A radio station for Liverpool, Brooklyn, Milton and most of Queens County could become a reality if media veteran Alex J. Walling has his way.

Walling, who has been in the media business, be it radio, TV (MITV and TSN) and print since he was a teenager moved to Queens County in September with the expressed purpose of setting up a low power, 50-watt, not-for-profit radio station run mostly by volunteers to serve this region.

“The Liverpool-Queens county area is ideal for such a station,” says Walling. “First and foremost there isn’t one. Sure, we get the signals from Halifax and Bridgewater but there is no real local service. Our station would be ‘all Queens County, all the time.”

Walling plans to start with a Special Events license in a few months and judge the re-action to the station. If favourable and early indications indicate the support is there, then the Queens County Radio Society, a not-for-profit body, will be set up and a formal application will be made to the CRTC for a full time license.

These Special Events broadcast certificates, as issued by Industry Canada allow a station to be on-air for 28 days and usually centre on a theme for the event such as Privateers Days, a major Music Festival and other major events.

“We are starting from scratch and are looking at and for everything. Our major problem is the obvious and that is space. As a not-for-profit we are looking for a space (preferably donated in return for advertising on the station) for now and when we get a full time license then we can commit to lease. But to operate for 28 days or several 28 day events and be down for other months makes it hard to get permanent quarters.”

Community Radio has accelerated in this country and especially in Atlantic Canada with centres such as Eastern Passage and Glace Bay getting licenses. Parrsboro has had years of Special Events programming and Walling has just finished the application process for the Parrsboro community radio group for a full time license. That application went out last week.

“Parrsboro is a great example of a group that started very small, grew, got community support and will get a full time license very soon,” says Walling.

And support is important.

”We need all kinds of support to make this fly. We need volunteers, and radio experience is not necessary as we are prepared to train them. Volunteers are needed for everything, from on-air work, to handling reception duties, to people who know a few things about engineering. Parrsboro did it with a very small population (under 2,000); we have so much more people and a larger civic and business base to draw from.”

Walling says the music will be varied.

“Let’s look at the age demographic of Queens County. It is an older demo and our music will reflect that. We’re looking at a slogan of ‘Sensational Songs of the Last 60 Years,’ which means we start at the birth of rock and roll with Bill Haley in 1955 and go from there.”

The early years will feature Chuck (Berry), Bo (Diddley), Elvis, the Platters, Connie (Francis) and Brenda Lee; the 60s have the “B” groups such as the Beatles, Bee Gees and Beach Boys, and so many others with the British Invasion. The 70s will feature Elton, Billy Joel, Olivia Newton John, The Eagles and Chicago. The 80s came across with the likes of Wham, Michael Jackson, Blondie, Phil Collins, Whitney Houston and others while the 90s would feature artists such as Mariah Carey, George Michael and Janet Jackson.

And of course Walling says there’s always room in this area for country music, Hank Snow and Carol Baker.

Most radio station have a play list of 400-500 songs that are repeated over and over again but this station would have one of the largest libraries in this country with thousands and thousands of music selections.

The station also plans several specialty shows such as big band (Glen Miller, Tommy Dorsey, and Harry James) and barbershop programs, aired once a week, probably 30-60 minutes in duration and special weekends such as a “Beatles” weekend, an Elvis weekend, and a ‘one hit wonder’ weekend, et cetera.

In fact if Walling can get the station up and running, QCR will deliver some of the top radio programs in radio over the past 30-years.

“We have several major special programs. One is the history of rock n roll, which starts at 1955 and goes till the late 70s. It took three years to produce and is one of the top shows I have ever heard. It’s 50 hours long and can be played over a long weekend. The other is the 52-hour history of country music; again it has been acclaimed as the greatest country music documentary of all time. The listeners will get a treat from those programs,” says Walling.

But the name of the game is local and that is a commitment the radio veteran says he makes.

“We hope to be the voice of Queens County and QCR will have our own morning show from 6:30-9 a.m. along with other daytime shows. The morning show will be about the people in Liverpool, Brooklyn, Milton and neighbouring areas. It will be about our news, our sports events, our community functions, our kids, our school events and our people.

“In fact we plan to have a ‘newsmaker of the day’ as part of our newscast, which will be a two-to-three minute interview and that could be with a councillor or a student on an activity at his/her school or about any event affecting/happening in Queens County.”

On Saturday Walling would like to do the ‘Great Queens County Garage Sale,’ where people can call in and talk about their flea market/garage sale items going on. Ideally, the station would love to have a Community Cruiser and actually go out for a few hours and do a few cut-ins (broadcast from locations).

The station will have a one-hour open line show on Friday and Monday mornings between nine and 10 a.m. giving the community access to the newsmakers and topics of the area.

“On Monday it will be a great way to discuss what happened in our area over the weekend and on Friday it will be a great opportunity to talk about the events that will take place across Queens County,” says the radio veteran.

Guests could range from government officials to the heads of different groups in Queens County.

While this is the first official release for QCR radio Walling (who has spent the last 20 years living in Halifax and traveling Atlantic Canada for TSN and has time on his hands) has held meetings with a few area people in regards to this topic. He’s had a good chat with Mayor John Leefe who was ‘very supportive’ and Counc. Susan McLeod.

According to Walling, McLeod has a wealth of experience as the former general manager of Able Cable and has agreed to head the advisory committee once the station gets off the ground.

“She has a wealth of experience and is an accomplished broadcaster with years in management and was very pleased with the idea of a community station. In fact, in her time, Able Cable was the community voice for this area and she was a very big part of it. I’m delighted to have her head our advisory board,” says Walling.

The community radio station hopes to become a big time supporter of East Coast music and give an opportunity for air play for anyone from this area.

The station’s next move is to procure equipment and find a home and recruit volunteers. Those who may have an interest can reach Alex J. Walling at (902) 947-2066 and leave a message or email him at ajw@eastlink.ca

Walling started in the media industry in 1965 as a newspaper reporter in Quebec City and quickly moved into radio. “When I started the Stones had the #1 hit in Satisfaction. And it’s still a monster hit today.” From there he’s been all over the place including managing a few stations and owning one in Newfoundland. He first came to the Maritimes in 1972 and worked for CHNS Halifax. Within two months of his arrival he covered the Canada-Russia Summit Series in Moscow.

Twenty years ago he started the Atlantic Media Institute that has produced hundreds of media students including several from the South Shore of this province. He sold the career college a few years ago and has been thinking of community radio since. He still does radio comments, writes a column a week for the Daily News, and works for TSN where he covered Atlantic Canada for 12 years and puts outs a monthly high school paper. All of that is done from his computer in this area.

In the past three summers he has filled in and done the Hotline talk show on CJCH radio in Halifax.

He has a connection to the area as his wife Kathleen (Kathy) was born in Liverpool and lived in Brooklyn for her first 17 years. Her dad (Edwin Davis) worked at the mill until he retired in the late 60s. Her mom, Margaret, 95, passed away this fall. They lived on Markham Avenue in Brooklyn.

Walling met his wife when she worked in management at a Halifax radio station in the 70s. Kathy is related to well known area residents Joyce and Danny McLean.