Photo courtesy Tom McGuire on Flickr
Here at Apt613, we’re not just content with establishing absolute dominance over the entire interwebs. No, our aspirations go well beyond that – and that’s why this summer we’ve taken to the radio airwaves as well! It’s true, dear readers: from 2-3 pm on Thursday afternoons, you can catch our mellifluous voices on CHUO 89.1 FM. We’ll be playing new and local music, conducting interviews with fascinating Ottawa-area folks, and generally expanding our media empire to new and awe-inspiring heights.
We’re hoping also to offer our shows online throughout the summer in delicious, bite-sized podcast form. And it just so happens that our debut podcast coincides perfectly with CHUO’s annual funding drive – so if you’re a fan of both community-oriented radio and eclectic local arts-and-culture media, you’d be crazy not to donate!
CHUO’s goal this year is to raise $40,000, which is completely feasible with the support of people like you – people who know well just how important an ingredient the arts are in brewing up a thriving, exciting community to live in. A donation of $25 gets you the CHUO friend card, which gives you discounts to dozens of local businesses and establishments. On the other hand, a $60 donation gets you an exclusive limited edition t-shirt adorned with a fascinatingly creepy image courtesy of local artist Dan Martelock. But don’t listen to us – take the word of Vera Grbic, Apt613 contributor and co-host (with her sister Jelena) of Eastern European Music Hour, which runs Tuesdays at 9pm:
I went through undergrad at Ottawa and am now going through grad school. But I’m originally from the GTA, and was crawling back to Toronto any chance I got. For a long time, I saw Ottawa in that typical way – Canada’s bureaucratic city where the status quo reigns. It wasn’t until I started listening to CHUO a couple of years ago that I began to realize arts and culture was alive and vibrant in this city. I realized that many of the shows were playing music from the region. Not only that, but it was great music. It proved that we had talent in this city, and that there was a venue that actually wanted to promote that unique talent.
So if you want to donate to our show, send us an email at apartment613@gmail.com and we’ll take it from there. But back to this week’s podcast: we chat with Jon Bartlett of Kelp Records about the local indie label’s 17th birthday party, and Jane’s Walk organizer (and our first ever donor – woo!) Leigh Thorpe. We also play some Prairie Scene tunes – courtesy of Grand Analog, Shuyler Jansen, and The Liptonians – as well as tracks by Imaginary Cities, Winter Gloves, Les Breastfeeders, Shotgun Jimmie, and Andrew Vincent and the Pirates.
