Hello Friend,

I thought it important to start this year off with a reminder of what CJSW its principal function, and our unique value to democracy in the locations we serve.

CJSW are the call letters of Calgary's campus and community radio station and is administered by the University of Calgary Student Radio Society (UCSRS). The UCSRS is a registered non-profit society in the Province of Alberta.

What does this all mean? Well, it means that CJSW is Calgary's only community broadcaster and is a truly independent media source. There are no owners/shareholders that need to be satisfied in our broadcast. Our programmers - your friends and neighbours - are drawn from volunteer UCalgary students and community members at large and are self-directed in all programming selections heard on our station. This phenomena extends to both music and talk radio programming heard on CJSW.

Why is this important? Well, it is an understood truism of democratic theory that independent media serves to increase political knowledge, participation, and plurality of perspective. Independent media also acts as an essential driver of civic participation and transparency of socio-political life. As such I do not know if I have ever been as thankful as I am now that we have volunteer-powered, independent, community media like CJSW in our city, province and country.

If you're reading this message, I reckon that you appreciate the value of the Fourth Estate and how CJSW serves in that capacity for all of us. Now I want to ask you to share CJSW with the people in your orbit. Share your favorite music program with a coworker or talk about topics discussed on one of our spoken word programs with your family. However you go about it, think of the time CJSW first made an impact on your life and share that with someone close to you....You'll thank me later for doing it!