Spin discs from wheelchair
Handicapped operate station
VANCOUVER, B.C. (UPI) At first glance the small radio station looks similar to countless others scattered across North America.
The young disc jockey sits at his turntables spinning the latest rock numbers. The newsroom buzzes as writers prepare their hourly broadcast and announcers wait patiently for a break to extol their sponsors' products.
There is a major difference, though. This is C-JAZ Radio, a closed circuit station, where crutches and wheel chairs are as important to the operation as the electronic equipment.
All the C-JAZ staffers are handicapped. The list of afflictions ranges from polio and cerebral palsy to cripping spinal injuries suffered in traffic accidents,
"We are trying to get off the pensions and into a productive role," said the 21-year-old station manager, Jack Banford, British Columbia's first Easter seal "Timmy."
A victim of muscular dystrophy, Banford is the driving force behind the unique project.
"It all started about four years ago," he said. "I was very interested in radio broadcasting but after job interviews I was always
LUNG CANCER
NEW YORK (UPI) - The American Cancer Society reports that 21 million Americans quit smoking in 1968 but that lung cancer cases are "alarmingly increasing."
Nov. 7
1969 KANSAN 19
told 'you have a good voice, but you just can't handle it. You're not fast enough.'
"I couldn't give up on this idea. So I decided, well, if it's going to be this way then I'll start my own radio station, using other handicapped persons."
Government Helps
Banford contacted the federal government and was surprised when Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau sent former Transport Minister Paul Heller to Vancouver to discuss the project.
"We were given government support to help us fight for a license (from the Board of Broadcast Governors)," Banford said.
With government backing assured, the determined youth then floated a $5,000 loan to buy electronic gear, and recruited and trained 25 staffers ranging in age from 18 to 35.
The recording industry came to their aid with donations of the latest discs and Banford personally wrote hundreds of letters to every major company across the continent appealing for sponsors.
Only 15 companies replied "but we have a lot of people who have assured us they want advertising after we get going," Banford said.
"Right now we're in the process of promoting ourselves. Our main objective is to find some financial support. Once we have this we will be in a position to help ourselves . . . to become self-supporting . . . earn decent wages."
The group needs to raise about $200,000 to establish a commercial station in North Vancouver. The
North Shore has been without a resident station since 1962 when CKL moved to Vancouver.
"The way we look at it is once we get C-JAZ operating successfully we will be able to go across Canada and help other groups of handicapped persons," Banford said.
"We can stop them from just sitting and watching the world pass them by, we can train them to help them,"
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1970 JAYHAWKER $7.00
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