got an hour, which covers barely half of the KWCon musicians I discovered this year. So that means there’s not enough time to provide bios or background information.
I hope this Covid is done soon. I want to bring all these musicians into the studio for interviews and maybe a Live, On-Air, In-Studio performance.
And for any musicians in Waterloo Region I’ve missed, drop us a line at office@radiowaterloo.ca with an MP3 of your music or a link to a download site, and we’ll get your songs on the air. I’m about six months behind in replying to e-mail, so please be patient. Or even better, join Radio Waterloo as a member, Start Your Own Show, and put Waterloo Region’s music on the air!
Tune in Monday, November 8 at 11:00 AM for the CKMS 102.7 FM Radio Waterloo Community Connections – Caught in the Act – Live At Lana’s with Alison King and John McLelland. Steve Todd hosts.
Lana's Lounge | Caught In The Act! | Live from Lana's Lounge | Replay of Alison King and John McLelland's live performance at Lana's Lounge | Monday November 8, 2021 11:00am
CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.
Tune in Monday, 1 November 2021 at 11:00 AM on CKMS 102.7 FM Radio Waterloo for Community Connections, and “Caught in the Act – Live From Lana’s Lounge“, a one-hour spotlight on the Riffs (Yvonne Way & Rob Gies). Steve Todd hosts.
Lana's Lounge | Caught in the Act | Live from Lana's Lounge | Replay of The Riff's live performance at Lana's Lounge | Monday, 1 November 2021 11:00am | CKMS Community Connections
CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.
Tune in Monday, 4 October 2021 at 11 AM on CKMS 102.7 FM Radio Waterloo for Community Connections; an hour of Oktoberfest music and talk with Dennis Scherer from Retake. Steven Todd hosts!
Last week I promised to play a bunch of Canadian Content and KW Content music. In a weird way, it was good that I couldn’t play it, because Mo Markham was a great guest with lots of info about KW Vegfest. So, mea culpa, and here are all the songs and artists I didn’t play last week. No commentary on this show, but I hope to invite all the artists into the studio once it re-opens.
Mo Markham of KW Vegfest Mo Markham joins me, Bob Jonkman, on a web conference to talk about the upcoming KW Vegfest 2021, and tells us about the speakers and vendors who will be at this year’s Vegfest. We talk about veganism, the need for a plant-based diet, and the “Ag Gag” laws that try to suppress publication of the problems with industrial agriculture. The speaker presentations are being recorded, so we’ll have Mo back in a few weeks to as we put some on the air.
I promised to play a bunch of new CanCon and KWCon music today, but there was so much Vegfest to talk about we didn’t get to it. We’ll definitely have a full music episode next week, and I’ll invite the musicians to come into the studio (when it re-opens) for a Live, On-Air, In-Studio performance!
Mo Markham tells us about this year’s KW Vegfest, being held in-person at the Kitchener Market. She gives a little history, and then goes over the Covid protocols in place, done by the Kitchener Market staff. There’s no online component, but presentations will be recorded and we’ll air excerpts on a future CCC. Mo tells us about the KW Vegfest programme, and tells us about some of the musical guests. There’s more stuff happening outside, and Mo goes over the list of vendors. We talk about transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, there are Vegan Societies to help people with this, for example the KW Vegan Society and the Cambridge, Ontario Vegan Society. KW Vegfest is put on by KW Animal Save.
Veganism is one of the ways to address climate change — animal agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Plant Based Treaty was recently set up to bring attention to this, and some municipal councillors are already on board.
Mo’s cat Joanie introduces herself, and we talk about plant-based cat food. Cats are obligate carnivores, they’re required to eat meat. But the only nutrient needed by cats missing in plants is taurine, so adding a taurine supplement makes plant-based cat food completely nutritious for cats.
We talk about “vegan” as an ethical choice, separate from eating a plant-based diet. Veganism includes not using any animal based clothing, not going to the zoo, not riding a horse, not using animals in any way. It’s not only animal welfare that drives people to veganism, but also climate change. Mo tells us of her experiences in seeing the effects of climate change herself.
