CHiR.fm

OUR NEW INSTAGRAM - Which is no longer blockedFacebook now at Friends of Gulf Islands Radio

Facebook bans CHiR FM's page due to "news" content

Mark Zuckerberg’s giant META internet conglomerate has blocked our tiny island radio station from appearing on Facebook, in its battle with the Canadian government over publishing rights.We found we'd been kicked off Facebook this weekend when we tried to place an announcement for our weekly fundraising sale of vinyl records and second-hand CDs.“It’s crazy,” said Damian Inwood, president. “We don’t even do any news at present, as we’ve been focused on raising money for transmitting equipment. So there’s nothing for Meta or Google or whoever to use."The CHIR.fm Facebook page has been frozen, with no posts visible to anyone in Canada.“In response to Canadian government legislation, news content can't be viewed in Canada,” read a message left by META.The federal government passed Bill C-18 in June, which aims to force Google and Meta to enter into negotiations with news publishers to compensate them for linking to their content.Facebook has responded by blocking “news content” in Canada.“We feel like and ant that's been crushed by an elephant." said Inwood. "We depend on the sale of the thousands of LPs and CDs that people on the island have donated and it’s a huge blow not to be able to let the public know where we are through Salt Spring Facebook pages.”CHEK TV did a story on the Facebook ban and can be seen at this link: https://www.cheknews.ca/facebook-blocks-saltspring-island-radio-station-that-produces-no-news-1164440/

Longtime supporters Sue Walker and Larry Woods donate $10,000 to CHIR.fm 

We are delighted to report that we recently received a major donation fro Sue Walker and Larry Woods to our capital fund.Sue and Larry met while working as DJs for the former Salt Spring CFSI radio station as programmers, with both putting on classical music shows. They were married later and the wedding was broadcast live on the radio.
"We've always been big supporters of radio on Salt Spring," said Sue. "We're delighted to help getting the new station off the ground.
The donation is a major shot-in-the-arm for the bid to bring FM radio to the Southern Gulf Islands.
"We can't thank Sue and Larry enough for their generous donation to CHIR.fm" said Damian Inwood, president of Gulf Islands Community Radio Society. "This takes our fundraising drive to 75% of our $50,000 target."
Following this Sue and Larry's lead, we received another sizeable donation so we are now at about 85% of our capital, which is absolutely great. We are just getting going for the final push!