The question of what I wanted to be when I grow up is one that has loomed over my shoulder from a young age. I’ve always been (for better or for worse) a highly driven individual, so it was also a question I fielded with ease for most of my life. Ironically, the more I grew, the less I knew what I wanted, and increasingly came to dread the question I so eagerly answered as a child. In high school, I became drawn to journalism specifically because I felt enormously indecisive about my future career path. What was — and continues to be — so exciting about this field is the creative and intellectual flexibility it affords. I could exercise my passion for writing without feeling restricted by my other interests; on the contrary, what I’ve learned from journalists, both during my internship and in general, is that those interests help reflect the diverse tapestries of our communities. It also gave me something respectable to tell my parents or loved ones without lying by saying I wanted to go to law school (I take journalistic integrity seriously, regardless of the circumstance).
This past year, I’ve immersed myself in the queer and femme arts and culture scene in Montreal as a performer, but the care and gratitude I developed for this community exceeded what I could offer in that position. So, I considered interning for an organization where I could commit to a research project in which I’d (try to) highlight a talented community that still remains largely unnoticed by mainstream media.
It seems almost uncanny that McGill boasts a radio station with a mandate that reflected my values, particularly for this project. CKUT acquired its FM license in 1987, and is a non-profit, campus-community radio station that maintains a non-hierarchical collective management system. As a licensed radio station on the 90.3 FM dial, CKUT’s purpose is to provide radio programming and educational services to communities whose needs are often unmet by mainstream media outlets. Since its inception, CKUT has remained committed to broadcasting alternative music, news, and spoken word to Montreal and its neighboring regions.
As an Intern in the Spoken Word department, I hoped to produce a podcast informed and inspired by old CKUT shows. When I finally started my research, I delved into CKUT’s rich collection of audio archives and listened to hundreds of hours of programming. One show caught my attention, and it became the beating heart of my project. Dykes on Mykes was established in 1987, shortly after CKUT obtained its FM license, and was the longest running anglophone lesbian and queer women's radio show in the city. It underscored the same kind of people, events, organizations, and issues that I sought to emphasize through my show, Queer Ears. I enjoyed reflecting on the past with guests — including comedians, artists, fellow interns — to either celebrate progress or question its delay. I’m also looking forward to interviewing the first host of Dykes on Mykes (Deb VanSlet) towards the end of my internship. To produce a high-quality podcast, I had to learn how to use various audio software and equipment, such as Zoom recorders, Adobe Audition, and soundboards. I’m confident these skills will strengthen my CV in a prominent way.
Besides my podcast, I wrote a few pieces for the Spoken Word blog as a part of the station’s coverage of the 2024 Montreal Fringe Festival. It was a privilege to promote these artists and their work. I also provided technical assistance to Upstage, a theatre-centred program airing live on CKUT. A highlight of my internship was meeting an actor from one of my favourite sitcoms while assisting Upstage at Fringe. I also manned the soundboard for a live show by myself for the first time, and upon finishing the episode, I knew I wanted to do it again.
The major challenge of my internship was that I had to juggle it with two other jobs. Often, I felt disappointed with the speed at which my project was/is advancing. I’m about to enter my fourth year of university and every year I’ve been a student; I’ve faced the threat of not being able to afford returning to school for the following year (this one being no exception). Despite these hurdles, without my funding, there is no way I could’ve pursued this internship — this truly life-changing experience — and for that, I’m beyond grateful. I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have a supervisor who understood these hurdles and provided me with the flexibility to work on this project whenever I could find time. While I won’t be receiving credit for this internship, I know it will enable me to enter the workforce with confidence and relevant training.
