Meet the new board!
On October 27, 2021 Kootenay Co-op Radio held its (online) Annual General Meeting to review a successful, but another pandemic-obscured year! The AGM was led by board chair Michelle Oakley, who reviewed the 2020-2021 year at KCR. We finished the year with a strong surplus thanks to several successful grant applications and an impressive effort by sponsorship coordinator Amelie Sauquet! We said goodbye to Rob Andrew, after three years at the helm, and welcomed new programming manager, Ed Zych!
Following an online election at the AGM, KCR’s 2021-2022 board members are now: Kim Bater (vice chair); Jaymen Bowman (secretary) Darren Davidson; Shannon Lynch; Michelle Oakley (chair); Marco Pringle (Treasurer); and Jake Sherman.
Jim Van Horn was named the 2020-2021 Hall of Fame Volunteer! Jim has provided continuous and unwavering support of all things KCR for almost two decades! Our community radio station has thrived and continues to be special because of people like Jim! And a very special thank you for all the ways you helped the Station this year!
Kim Bater was named the 2020-2021 Volunteer of the Year! In 2021, Kim served as Vice-Chair on the KCR Board of Directors, he was also a heavily involved member of both the Policy and Governance and the Personnel Committees. In addition, he was a valuable and enthusiastic member of multiple working groups and was periodically co-hosting on Kootenay Morning!
Michelle Oakley – Chair
My love for music is deep-rooted and has been quintessential in my life… whether listening to local or national public radio in the car or old records at home, or supporting local artists at live events (when we had them!). I’ve been a proud supporting member and advocate of public radio stations for decades. When I arrived in Nelson in 2019, I quickly made my way to our local radio station and I committed to becoming an active KCR Board Member and hosting a weekly music program, Indiecisions! I am honoured to share space at KCR with the thoughtful, committed, and all around fun volunteers and staff who serve KCR. I enjoy being part of a community coop that produces quality news programming, eclectic music and spoken word shows, but more importantly serves as an inclusive cultural and educational platform for all in our community. My goal as current Board Chair is to make this KCR platform more visible, more diverse, and more prepared for what the future brings!
Kim Bater – Vice-Chair
I am Kim Bater, and I have lived in Nelson since 2015. I love to x-country ski, paddleboard and hike and generally enjoy the beauty of the Kootenays. Music is a big part of my life – I listen to lots of folk, roots, and other kinds of music as well as playing the dulcimer and fiddle. I bring my love for simple beauty in music to Kootenay Morning with the selections I play. I really enjoy the intimacy of radio interviews and especially when I can focus on the social, cultural and food sectors that are so rich in Nelson and area. I am on the Board of KCR and I love working with people to make KCR, Nelson, and the world a little better for the TLC we add.
Marco Pringle – Treasurer
I fell in love with community radio growing up in Ottawa listening to the amazing CKCU and CHUO. when I moved to Calgary as a young adult, I couldn’t find the kind of shows I loved listening to, so I took matters into my own hands. Over nearly 2 decades at CJSW, I became a volunteer, programmer and sometimes member of the executive. The radio community soon became my social center, through which I made lifelong friends and discovered a world of music. When my wife, daughter and I moved to Nelson a few years ago, my first stop (before we even had a place to live!) of course was Kootenay Coop Radio. Since walking through the door, I’ve become a programmer and joined the board and hope to broaden the station’s appeal while strengthening its ties with the community. When not knee deep in internet code, you can find me enjoying the natural splendor of the Kootenays or tinkering in my home shop.
Jaymes Bowman – Secretary
I was born and raised in Cranbrook and returned to the Kootenays in 2018 after spending the better part a decade on the coast. Writing and performing music are ongoing parts of my life and I have been grateful to be able to truly “live” in the moment on my show “The Feed” for the last 2 years. I think there is a strong connection between the benefits of KCR to its programmers and to the community it serves, and I am excited to contribute to this connection as a member of the KCR board.
Darren Davidson – Director
I joined Kootenay Co-op Radio in 1999, the station’s first year. Bob Hall and I started an ‘80s music show called Years For Fears: An ’80s Retrospective. After 20 years showing up every Friday afternoon with three beers and a few Public Enemy and Blondie CDs, I now co-host the Kootenay Morning current affairs program with a great team, and sit on the KCR board. As a life-long journalist and ad salesperson who’s supported hometown, provincial and national media outlets of all sorts, I very much value volunteering for KCR. Community-based radio and well-informed independent journalism have tremendous potential — especially in an era when the public, local and otherwise, has become rightfully untrusting and disinterested in corporately owned news, entertainment and their agendas of shared cahoots.
Shannon Lynch – Director
I’ve had a deep love for radio ever since I got a small taste of audio recording, interviewing and broadcasting during a journalism program I completed several years ago at Langara College in Vancouver. I grew up in Kaslo but after living away for a number of years, my return to the Kootenays came with a definite desire to become part of Kootenay Co-op Radio. I’m happy to say that I’ve been a member and programmer of KCR for just a short while but it certainly has made me so excited to continue to be a part of such a diverse and important part of our community. I have a passion for music as well that started from my parents playing mostly classic rock records when I was growing up as well as my dad’s guitar playing. I love live music and festivals which hopefully will make more of a comeback in the near future. I became a board member of KCR in November 2021 and look forward to seeing what exciting things are in store for our lovely station!
Jake Sherman – Director
Jake ShermanJake Sherman, 28, is an award-winning photographer, reporter and freelance writer living in Nelson, B.C. He studied alternative media, counterculture, the underground press and contemporary Jewish identity in Eastern Europe at the University of Victoria, where he received a full ride scholarship to attend graduate school. Jake formerly wrote the news at the Nelson Star and Revelstoke Review and has bylines in the Globe and Mail, the Narwhal, the Georgia Straight, the Ski Journal, Ski Canada, Canadian Rockies and the Revelstoke Mountaineer, among others. During his time in Nelson he has worked for Baldface Lodge and Shambhala Music Festival.
