Cabin Radio
Cabin Radio is a Canadian independent hyperlocal web media organization based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.[1] Launched in 2017 by Ollie Williams, a former BBC Sport reporter who moved to Yellowknife in the 2010s after marrying a Canadian woman he met while covering the 2010 Winter Olympics, the organization currently operates a news website and an Internet radio stream, as well as posting news updates to various social networking sites.[1]
The website grew from three million page views in its first year in operation to over 13 million annual views by 2024.[2]
In 2025, the Michener Award foundation awarded Cabin Radio a $125,000 Norman Webster Fellowship grant for a journalistic investigation into failures in the circuit court system of the Territorial Court of the Northwest Territories.[3]
Community radio
[edit]In 2019 the company submitted an application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for a community radio license.[4] The CRTC did not issue a decision until 2023, denying the company's application on the grounds that the Yellowknife market could not support a new radio station.[5]
However, following widespread community opposition to the decision, the CRTC announced in 2024 that it would reopen the process, stating that the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 Canadian wildfires had highlighted the critical importance of reliable community-based news and information services in times of emergency.[6] A new round of hearings started in February 2025,[7] with the CRTC considering Cabin Radio's application alongside a competing application by Vista Radio.[8]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Former BBC reporter keeps NWT local news alive with Cabin Radio". The Globe and Mail, August 22, 2023.
- ^ Nick Dunne, "The Northwest Territories’ Cabin Radio: A part of Canada’s North". The Hub, February 23, 2024.
- ^ Connie Thiessen, "Cabin Radio, Le Droit awarded $125K Norman Webster Fellowships". Broadcast Dialogue, May 28, 2025.
- ^ Sidney Cohen, "Yellowknife's Cabin Radio to resubmit FM licence application, in spite of CRTC decision". CBC North, March 1, 2023.
- ^ Natalie Pressman, "Cabin Radio's 'fiercely loyal' fans show support for Yellowknife station as it fights for FM licence". CBC North, October 25, 2023.
- ^ Mah Noor Mubarik, "CRTC to reconsider Cabin Radio's application to get on Yellowknife's FM airwaves". CBC North, March 15, 2024.
- ^ "Wildfire risk 'very much in the mind' of CRTC as it mulls new FM licences in Yellowknife". CBC North, February 13, 2025.
- ^ Jocelyn Shepel, "Cabin Radio, Vista Radio each seek new FM licence at CRTC hearing in Yellowknife". CBC North, February 12, 2025.
External links
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