CHLY 101.7FM is pleased to announce its newest staff member Lisa Cordasco as our first Senior Reporter and News Director. Lisa has been practising journalism for more than 30 years. She spent most of her career at CBC Radio, where she was the first host of its morning show in Victoria. As a reporter, she has covered the biggest stories in British Columbia, including the sinking of BC Ferry's Queen of the North, the war in the woods at Clayoquot Sound and former Premier Bill Vander Zalm's final, tumultuous days in power, to name a few.

Lisa retired from CBC Radio five years ago and has written for several magazines since, but she says when the opportunity arose to create a news department at CHLY, she jumped at the chance.

“I want to create a civic news radio zone that doesn’t pander to the commercial and political concerns of mass media organizations.”

“I am honoured and excited to be crafting the blueprint for a radical and creative approach to news and current affairs that will serve citizens who live in Greater Nanaimo and on the surrounding Gulf Islands,” she says.

To that end, Lisa is working on the creation of CHLY's first morning-news show, while recruiting and mentoring volunteers who are interested in producing news and current affairs.

“I want to create a civic news radio zone that doesn't pander to the commercial and political concerns of mass media organizations. A radio zone that welcomes community members as journalists, and teaches them the skills to produce stories and examine issues that matter in the lives of their family, friends and their neighbourhoods,” she says.

While we focus on the real current need for up to date local information regarding COVID-10, we will keep you posted on developments in our launching CHLY's morning show in future newsletters.

If you are interested in volunteering your time to be part of this project, please fill in a volunteer application and contact Lisa via email lisa.cordasco@chly.ca to learn more about our Local Journalism Initiative project.

We look forward to an official welcome aboard party for Lisa, and a launch event for the morning news show!

Daily News Updates.

With Lisa Cordasco's hiring as our Senior Reporter and News Director, she is now taking a lead with our Daily News Updates to provide same-day news updates to our listeners. Expect multiple up-to-date local news updates on CHLY 101.7FM at 8:58 AM, 12:00 PM, 3:00 PM, and 6:00 PM from Monday to Friday.

These updates will be posted to the website as they air and will be available on podcast services like iTunes, Google Play, and more. We'll notify you all when the podcast feed is up in the next few days.