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On-Air Whiteout

For a true multicultural city, Toronto’s indie rock radio stations are very white. The on-air hosts and public faces of commercial outlets like 102.1 The Edge and Indie88, as currently listed on their respective websites’ staff/host pages, don’t scream “cultural mosaic.” There’s not one person of colour pictured.

It’s possible that there isn’t a single qualified, knowledgeable member of a visible minority in the GTA with the chops to anchor a broadcast and introduce listeners to a Metric song or segue out of one by Of Monsters and Men. (Unfortunately we don’t have space here to open up the bland/repetitive-music-programming can of worms.) It’s also possible that such DJs do exist and simply didn’t apply for hosting positions when they came up.

And, after surveying the applicant submissions and seeing none from aboriginals, POC or other under-represented groups, it’s possible that HR reps at these stations thought, “We’re good,” and didn’t do any outreach to solicit interest from these communities. (After initial correspondence, reps from the Edge and Indie88 weren’t able to reply to questions by press time. Full disclosure: I applied unsuccessfully for a hosting gig at Indie88 just before it launched in 2013.)

Whatever the scenario, this trend is a troubling sign for the state of independent culture and pluralism in Toronto. Such vanilla uniformity flies in the face of what independent culture stands for: creating a viable, open space for under-represented voices, faces and bodies to flourish when the nuanced racism, classicism, sexism, able-ism and obliviousness of mainstream outlets leave them alienated. If you’re a radio station touting ideals of independence and alternative thought, you need to double down on that shit, because Toronto’s music media weren’t always like this.

Think back to the TV network MuchMusic in the late 80s and 90s. If you watched it every day, you’d see men and women of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds working as “video jockeys,” and at least externally the station seemed free of tokenism.

Did it matter that Sook-Yin Lee was assigned to interview Pavement? Yes, it did. For young, aspiring viewers with a vocational fascination with media and journalism, it was empowering to see non-white people in that role and also discussing music made by regional artists and other minorities.  

While radio is obviously not a visual medium, that’s no excuse to hire exclusively white hosts to represent a multi-ethnic (albeit mostly white) subculture. As a mindset and approach, real independent culture galvanizes disenfranchised makers and consumers of art and reflects their perspectives. Ideally, it’s discerning, inclusive and conveys the energy of its immediate, vibrant, eclectic community.

By only giving people from one race a platform to express their point of view, Toronto’s alt-rock stations are poor representatives of what makes this underground music so vital and progressive in Toronto and beyond.

music@nowtoronto.com | @VishKhanna

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