Local radio program and music director Cory Noel has received his 10th nomination in 11 years for music director of the year (medium or small markets) at the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) awards.
The awards are being held in Calgary on Sept. 8.
He was nominated for CKFM here in Olds and for CKVG in Vegreville, Alta.
Noel is nominated alongside four other stations and their respective directors across the country such as CKGY from Red Deer, CJXL from Moncton, N.B. and CHCQ from Belleville, Ont.
Noel said the Olds and Vegreville stations are nominated alongside stations located in areas with populations more than 10 times the size of Olds.
“It’s really crazy that we’re included with those other communities,” Noel said. “We do a totally different type of radio here than they do there. They’re very music-intensive and we’re more community-focused.”
When asked what his secret was to getting nominated so many times, Noel said it had to do with people.
“So much of this is about building relationships and I feel like we have a great relationship with the rest of the Canadian country music community.
“Having relationships with people within the industry, being visible, I think has really helped us when they’re going to vote. They’re going to say ‘OK, who should we vote for this award?’ and they’ll remember us and the work that we do,” said Noel.
Noel said one example of CKFM's community involvement is its participation in the breakfast for learning program at École Deer Meadow School.
“A lot of kids will come in and maybe they just didn’t have time for breakfast or whatever,” Noel said. “Well now they get to start their day with an actual meal at school. We do that once a month and it’s probably one of my favourite things we do at the station.”
Noel is looking forward to the awards being held in Calgary. He says that city is a perfect place to host Canadian country music awards.
“I’m a big believer that no matter what anybody says, that Calgary is country music. Certainly Alberta is country music, but Calgary specifically is Nashville north and that’s the best hub for country music in Canada,” said Noel.
He said Calgary has some of the best recording studios in the country as well as some of the best songwriters.
“If you want to get a real quality production done, if someone had, you know, $100,000 and said ‘I want to make the best project I can,’ you go to Calgary because the studios are there, the writers are there, and the musicians are there,” Noel said.
Noel said overall in the last year, there hasn’t been much change to the Canadian country music industry. But he noted there has been an increase in female representation, which according to him has been a big talking point for the past number of years.
“There’s so many more women that are not only putting out music but are being played on the radio and there’s just a lot more representation out there,” Noel said.
