Wilmington, North Carolina ¨C There¡¯s a wall at Hokkaido radio station FM G¡¯Sky that¡¯s lined with thousands of CDs. There, Japanese rocker Eikichi Yazawa sits next to U.K. pop icon George Michael and Canadian singer Joni Mitchell, a mix of the local and the international in the small rural town of Takikawa.
Located along the main artery from Sapporo to Asahikawa, Takikawa boasts a population of around 40,000. FM G¡¯Sky¡¯s studio sits right in the city center, behind a Tsutaya CD and DVD store and close to a Bikkuri Donkey steak joint. The three-room studio may be small, but it has an outsized mission: It hopes to provide its audience with an internationally minded source of information.
Normally, when you think of community radio you may think of hobbyists getting lucky with a formula for good chat shows or music playlists. FM G¡¯Sky¡¯s inception 20 years ago, however, was entirely calculated between a group of young business leaders and officials at City Hall.
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