Talking about “Ag Gag Laws”, to suppress information about the conditions for animals in industrial agriculture. Mo gives details about some of these “acceptable” practices. Content Warning: Mo gives some explicit descriptions of animal abuse. Talking about the specifics of the law, how it doesn’t do what it claims to do. There have been no incidents of disease brought in my activists. But it’s foreign and low-paid workers who are most at risk of the zoonotic diseases spread by poor working conditions in these places. Strong agricultural industry lobbying keeps this law on the books.
54m34s
Hardest Part (vocals by CJ Cooper) and Bob gives the closing credits
The studio should be re-opening soon! For now, we’re having another CanCon morning on CKMS Community Connections, with new (to me) music from JSP, Paragon Cause, Sammy Duke, Taylor Davison, Steve Todd, and Cinephonic.
Peter Snow
You may remember our show from 10 May 2021 with Peter Snow from The Soviet Influence, a politically active, indie rock band from southern Ontario. Peter spoke of a live, online event in August for prisoner justice.
The Soviet Influence have partnered up with the Toronto Prisoner Rights Project and produced a compilation record and streamed show this past weekend to raise funds and awareness of this cause. CKMS Community Connections is re-broadcasting that show, recorded by our sister campus radio station from Guelph University, CFRU-FM. It features performances from The Soviet Influence, Friday Empire, Skye Wallace, and Joni Void, along with interviews and information about the project.
The Toronto Prisoner’s Rights Project (TPRP) is a volunteer organization of former prisoners, people with loved ones inside, front-line workers, artists, researchers, educators and students. They engage in direct action, public education, and mutual aid to shed light on the harms caused by incarceration and connect prisoners with social, financial, legal and health supports. They’re committed to abolition and building sustainable communities rooted in community care, transformative justice, and accountability.
Tomorrow, Tuesday 10 August 2021 is Prisoner Justice Day. Please join the memorial at the Church of the Holy Trinity, in Trinity Square tucked between the Eatons Centre and the Marriott Downtown. Between 5pm and 8pm there will be a vigil in solidarity with those who have died while incarcerated as well as to show support for prisoners’ rights. Former prisoners and their loved ones will share their stories and truths. There will be activities, music, performances, food, swag and more! Folks are encouraged to show up to demonstrate solidarity with prisoners and those impacted by incarceration. No one is free until we are all free.
You can support the Toronto Prisoner Rights Project at https://www.torontoprisonersrightsproject.org/get-involved-and-support All proceeds go to mutual aid projects including the Prisoner Emergency Support Fund, Jail Hotline, and Good Food Boxes, and support our direct action advocacy work (through digital organizing tools and protest supplies). Supporters can contribute a monthly donation on Patreon that includes exclusive TPRP merchandise as a thank-you.
Or you can make a one-time donation to the Prisoner Emergency Support Fund, started by the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project and the Toronto Prisoners’’ Rights Project. It’s a team of volunteers that are organizing to support prisoners, who believe that people need access to community support and not human cages. The fund was originally launched as a response to the pandemic. Given the clear gaps in care that have been revealed by the volume of applications, they are continuing to raise funds so long as there are needs to be met. This fund is intended for people inside prisons and jails and recently released prisoners. People behind bars often need support to contact their loved ones or purchase essential items on their canteen. Recently released prisoners need access to funds for housing, food, clothing, and physical and mental health supports. Families who still have loved ones behind bars need funds for expensive phone bills and canteens.
And you can download the Toronto Prisonsers Rights Project Compilation EP by Musicians For Mutual Aid. The record features new music from The Soviet Influence along with tracks from Skye Wallace, The Burning Hell, Sean Bertram, Friday Empire, Davita Guslits, Joni Void + Jerry Quickley, and Kayla Hagerty.
