Dates: May 27 to May 29 (Tuesday to Thursday)

Location: The event was held at the Canadian Forest Service Building on the campus of Sir Wilfred Grenfell College. As a venue this location worked very well. During the first two days the weather was beautiful so most of the live programming took place outside on the large patio. A fair sized porch area provided a great place to set up the transmitter and audio equipment. (It made sense to have this indoors in case of sudden rain.) It was also close enough to the patio to allow communication and connection between on-air guests and hosts and volunteers operating the equipment. On Day Three the weather was rainy so the equipment and interview table were set up in the main foyer, which also worked well.

Timing: The University was between semesters so there were very few university students around to take part in the event. Also there was limited traffic in and out of the building. In our world the attitude is the more the merrier - it would have been nice to have more drop in’s. (Some people would hesitantly creep through our set-up unsure if they were supposed to be quiet — until someone would welcome them and let them know it was fine to make some noise. In future projects it would be nice to have a dedicated youth volunteer to greet people, tell them what we’re all about, hand out door prize ballots etc.)

The College of the North Atlantic was in intersession so students were generally in class from 9 am to 4:30 pm. (However they were available after 5 pm.)

High Schools were approaching year-end and exams. Judging from the response (or lack thereof) from principals it was not a good time to get participation from schools.

Perhaps a better time to hold an event like this would be in the Fall or Winter when schools might be more receptive to outside events.

Lead time: The Corner Brook Event was held three weeks after the Kippens event. In reality this allowed only two weeks of dedicated preparation time as approximately one week was spent cluing up from the Kippens event. This allowed very little time to contact schools and groups and even less time for them to prepare anything for the event. The result was most people who were interested in taking part were only available for low commitment activities such as an interview.

Publicity: Publicity for the Corner Brook event was more extensive and more effective than that for the Kippens event. This was due in part to the fact that the press release was available for distribution much earlier. (The Corner Brook press release was a re-jigged version of the Kippens one so it took very little time to prepare.) Also, local media who learned about the Kippens event after-the-fact were aware of the Corner Brook event and interested in covering it. In several cases Corner Brook was also more "on their doorstep" than Kippens.

For the Kippens event Connie Boland of the Development Association of Western Newfoundland offered to take care of press-related publicity. She wrote a press release and psa and distributed them to local media. This resulted in some media attention for the Kippens event.

Connie also did this for the Corner Brook event, but in addition to this project coordinator Janet McDonald contacted local media directly. This made a big difference. Most media did not seem aware of the press release. It is not clear why this was the case - perhaps a general release just does not end up on the right person’s desk. In any case, when local media were contacted directly and presented with a straightforward request for coverage they were all very receptive.

Local media coverage included:

• A PSA in the Western Star (daily) the weekend prior to the event
• An article and photo in the Western Star on Day One of the event
• An article in the Humber Log (weekly) on Day Two of the event (a PSA was sent to their community bulletin board section but was not printed)
• A PSA on Rogers Television scolling bulletin board which ran for a week prior and during the event
• A taped interview on Rogers Television’s Corner Brook Café which ran the evening of Day One of the event
• A recorded PSA played on CBC Radio the week before the event
• A live hit on CBC Radio’s the Morning Show on Day One of the event
• A taped sound-scape on CBC Radio’s The Morning Show which ran on Day Two of the event
• A report on the NTV Evening News which ran the night of Day One of the event

We also used posters to publicize the event. One of the challenges of using posters when organizing an event long distance is getting someone to put them up. We used two posters. The first was created by Fred as a pdf file that could be emailed to project partners. The other was created in partnership with the Community Youth Arts Project. Curtis Kilfoyle created a cartoon image of a planet heating up with the project title circling it. This logo can be used for all future publicity. Forty posters were delivered to a volunteer in Corner Brook (Megan MacGillivray from the environmental affairs committee at the College of the North Atlantic.) Megan organized the distribution and hanging of posters around Corner Brook.

Email was also used to publicize the event. Ivan Emke and Janet McDonald each sent out a group email encouraging participation and reminding people to tune in. People were asked to forward this on to friends who might be interested. Feedback from participants suggested that this was quite an effective method to spread the word — especially in encouraging listener ship.

Recruitment of community partners and volunteers: Our key community partners were:

• Ivan Emke (Sociology professor at Grenfell Colllege)
• Len Vasello (Environmental Technology instructor at The College of the North Atlantic and board member of the Conservation Corps)
• CC Laughlin Elementary (Denise MacDonald, Vice Principal and Gerene O’Dell, teacher)
• The Environmental Affairs Committee, The College of the North Atlantic (Megan MacGillivray, student contact)
• Connie Boland (The Development Association of Western Newfoundland)

Community Participation: Overall local participation was not as great as we had hoped. This could be due to a number of factors. One was lack of lead time and on-the-ground work in the community prior to the event. It is difficult to offer support and first hand information to community partners via long distance. With the coordinator based in St. John’s, all communication including recruiting of participants was done via phone or email. Had the coordinator been on location it would have been possible to hold information sessions with schools and groups, take part in brain-storming sessions and offer first hand support. As it was, the coordinator had to rely on contact people in the community to rally interest and support. In most cases these contact people did not have a strong understanding of participatory communications or the time to coordinate programming and activities. Most people were available for a straight interview but were not interested in committing to more in-depth involvement. Another factor contributing to low participation (from youth in particular) was the time of year. Late May/June is a very busy time for schools. Teachers and principals are stretched to the limit and are wary of taking on extra-curricular activities.

