On Monday, January 26, Trent Radio will be taking a break from its regularly scheduled programming to present an all-day event: Trent Radio Reads.
Says Trent Radio Programme Director, James Kerr, “Every once in a while we like to suspend regular programming, give everyone the day off and put up a sign-up sheet for an event day on a particular topic. It’s something that we’re going to do once a month in the spring season. This month it’s going to be Trent Radio Reads.”
More than just promotional events, these event days are intended to strengthen the bonds both within the Trent Radio community as well as between Trent Radio and the local community.
Continues Kerr, “It’s a chance for programmers and community members to get together in a different way.
“Because we have more than a hundred programmers most of our programmers don’t really get a chance to see any of the other programmers, except those that come immediately before or after them and the people that supervise them. So, as far as they can see, there are only seven people at Trent Radio.”
He also adds, “Its also a chance to get people in who don’t normally program, or who only program irregularly, so perhaps they used to have a program and no longer do, it allows them to jump on in at a special time on a special topic.”
It also gives people who have never been involved with Trent Radio a chance to do so, says Kerr.
In keeping with Trent Radio’s producer-oriented radio mandate, programmers for Trent Radio Reads will be reading from works of their choice, whether they be original works, personal favourites or even public texts (according to Kerr, “one fellow even wants to read the Facebook User Agreement on the air”).
As of the interview there were 10 people who had signed up for at least a full hour, although those times may be shortened if more people sign up.
Kerr also said that he expects it to be pretty full by the time this issue of the Arthur makes newsstands, so it will be too late for people to sign up to participate in this event.
However, for future events the sign-up sheets are kept in the front hallway of Trent Radio.
According to Kerr, Trent Radio will also be hosting a “Geek Day” in February and a “History” day in March. Anyone interested in participating in those events is encouraged to sign-up and should keep an eye on Trent Radio’s Facebook page and website (trentradio.ca) for more info.
Because of the shifting nature of this event, final programming schedules won’t be released until sometime around the day of.