Today Bob was joined by Phöenix Lazare on a web conference. There were technical difficulties resulting in really poor sound quality, so there’s no podcast of today’s show available. We’ll have Phöenix back for another interview when the studio re-opens, and Bob has access to real broadcast audio equipment.
Phöenix and Bob talk about Greatness, Phöenix’s career and her degree in Songwriting; what comes first, lyrics or music? “Depends…” Writing song lyrics is not like writing poetry. Talking about Against All Odds.
“Phöenix” is spelled with an umlaut, but pronounced without it. Doesn’t help get the gigs, though. Talking about Covid, and performing online, and playing the Folk clubs.
Today we have a debut of Fly Away Child from KW musician Sammy Duke, and two tracks from Phöenix Lazare’s new album that will be released this Friday, 9 July 2021. Join us next week for an interview with Phöenix. And today’s show is filled out with lots of other Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge content.
This is the week in which we used to celebrate Canada Day. That’s not happening, but there’s no reason to not celebrate incredible Canadian musicians. Stay tuned over the summer for interviews with some of these musicians, and when the studio re-opens we may have some Live, On-Air, In-Studio performances!
Music Index
Time
Title
Album
Artist
0m00s
Theme for CKMS Community Connections Introduction by Bob Jonkman
Technical troubles at CKMS-FM; a pitch for the Spring 2021 Fundraiser (yes the station phone number is +1‑519‑884‑2567); Concentrating on songs, not albums. Jake explains “Fingerstyle” or “Travis Picking”, and introducing Growing Pains.
Clockwise from bottom left: Peter Snow of the Soviet Influence, Jeff Stager of The Agriculture Show, and Bob Jonkman Our guest today on CKMS #CommunityConnections is Peter Snow from The Soviet Influence. We talk about music, making a video in pandemic times, and even about politics.
Who: In support of the Toronto Prisoner’s Rights Project When: Sometime in August 2021 Where: Online (stay tuned to CKMS-FM for more info; this page will be updated)
Theme for CKMS Community Connections (by Steve Todd)
0m48s
Plant The Bombs
4m40s
There’s been a pandemic! But The Soviet Influence has still released two albums in 2021; the progression to becoming a more outspoken band; people like music with a message, The Soviet Influence is not a band to write romantic love songs; appearing on the 1492 Land Back Lane Mixtape; learning about Indigenous issues; introducing These Chains on that album; ; introducing Two Weeks.
13m18s
These Chains
15m50s
Oh Not Tonight
18m47s
Explaining the meaning of Oh Not Tonight; mixing albums when you can’t go into the studio; introducing the band: Peter Snow, lead vocals and guitar, Peter Morey on bass, Blake Morey drummer, Ty Mackenzie on guitar; a plug for Dave Partridge of HELM Recording; making a video in the home studio, making a home studio from a shed; writing a song ‘cos you need an encore; introducing Two Weeks, a song about Indigenous issues; explaining the album title This Band Is So God.
31m06
Two Weeks
34m36s
Doing some live online shows, paid video gigs; August compilation album for the Toronto Prisoner Rights Project; covering the social justice projects that need support, album proceeds go to these organizations. Bob and Jeff make a pitch for the Radio Waterloo Spring 2021 Fundraising Drive; explaining the Community at the Radio Station, is there a similar community amongst musicians? Peter says Yes, there is, but no formal organization of “social justice bands”. Yet.
47m46s
Oh Not Tonight
51m36s
Oh Not Tonight has played on commercial radio, that was unexpected! If you have music, submit it at office@radiowaterloo.ca, please excuse our delays in replying. Peter talks about upcoming songs, recordings, and live online events; talking about prison abolition; introducing The Guns of Brixton, originally by The Clash.
56m24s
The Guns of Brixton, and Bob gives the end credits.
CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.
Since the studio remains closed we’re playing more new Canadian Content and KW Content music today, and a few tracks released last year too. The definition of “KW Content” broadens yet again — while the group Your New False Gods hails from Scotland, lead singer Kevin Combe has family in Kitchener, and that makes them our neighbours from a different country. Right?