CJLO voted best in college radio

CJLO 1690 AM, Concordia’s volunteer-run campus radio station, was voted 2010 “Station of the Year” at the College Radio Awards awarded by CMJ (College Music Journal).

The station brought home four other awards from a recent gala in New York City: “Best Team Effort,” “Best Use of Limited Resources,” “Most Love For The Game for Head Music Director Omar Husain,” and “Best Newcomer for RPM Music Director Adrian Warner.”

For the first time in CMJ awards history, there was a tie for Station of the Year. CJLO will share the award with WKDU Philadelphia at Drexel University.

The awards from CMJ, the NYC-based publishing and music events organization previously known as College Music Journal, are considered the North American benchmark for gauging quality in college radio as reported in the Huffington Post.

CJLO was nominated in almost every category this year. Results were tallied based on votes from industry professionals, radio promoters, fellow radio stations and other badge holders.

“The award is such an honour,” says CJLO Manager Katie Seline. “It’s so great to be recognized as being one of the best among our peers and professionals from around North America.”

The awards cap a remarkable year for the station, which has made sizable accomplishments since hitting the AM airwaves in October 2008. In June, CJLO was awarded funding from the Community Radio Fund of Canada to launch an after school youth mentorship program for local high school students.

And in September, CJLO executives Brian Joseph and Omar Husain were invited to first International Radio Festival in Zurich, Switzerland to represent CJLO – the only Canadian station chosen to attend the summit.
While this is the first time CJLO has taken the top prize, it is not the first batch of CMJ awards it has won.

Music Director Omar Husain has won the Music Director of the Year three times (2006 to 2008); the station won Best Student Run Non-FM Radio Station and Best Team Effort awards in 2008; CJLO repeated with Best Team Effort and Hip Hop Music Director Brian Joseph won Best Specialty Music Director in 2009.

As for what listeners can expect as a result of the award, Seline and company are continuing to keep on doing what they’ve done so well. 

“We plan to continue on our high quality programming and are working to bring our live programming to 24 hours a day,” she says, noting they’re currently recruiting students from Concordia’s Journalism program to help build daily newscasts.

Seline says the station is also attempting to shift away from paid advertising and towards a fundraising approach in the coming months.

“These awards are really such a huge boost for us and will help us increase our visibility. It all comes full circle; the better we get and the more recognized we become, the more we are able to do and the more we’re able to give back to the community that supports us.”

CJLO is continuing its attempt to boost its signal to reach more of Montreal. In the meantime, the station has recently released an iPhone app that allows users to live stream the station anywhere.

Listen to a compilation of a few of CJLO's finer moments since hitting the AM airwaves in 2008. (Generously compiled by Program and Hip Hop Director Brian Joseph):