Hosts: Four local people took part as co-hosts.

They were:

• Ivan Emke (Sociology professor at Grenfell College and main community contact for the project.)
• Len Vasello (Environmental Technology instructor at The College of the North Atlantic and board member of the Conservation Corps)
• Megan MacGillivray (Environmental Technology student and contact for the Environmental Affairs Committee at the College of the North Atlantic.)
• Catherine Boyd (Recent graduate of the Environmental Studies program at Grenfell College and local coordinator for the Sierra Club.)

Terry McNeil, coordinator of the Climate Change Education Centre also filled in as host on a number of occasions along with moderating the panels and leading group workshops.

Bruce Gilbert, Executive Director of the Conservation Corps, also took on the role of interviewer and equipment operator as needed.

Project partner Ivan Emke has previous radio experience so was very confident in taking on the role of host. Len, Megan and Catherine all expressed a wish to have someone on-air with them so Janet joined them as co-host. While their apprehension is perfectly understandable, it resulted in Janet being on-air for most of the event. This was difficult for a couple of reasons: First, one of the goals of community radio that it be community-owned. Having one voice — and that of an outsider — made the event more of a Conservation Corps event as opposed to a community-owned one. The second problem was that Janet was simply on the air too much. It was difficult for her to perform her other duties such as greeting volunteers, juggling the schedule, handling unexpected situations (like guests not showing up etc.), assisting volunteers etc. In future events we hope to see much greater participation from local hosts. This could be accomplished by fostering greater local involvement/ownership in general (by allowing more lead time and more on-the-ground support by either the coordinator, very dedicated volunteers, or green team staff) and offering training so that local hosts have a better understanding of the process, the nature of the event, expectations and duties.

Equipment Operators: Several members of the community took part operating the equipment. They included:

• Edward Smith (The Western Newfoundland Environment Centre)
• Les Sasaki (Art Instructor Grenfell College — general interest)
• The Boy Scouts of Canada (four participants)
• Michael Downey (high school student — general interest)

• Chris MacDonald (College student helped with a lot of technical support)

As with local hosts, participation was not as great as we would have liked. Normally there would be a large representation of local youth performing a number of jobs including cd changer, audio board operator, cd recorder, cd log keeper, video camera operator, along with a number of other jobs as needed such as greeter, door prize coordinator, phone operator (for phone-ins, contests) and anything else to keep them busy and involved. Very few youth took part in these roles during this event. Several attempts were made to recruit both youth and mature volunteers:

• The poster included an invitation to get involved, along with contact information. No response came from this method
• Radio, TV and newspaper PSA’s included a call for participants. No response came from these methods.
• Faxes (and follow up calls) were sent to four high and junior high schools with a request that they make an announcement over their PA system. No response came from this. (Of the high schools who were reached by phone, only one chose to get involved and that was in the nature of three group interviews.)
• Phone messages were left with the YMCA youth coordinator. Messages were not returned
• Local Coordinators for The Boy Scouts and Girl Guides of Canada were contacted. Four volunteers were recruited through this method.
• Two email lists were circulated (one by Ivan Emke, one by Janet) encouraging people to participate and tune in. Two responses came from this (one was Les Sasaki) and the other response came too late to make contact.
• Others were contact directly - Michael Downey and Ed Smith were recruited in this way (Michael was identified as a local youth through his column in the paper; Edward through his position in the local environment community.)

It seems a general call for participation is fairly ineffective — at lease it was in Corner Brook. Direct contact with individuals or coordinators of groups works better. This of course is time consuming and when using a "go-between" like a local coordinator, a lot depends on the person’s excitement and commitment to the project. When comparing recruitment in Corner Brook to that in Kippens it is clear that partnering with reliable and enthusiastic community partners is essential. This works especially well when those partners are involved in a line of work that links them directly to youth. If community partners have a vested interest in getting youth involved and supervising their participation (which is key,) the young people are much more likely to actually show up. (It is of interest to note that both sets of Boy Scouts that attended the event in Corner Brook were accompanied by a parent who was also involved with the Scout movement.)

