After 15 years at the station, award-winning musician Colleen Power has made the difficult decision to step away from CHMR-FM. Power’s choice comes off the back of MUNSU’s vote to end CHMR as a MUNSU service, including the cut of their funding to the station. While the station will continue to receive $2 per undergraduate student per semester via the MUNSU Media Fee, any paid positions at the station have been lost, and therefore, changed to volunteer positions.
While CHMR can no longer provide stable income for Power, she will nonetheless remain on campus, continuing to work with MUNSU as Membership Engagement Coordinator. Power explained to The Muse that her new position will be centred around “working with clubs and societies, and helping them organize their events”.
Working alongside students was one of Power’s favourite parts of CHMR. When asked what she found the most rewarding during her time at the station, Power answered, “definitely watching the students and community members enjoy what they were doing with their training, and then go on to keep doing that as a lifelong career…and watching the success of bands and acts who have come here, [for] a lot of them CHMR was their first ever interview, and now they’re gone on to be big, successful acts”.
Power not only interviewed and trained local acts, but also featured local music regularly on her programmes, starting with Ici Pour Les Chansons (Here for the Songs) in 2007, an all-French Canadian broadcast.
“[CHMR] had no French CDs or French music at the time”, Power recalled, “I had to order all of my own CDs from Archambault, which was a great place to order French CDs from in Montreal”.
Ici Pour Les Chansons continued into 2009, and after a two-year hiatus from the station, Power took the position of News Director in 2011, while simultaneously hosting Colleen Power Hour (2011-2019), Spot On (2020-2023), and Arts and Entertainment Report (2024-2026).
As News Director, Power wanted to focus the station’s news broadcasts on campus-related topics, while using additional news segments to highlight local artists:
“We didn’t really have a music director the last few years”, Power explained, “So I took on the role of making sure to get local music represented on the airwaves”.
For her contributions to the local music scene, Power has been awarded the Denis Parker Industry Builder Award by MusicNL, an award for “industry builders [that] have shaped the landscape of [Newfoundland] music, leaving a lasting legacy for generations to come”. Power described receiving the award as “really overwhelming”, recognizing the award’s prestige in Newfoundland’s music community.
In addition to receiving her award, Power is also fresh off her first music tour in 18 years, celebrating the releases of her ninth and tenth albums, Une Tournée Merveilleuse (A Marvelous Tour), and the self-titled Colleen Power, respectively. Power’s tour took place across all four of Atlantic Canada’s provinces, including representing Newfoundland and Labrador in Le Fête nationale de l’Acadie (National Acadian Day) in Dieppe, New Brunswick:
During the tour, Power performed in front of the biggest crowds she’s ever experienced, with roughly 25,000 people in attendance; then, the next day, “Playing solo in Sackville”. According to her, “It was great, and people pulled up wherever I was…a lot of people I hadn’t seen in a while…it was good, really, really, good”.
To say Power’s summer has been busy would be an understatement, and the same can be said for CHMR. A few weeks ago, a fundraiser featuring local bands Tunnel Vision, MarkingXTime, All I Am, and Downpour was hosted in the CHMR station, raising $872.25, according to @fogtownshumidhaze on Instagram. During the Muse’s coverage of the concert, CHMR Station Manager Rhea Rollmann emphasized holding more fundraisers to help keep the station afloat, in addition to investing in new equipment.
Power remains optimistic that CHMR will continue to hold a place on MUN’s St. John’s campus:
“Down in the U.S. college radio is getting bigger, in Canada it’s getting bigger…studies from the NCRA have shown that it’s amping up everywhere”.
Power continued by emphasizing the unique aspect college radio brings to its viewers:
“With college radio, I think more and more people are going there to get new music that hasn’t been heard on the mainstream, and that’s always been the way. I’m excited that’s what’s happening now”.
Power herself has relied on college radio to support her own music career:
“[My new album] got played all over the US and Canada, and ended up in three top 20 charts in the US”.
While radio may no longer be the most popular way to listen to music, that is not to say that radio has lost its place within the music community. Bands and artists across the world still rely on radio as an outlet for people to discover their music, get paid, and – if they are lucky – turn their passion into a fruitful career.
In the same vein, aspiring journalists and disc jockeys rely on college radio to start their career, find their voice, or even just to host their passion project. While Power may have chosen to step away from CHMR, she has not turned her back on the station’s future:
“Keep supporting CHMR…take advantage of it. It’s your campus and community radio station, anyone deserves a place here and anyone can have a place here”.