Moose FM program director receives Canadian Radio Award

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — Moose FM’s Chris Walker was recently selected as the 2023 Program Director of the Year for a small market by the Canadian Radio Awards.

A small market refers to a radio station in cities with under 100,000 people.

According to the Canadian Radio Awards, the program director award goes to someone who leads and promotes positive workplace culture while creating unique programming to engage the audience.

Walker says he knows a lot of fantastic program directors, and the competition for the small market title is much wider than it is for the larger markets.

“It’s strange. It’s humbling, I love it, but I’m also super shy about the idea of winning personal awards,” Walker said.

“I think that the station as a whole is much more impressive than just one person’s accomplishments.”

Walker didn’t always work in radio, as he worked as a Viking for years in northern Newfoundland, giving him a background in theatre.

“A large economic driver in northern Newfoundland was tourism, and growing up an hour away from the L’Anse aux Meadows UNESCO World Heritage Site gave me opportunities that most people wouldn’t even consider,” Walker said.

In 2009, he studied physics and audio engineering at university and started in radio by answering phones at a local station in Cornerbrook, Newfoundland.

“From there, birthday greetings, into a summer cruiser position, summer cruiser into weekend position,” Walker said.

“And after a while, I just said, ‘Well, I mean, if I’m going to try this radio thing full time, screw it, let’s give it a go.’”

In 2023, it marked his 10th year doing full-time work in the radio industry, coinciding with Moose FM’s 20th anniversary and the relaunch.

“It’s lining up perfectly, and everything’s coming up Milhouse,” Walker said.

He hopes to continue with the radio station in Fort St. John and has some ideas for the future that he and his team are already working on.

Walker also wanted to thank Moose FM and Energeticcity.ca’s owner Adam Reaburn, who hired him in October 2022.

“He’s the first one that took a chance on me actually being a program director, and a year later, apparently, it worked,” Walker said.

Walker thanked his staff, who “decided they were going to go 100 per cent in” on his vision.

“I want to thank them for their trust, their help and the success that I’ve had over the course of the past year, so massive thank you to everyone involved in the on-air side and everyone in the building.”