About Missinipi Broadcasting Corporation

Missinipi Broadcasting Corporation

Overview

The Missinipi Broadcasting Corporation, known on air as MBC Radio, is an Indigenous-owned, non-profit radio network based in La Ronge, Saskatchewan. Broadcasting 24 hours a day, MBC serves First Nations and Métis communities across Saskatchewan through a satellite-delivered network of roughly 30 transmitters anchored by its flagship station, CJLR-FM in La Ronge. Its signal reaches more than 70 communities, from remote northern settlements to the province's major cities, including Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Regina, North Battleford and Yorkton.

MBC broadcasts in English, Cree, Dënesųłiné (Dene) and Michif, mixing music — country, pop, rock and traditional Indigenous music — with news, talk and language programming made for its northern audience. "Missinipi" is the Cree name for the Churchill River, the waterway that runs through the corporation's home community. The corporation's chief executive is Deborah Charles, who has been with MBC since 1989 and is the first woman to head an Indigenous radio broadcast network in Canada.

History

MBC grew out of earlier efforts to serve Saskatchewan's north by radio. From the 1960s, a provincial government service called Northern News broadcast a short weekly program from Prince Albert, but reception in the north was poor and the content was not made for Indigenous listeners. In 1973 the Department of Northern Saskatchewan began producing Northern News from La Ronge, hosted by Barrie Ward with Cree and Michif content contributed by linguists Tom Roberts and Robert Merasty; that service ended when the department was disbanded in 1982, leaving a gap in northern broadcasting just as roughly ten small, low-power community stations were operating across the region.

The catalyst for a permanent Indigenous broadcaster was federal: in 1983 the Government of Canada created the Northern Native Broadcast Access Program to support Indigenous-language broadcasting controlled by Indigenous people themselves. A northern organizing effort followed — a founding meeting at Île-à-la-Crosse in August 1983, a full-time coordinating committee in March 1984, a survey of northern listeners, and the election of MBC's first board of directors in 1984, with Robert Merasty as the corporation's first chief executive. After a basic radio-skills training program run through the local community college, MBC's first broadcast went to air in February 1985, hosted by Tom Roberts. Those first broadcasts were predominantly in English with some Cree; a more advanced training program followed at CJLR in La Ronge in 1986, with a strong focus on expanding the use of Indigenous languages and on the technical skills of MBC's own staff. The Missinipi Broadcasting Corporation marked its 40th anniversary in February 2025; its chief executive, Deborah Charles, noted in anniversary coverage that she had spent 35 of those 40 years with the corporation.

In its formative years MBC depended on federal funding and on CBC transmitters to carry its programming, and it was 1989 before the CRTC granted the corporation its own La Ronge FM licence (Decision CRTC 89-198, for a locally produced Cree- and English-language service). Under its second chief executive, Nap Gardiner, MBC planned its way toward financial independence, becoming primarily supported by advertising revenue along with gaming revenue from its bingo broadcasts. Under its third chief executive, Marty Ballantyne, MBC moved into television production in 1998, serving on the board of the new Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) and producing 39 episodes of Heartbeat of the Earth, a series about Saskatchewan's northern Indigenous peoples, for the network. MBC also led the founding of the Saskatchewan Association of Aboriginal Broadcasters in 1996, a cooperative of the province's Indigenous broadcast outlets. Deborah Charles succeeded to the chief executive role after joining MBC in 1989, and has led the corporation for close to 25 years; she has also sat on APTN's board of directors.

Content and Coverage

Language programming is the core of MBC's schedule. The network provides a minimum of ten hours of Cree programming and ten hours of Dënesųłiné programming each week, and works the languages into special programs, remote broadcasts, contests and even commercial content. Its best-known Cree program, Achimowin, hosted by Able Charles, grew from a daily 15-minute segment into a two-hour daily show covering local, national and international news, sports, weather and community stories, with in-studio interviews and coverage of special events; the network also airs a Dene-language program and Michif content.

MBC produces its own news from a northern Indigenous perspective — the July 2026 Canadian Heritage announcement of federal support for the network describes MBC producing radio programs in English, Cree, Dene and Michif featuring educational content, interviews, news, talk radio and music — and its newsroom's reporting is carried online through the MBC website. The network also broadcasts La Ronge Ice Wolves junior hockey games, a staple of winter listening in the community, and its schedule runs around the clock, seven days a week. Its bingo broadcasts, a long-standing feature of northern radio, double as one of the corporation's principal fundraisers, with gaming revenue from bingo standing alongside advertising as a pillar of its finances.

Audience and Reach

MBC's audience is the Indigenous population of Saskatchewan — First Nations and Métis communities across the north and, through its city transmitters, urban Indigenous listeners in Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Regina, Yorkton, North Battleford and Meadow Lake. A digital satellite delivery system feeds the network to its transmitters, ending the corporation's early reliance on ground distribution; the feed reaches communities through a mix of MBC's own CJLR-FM rebroadcasters — among them Denare Beach on 91.9 FM, Montreal Lake Cree Nation on 89.9 FM and Mistawasis Nêhiyawak on 100.9 FM — and community-owned stations in places such as Beauval, Île-à-la-Crosse and Pinehouse Lake, and MBC also supports the growth of small community-owned low-power stations, providing training and technical help. For many northern communities, where other media are scarce, MBC functions as the community's daily bulletin board and a connection between home communities and relatives in the cities.

Digital Presence

The network's website, mbcradio.com, carries its community and programming information, and MBC streams its audio live on the Internet through its streaming feed (cjlr.streamon.fm), making the La Ronge service available anywhere. Canadian Heritage's July 2026 funding announcement likewise notes that MBC Radio broadcasts across Saskatchewan "as well as on the Internet."

Ownership and Organisation

MBC is a non-profit corporation governed by a board of directors — its first board was elected by the northern community in 1984 — and controlled by its Indigenous membership. It operates from headquarters in La Ronge, with a sales office in Prince Albert handling advertising. Historically the corporation was supported by federal grants, but today it is primarily supported by advertising revenue and gaming revenue from its radio bingo broadcasts, supplemented by project funding: in July 2026 the Government of Canada announced $618,914 over two years for MBC through the Northern Aboriginal Broadcasting component of the Indigenous Languages Program, part of a $1.89 million package for northern Saskatchewan Indigenous broadcasters. MBC is a member of the Western Association of Aboriginal Broadcasters, alongside its Saskatchewan cooperative, the Saskatchewan Association of Aboriginal Broadcasters.

Contact and Availability

MBC Radio is based in La Ronge, Saskatchewan, with a sales office in Prince Albert. Listeners can hear the network on CJLR-FM in La Ronge and on community transmitters across Saskatchewan — including 88.1 FM in Prince Albert, 90.3 FM in Regina, 104.1 FM in Saskatoon, 92.9 FM in Yorkton, 95.5 FM in North Battleford and 89.9 FM in Meadow Lake — or listen live online at mbcradio.com.