Students’ union wants to axe campus radio at Memorial University in Newfoundland

ST. JOHN’S – The future of the campus radio at Newfoundland and Labrador’s only university is in jeopardy as Memorial University’s students’ union moves to axe the station’s funding.

The union’s executive passed a resolution earlier this month to recommend the board stop funding CHMR-FM, with a vote expected on April 1. The union said in a social media post that it was nearly $300,000 in debt at the end of 2024 and it is reviewing its services.

But station manager Rhea Rollmann said campus stations across the country are finding ways to raise money and be financially self-reliant as universities grapple with dwindling enrolments. She is asking the union to give CHMR at least a year to do the same.

“It’s one of the few places on campus where the skills you learn actually get you jobs,” Rollmann said in an interview Sunday. “CHMR has trained literally thousands of students since we began broadcasting, and put students in successful careers in media, journalism, technical, production, you name it.”

Memorial University’s administration has said several times that enrolment at the school has declined, particularly after the Canadian government began approving fewer study permits for international students.
A report by the federal auditor general earlier this month said those changes hit schools in smaller provinces — including Newfoundland and Labrador — particularly hard, resulting in a nearly 60 per cent decrease of approved study permits in 2024 compared with the year before.

For campus radio stations, which largely survive on student fees, the situation is dire, said Barry Rooke, executive director of the National Campus and Community Radio Association.

“It’s actually probably the worst time, specifically for campus stations, that we’ve seen in the country,” Rooke said in an interview Sunday.

But there are bright spots, he said.
Rollmann is inspired by the University of Calgary’s radio station, CJSW, which has found clever and successful ways to fundraise and build a larger presence in the city. The same could be done at CHMR, which already serves many communities in St. John’s, she said.

For example, the station has programming in several languages, including Ukrainian, to serve Newfoundland and Labrador’s growing newcomer communities and the school’s international students, Rollmann said.

CHMR is also a key source of news in a province where local news is increasingly scarce. As of 2025, small towns in Newfoundland and Labrador had lost three-quarters of their news outlets in the previous 16 years, according to a report last year from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

News aside, the station is a welcoming place where students and community members can connect, volunteer, share ideas and develop creative projects together with few obstacles in their way, Rollmann said.

The students’ union said on social media that it was partly basing its decision on a poll of 84 students, 13.1 per cent of whom listed CHMR as a service they used at least once. Memorial University is home to more than 17,000 students, according to the school’s website.
The Memorial University Students’ Union did not immediately return a request for comment.

In the meantime, local musicians, radio hosts and retired journalists have been posting on social media in support of the station.

“CHMR is a huge part of getting local artists heard,” said St. John’s musician Liz Fagan in a Facebook message to The Canadian Press. “It can be so hard to get your music heard, and it’s folks like CHMR that care.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2026.

Note to readers:This is a corrected version of the story. A previous version said the students’ union said the radio station was in debt by almost $300,000 by the end of 2024. In fact, the union itself was in debt by almost $300,000 by the end of 2024.