Other Volunteers: Several individuals took on an active role in on-the-ground prep work. They were:

• Ivan Emke (who handled a lot of practical liaising with the university on issues such as phone and computer hook-up. He was also available during the event as musician and co-host.)
• Megan MacGillivray coordinated postering and assembled a panel of youth from the Environmental Affairs Committee at CONA
• Students who helped with postering were: Megan MacGillivray, Charlene O'Keefe, Jon Stalker, Dave McNutt, Lisa Clancey, Dawn Gough, Kristen Whalen, Mark Benett and Criag Eddison.
• Connie Boland helped with publicity
• Gerene O’Dell and Denise MacDonald embraced the vision of this project and coordinated a Climate Change themed event at CC Laughlin School. Which resulted in hundreds of children getting involved.

• The Climate Change Education Centre

• Regina High School

• The MRI Action Committee
• The Community Recycling Committee
• The Tobacco Free Network
• The Canadian Forest Service
• Duke of Edinburgh Program participants
• The SPCA
• The Downtown Business Association
• The Environmental Affairs Committee Grenfell College
• The Water Quality Working Group
• The Sierra Club
• Gros Morne National Park, three interviews:

• Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador
• Natural Resources Canada, Debbie Corbin
• Catherine Boyd on Windpower
• The Western Newfoundland Model Forest
• Island Waste Management PEI
• Theatre By the Bay
• The Appalachian Trail Association and Humber Valley Hiking Club
• The Aquatic Centre for Research and Education
• ACAP Humber Arm Environmental Association Inc.
• City councilor Charles Pender on Recycling Initiatives
• The Environmental Science Program, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College

• Conservation Corps, programs
• Regina High School, Schoolyard Beautification Committee
• David Suzuki, Nature Challenge
• Conservation Corps Green Teams, West and Northern

• Darren Feltham, Conservation Corps Programs
• Terry McNeil workshop Teen Help Corps Stephenville
• Streeters with Stephenville High and Middle school
• Staged Reading of The Lorax, Stephenville Middle School
• Western NF Waste Management Committee
• Mary Murphy, Climate Change Bureau of Environment Canada
• Dr. Norm Cato, Memorial University, on erosion, currents, river flow etc. change due to climate change
• Dave Blackmore, City of St. John’s one retrofits to city buildings
• Bruce Whiffen, Meterologist on changing weather patterns in NF
• Susan Hawkins, PEO Hub PEI
• Dr. Christopher Fergal, Laval University, on observations of Northern Aboriginal people on climate change
• Climate Change Play, Green Team
• Phil Brown, NS PEO Hub
• Bob Van Dijken, Northern Climate Exchange
• Jack Layton, Fed NDP leader, on economic impacts of climate change
• Jennifer Duggan, Manitoba PEO Hub
• Climate Watch Documentary series

• Citizens concerned about pesticide use (Bob Diamond, Alton Whelan, Sarah Dredge, moderator: Terry McNeil)
• The Environmental Affairs Committee, The College of the North Atlantic on various environmental issues of concern (Megan MacGillivray, Charlene O'Keefe, Jon Stalker and Dave McNutt, moderator: Terry McNeil)
• Forestry and Climate Change (George Van Dusen — Corner Brook Pulp and Paper, Bob Mercer — Provincial Environment Minister, Martin Moroni — Canadian Forest Service, Jim Evans (phone) — Abatibi Consolidated, moderator: Terry McNeil)

• Ivan Emke, Dave Peddle and Mary Keefe
• Brian McHugh
• Longshot (Brian Burton and Jeanette Holwell)
• Michael Downey
• Louis MacDonald
• Angie Gorman and Megan Masters

• Elinor Benjamin

Contests: Contests were not a priority during this event. There was one trivia contest announced on day one (after the interview with Terry McNeil) to which there was no response. One participant suggested people might feel embarrassed about phoning in. If we are to implement contests for future events they need to be better organized (so far they’ve been "off the cuff, if we happen to think of them affairs.") At the very least we should have a list of trivia questions and a reminder to hosts to announce contests and the phone number. We should also made sure the phone is not in use when we announce a contest and have someone there to answer the phone and be able to put it on the air! (This could be a job for a youth volunteer.) Also, we could seed the audience to get the ball rolling on audience participation.

Door Prize: Ballots were available for people to enter for a door prize. The prize was a Conservation Corps bag and hat. We drew for three door prizes at the end of the event.

Judging from emails and verbal response, the event in Corner Brook was well received by those who took part. Though it is impossible to measure just how many people tuned in, the general sense from talking to people is that more people tuned in here than in Kippens.

Obviously every community we visit will be unique and will present new challenges and opportunities. One major difference between Corner Brook and Kippens was that a portable community radio station was a totally new experience for Corner Brook. People in Stephenville/Kippens are very familiar with these types of projects. There is a great social infrastructure of organizations in Stephenville such as Communities in Schools, The Community Education Network, and the Community Youth Network. These organizations provided a direct link to youth, both in generating interest and providing supervision. No such organizations were identified in Corner Brook. When entering new communities in the future it will be vital to connect with youth leaders who are willing to assemble groups of youth and accompany them to events.

Key goals for future events:

• Gathering a stronger youth componant
• Getting more community involvement in program design and implementation
• Ensuring that panels be interactive and involve the community