SEDRD’s Capacity Development and Extension Program Donates Equipment to UofG Campus Radio Station CFRU 93.3 FM

The School of Environmental Design & Rural Development's (SEDRD) Capacity Development and Extension (CDE) program recently donated its entire radio production studio to CFRU 93.3 FM, the University of Guelph campus radio station, including all audio production hardware and software previously installed in the Media Lab at the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development.  

The donation was arranged by Helen Hambly Odame, Associate Professor in the School of Environmental Design and Rural Development. It was initially proposed in October 2014 during CFRU’s most recent funding drive towards maintaining a mobile production studio. Though they fell just short of our $10,000 goal, CFRU will be going forward with their plans to keep the mobile studio operational.  The donation arranged by Hambly Odame helps to offset costs to the station’s overall technical budget.

A preliminary estimate places the value of the equipment at approximately $62,000 if they were to purchase it new. CFRU’s interim Operations and Technical Coordinator, Bryan Webb, is ecstatic about this windfall.   “This will save CFRU a great deal in operations costs—equipment maintenance and replacement—in the coming years, allowing us to direct those savings towards more campus/community-focused work, including project coordination, transportation, installation, and maintenance of CFRU’s Mobile Studio,” he said.

The equipment includes broadcast microphones, a mixing console, processing hardware and software, computers and monitors, patch bays, cables and connectors, monitor speakers, and more.

"It's really great that we can see this equipment re-purposed and used for such relevant work within the University of Guelph campus and community," explains Hambly Odame. "The nice story is that it was Ontario Agricultural College (OAC) faculty who started one of the earliest radio broadcasting courses in Canada. Over the years many of my predecessors in agricultural extension in OAC have collaborated with CFRU 93.3 FM."

For more information, please contact CFRU 93.3 FM’s Station Manager Vish Khanna at info@cfru.ca or by phone at 519-824-4120, ext. 53502.