Cabin Radio is owned and operated by five Yellowknife residents: Andrew Goodwin, Scott Letkeman, Sarah Pruys, Jesse Wheeler, and Ollie Williams.
Our owners and a small staff run an independent internet radio station, an online newsroom, and Facebook and Instagram channels designed to keep residents of the Northwest Territories informed and entertained.
We have no parent company. It’s just us. Andrew (call him AJ) and Jesse grew up in the NWT, while Scott, Sarah, and Ollie have each spent just under a decade living here.
Cabin Radio became a thing in 2017 because we thought there was room for an independent, commercial FM radio station in Yellowknife. We’re working on that. We submitted our FM licence application to the federal regulator in August 2019 and we’re hoping they start the licensing process soon.
While we work on an FM licence, we already run our online live stream for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, as though it were an FM station like any other. You’ll find Jesse and Scott running our live morning show with music and chat from 7am till 9am each weekday, for example, followed by Scott hosting the 90s at 9 (which is amazing).
Ollie hosts from 12pm till 3pm daily and we have a range of volunteer hosts who turn the rest of each day into a great mix of music put together by northern residents.
The live stream began in March 2018, just after we began running a daily online news service.
Our news reports are now read around 700,000 times a month – often more – and we’re grateful that so many people consider us a trusted source of Northwest Territories news.
We offer internships in broadcasting and journalism each year, and we’re actively working with schools across the NWT to help more young northerners explore journalism as a future career and gain the tools they need to tell their communities’ stories.
We also support charities and good causes where we can, and we’re a proud partner of Yellowknife’s Folk on the Rocks music festival, investing in one of the most meaningful live performance spaces for NWT musicians.
How we’re funded
Cabin Radio is mostly funded by advertising, and we thank all the NWT businesses who help us to support our community by investing in us. We receive federal funding for one reporting position (focused on reporting about the Dehcho and the NWT’s housing crisis) and make use of any federal and territorial grants we can find to create internships for young people.
Everyone else is paid through advertising revenue and contributions received via Patreon – many of our readers and listeners are Patreon donors, helping us with whatever contribution they can afford each month. All the money we raise stays in the NWT and helps us to create jobs.
Want to find out more? Read about our ethical journalism commitment, discover how to make a complaint if you think something’s wrong, learn about giving us a news tip, read up on our advertising options, or contact us.
