Submitted by Kootenay Co-op Radio
Nearly 25 years ago Catherine Fisher helped start Nelson’s community radio station. Since then she has dealt with CRTC applications, House of Commons committees, Senate and budget consultations, made documentaries and radio plays, submitted countless grants, and all the while has hosted a weekly music show on Kootenay Co-op Radio.
This month Fisher was given the Radio Legend Award at the National Community Radio Association’s annual Campus and Community Radio Broadcast Awards gala in Calgary for playing such a large role in the sector over the past quarter century.
As if that wasn’t enough, Fisher also won in the Best in Podcasting category for producing the radio play and podcast A Door to be Kicked. It was written by poet, novelist, scholar, and former Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate Fred Wah, and recorded at Kootenay Coop Radio in Nelson and CFRO in Vancouver. It is a patchwork of poetic narratives and historic voices, drawing on Wah’s Nelson-based “biofiction” Diamond Grill.
“Catherine’s contribution to KCR and the entire college and community sector has been nothing short of astounding,” says KCR programming manager Ed Zych. “We are a small station in terms of staff, but people like Catherine who have a wealth of experience and information allow us to punch well above our weight both locally and nationally.”
KCR programs also earned honourable mentions in the Breaking Barriers category for the show What If? hosted by Stephenie Hendricks and Lori Barkley and in the Music Variety Program category for the show Radio Mixtape hosted by Adam Thomas.
The A Door to be Kicked podcast can be heard here: https://adoortobekicked.weebly.com/ and Catherine Fisher’s radio show Wine Dark Sea can be heard Mondays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 6 a.m. on KCR.
To listen to Kootenay Co-op radio, tune in to 93.5 FM in Nelson, 101.5 FM in the lower Slocan Valley, 96.5 FM in Crawford Bay and North Kootenay Lake, 107.5 FM in New Denver and Silverton, or visit kootenaycoopradio.com.