The role of community radio in enhancing identity formation and community cohesion among Caribbean Canadians in Toronto

This paper examines the important role that two community-based campus stations - CHRY 105.5FM and CKLN 88.1FM -- play in community cohesion and identity formation in the Caribbean Canadian community in Toronto. The research questions are: What roles do community media play in the lives of Caribbean-Canadians in Toronto?; How do Caribbean Canadians access these media to tell their stories or hear their voice?; How do these media outreach to the large Caribbean Canadian community in Toronto?; How do they describe the relationship that they have with CHRY 105.5FM and CKLN 88.1 FM; and, Do these media affirm the marginalized status of Caribbean Canadians, or are they sites of transformation for Caribbean Canadians daring to contest their exclusion from mainstream radio? These radio stations readily accommodate people, including many on the margins, who are not represented in mainstream media - the public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), or private commercial radio stations. They are the employers of many immigrants, mainly volunteers, who face barriers because of their Caribbean accents, lack of a Canadian accent, and the lack of "Canadian experience". The 'othering' of these immigrants has pushed/pulled them to these community-based campus radio stations where they find a voice to challenge oppressive systems from outside and within. These are community enhancing spaces where the Caribbean diaspora will hear familiar genres of music - reggae, soca, calypso, ragga, zouk - and accents/languages (Spanish, French, Creole) of the multicultural and multilingual Caribbean diaspora in Toronto.