Give us a brief overview of N10.as
N10.as (pronounced “antennas”) is a Montreal-based free form online community radio station. It was established in 2016 and has been run by a team of dedicated volunteers since it started.
(Answered by Emma Noonan, Community Co-Manager)
Why did you choose to structure it as a non-profit rather than a commercial venture?
The project wasn’t started with a profit centric mindset. It actually wasn’t registered until a few years later. It also doesn’t have a viable revenue stream beyond donations, so not-for-profit was the right decision.
(Answered by Sebastian Cowan, Co-Founder)
What is the station’s stated purpose?
To provide a platform for DJs and artists in Montreal’s creative community to share their music and further contribute to the community they make up
(Answered by Emma Noonan, Community Co-Manager)
How does being a non-profit shape your day-to-day decisions and long-term vision for the station?
It helps keep the focus on the music and community rather than making a profit. It has its own challenges, especially as we are mostly dependent on donations to stay afloat. But being entirely volunteer run and surviving off donations means that we don’t need to respond to market pressures to stay alive. We can do the thing that we do, even if it isn’t monetized.
It means we are not under pressure by larger entities, that may try to shape the media we host on the site
(Answered by Emma Noonan and Sebastian Cowan)
How do you balance financial sustainability with staying true to your non-profit mission?
We don’t view this as a conflict whatsoever. We keep our expenses so low that financial sustainability isn’t so much of a concern.
It’s not that we don’t need money or don’t have a focus on raising money. Surely better financing would allow us to upgrade gear and generally do a better job of what we do, but ultimately the mission is to provide a radio platform. All other concerns are secondary.
(Answered by Sebastian Cowan, Co-Founder)
Walk us through your funding model - how do you keep the lights on without a traditional commercial focus?
We eliminate our fixed costs as much as possible. We don’t pay rent and we have no salaries. We are funded mostly by donations through patreon and paypal, fundraising events and raffles, selling merch, partnerships and, more recently, renting out the station and its gear to local DJs for hourly practice sessions
(Answered by Emma Noonan and Sebastian Cowan)
How do you make decisions differently as a non-profit? What questions do you ask that commercial stations might not?
It allows us to prioritize our role in the immediate community, putting first the ideas and opinions of our volunteers (without whom we would have no station) as well as our show hosts and listeners. There’s an admirable focus on simply having a website that plays music 24/7 and creating a space for anyone and everyone to feel connected on and offline.
Ultimately what a commercial radio station does is so different from what we do, I’d say we’re nothing alike. A commercial radio station is in the business of selling advertising. We’re not in business at all.
(Answered by Emma Noonan, Community Co-Manager)
Have you ever felt pressure to compromise your values for financial reasons? How do you handle those moments?
There’s never too much pressure to, at the very least, maintain the station. Though, at times it impedes our ability to make strides in growing the project. In these cases, we just come together to figure out ways to raise funds for specific projects within the station.
(Answered by Emma Noonan, Community Co-Manager)
What's your approach to measuring success when profit isn't the primary metric?
Our success rate is determined by our audience and community feedback. Our goal is to be an accessible place for all music lovers and radio enthusiasts. So as long as we are offering something consistently inclusive and engaging to the community, we are successful as a platform
(Answered by Emma Noonan, Community Co-Manager)
Can you share a specific example of how N10.as has made a difference in your community that wouldn't have happened with a commercial model?
One of my favourite examples of this is when people who have never DJed before approach us about having a show. We facilitate that, get them on air, promote their shows and via this platform they produce events, get DJ bookings, eventually an agent and then a career touring. It’s incredible!
(Answered by Sebastian Cowan, Co-Founder)
What role do volunteers or community members play in keeping the station running?
Volunteers and community members do absolutely everything to keep the station running. Everyone involved at the station is a volunteer, including the station managers, tech support, social media coordinators and volunteer coordinators. There’s a massive emphasis on doing it for the love of it. Everyone involved came from the community and simply wanted to give back to the community. This type of dedication is what makes N10.AS so special.
(Answered by Emma Noonan, Community Co-Manager)
What are the biggest misconceptions people have about running a non-profit radio station?
I think that most people see N10.AS as this larger entity with an inaccessible background system making it all happen.
It’s not as commonly known that we are 100% volunteer-run. I think a lot of people’s concept of online radio is based on the likes of NTS or Rinse FM which then leads to some expectations of the nonprofit stations like ourselves that can be challenging to keep up with.
(Answered by Sebastian Cowan, Co-Founder)
How has Radio Cult supported your non-profit model? Are there specific features or benefits that have helped?
It will be challenging to make this not sound like a paid ad (it isn’t), but basically, Radio Cult has been a game changer for us ever since we migrated to their platform last year.
Financially, we have saved hundreds (almost 50% of our broadcasting platform expense when including the non-profit discount), while gaining access to features that our previous broadcasting platform lacked, such as double the storage and high bitrate streaming.
One of the most noticeable differences in switching to Radio Cult was the platform’s ease of use and snappiness compared to the previous platform we used. A feature we enjoy using is the default playlist function for playing jingles during dead air, which often occurs since show hosts usually do not end their show right at the end of their allotted time slot.
As Tech Manager, my personal favourite part of Radio Cult is interacting with their staff. They’re supportive, responsive, passionate, and involved. I’ve requested several features, many of which have been implemented. Each time I’ve requested help, they’ve responded almost immediately and were very helpful.
It’s incredible for us to be able to communicate directly with our broadcasting platform as this is essentially the most important part of our operations: getting our shows on the “air”. Radio Cult has been so helpful and accommodating and has helped us feel like we can continue to grow our own platform more freely.
(Answered by Mattie Tesfaldet, Tech Manager)
What's your advice for new stations who want to follow in your footsteps?
From the technical perspective, I would advise new stations to not try to build their platform from the ground up and to start with pre-built solutions so that they can focus on what matters most: engaging with a community through internet radio. N10.as was built with a strong creative direction in mind, which led to unexpected technical challenges in achieving our UI/UX goals.
However, there are probably fewer barriers to entry than you might expect. With a concept, a bit of technical knowledge and a lot of hard work you can make it happen! I wouldn’t hesitate. Jump in and feel free to make mistakes, that’s the best way to learn.
(Answered by Mattie Tesfaldet, Tech Manager)
What are the future goals of the station and the team behind it?
Until now, everyone (that being all of the founders, volunteers, showhosts who have made an impact on the station since its inception in 2016) has done an amazing job at establishing N10.AS as an integral part of Montréal’s underground music cultural fabric. This has been crucial for the station to weather the chaos of the pandemic, move studios, reorganize ourselves, and remain as a strong presence in the local community in the years after.
Now, 10 years later, it really feels like the time to build on our stability and expand the impact we can have, all while remaining as a purely volunteer-run organization. This means experimenting with our volunteer model to be able to easily welcome more people and have the ‘baseline’ functions of the station more easily met, for volunteers to have the support and resources to explore wider projects and engage more directly with the community around us, and for showhosts / the community at large to be able to more accessibly participate in N10.AS. Remote broadcasting for events, video streaming, community workshops, and wider partnerships with local community and art organizations are some specific examples that come to mind, but there are many ways we can achieve this :)
(Answered by Simon Rock, Co-Station Executive)
