Renegade Radio finds a home at the Museum of History – Anishinabek News

May 13, 2025

TORONTO – Renegade Radio has been selected to be a part of a new exhibit, Retro – Popular Music in Canada from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, at the Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa/Gatineau, opening June 6. Featuring more than 100 artists, this new exhibition looks at how musicians and listeners experimented, challenged the status quo, and sparked new forms of creative expression. Featuring a strong Indigenous music component, the exhibit also reveals how music can be social, personal, and political.

“Indigenous artists were an integral part of popular music in many ways – from Robbie Robertson’s enormous influence, to Kashtin’s breaking onto the scene in the 1980s. If we want to begin to understand popular music as culture in Canada, it is crucial that the creativity and breadth of Indigenous artists be part of that conversation,” stated Dr. Judith Klassen, ethnomusicologist, and Curator, Music and Performing Arts with the Canadian Museum of History. “Renegade Radio is significant for its social critique and activist voice, engaging directly with contemporary movements and issues in creative ways. Renegade Radio points to the broader significance of independent community/campus radio in the 1980s and expanding what, and who, is heard on the airwaves.”

To understand Renegade Radio, one must understand the journey. I first enrolled in the journalism program at Canadore College located in North Bay, Ontario, in 1978 and graduated from the graphic design program in 1981. It was there that I began working as a music journalist with published pieces in the college newspaper and for the North Bay Nugget.

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