Michel Mathieu with K103’s transmitter in 2014.
Broadcasting is full of characters, most of whom are in front of a camera or microphone, or maybe in sales. As someone who follows the CRTC closely, I get exposed to more of the boring types, the ones who speak in legalese when they’re submitting filings to the regulator, always polite and formal.
Michel Mathieu was different. For years after everyone had moved to electronic filings, Mathieu was still filing handwritten documents to the CRTC by fax. While the highly-paid consultants were making bank off the major broadcasters, producing flashy extensive reports, Mathieu was working for the little guy, helping campus and community radio stations get on the air and upgrade their facilities.
Even just in the Montreal area, I don’t think I can come up with a complete list of radio stations he has had some hand in. K103 in Kahnawake, the Kanesatake community station at 101.7, CJLO 1690 at Concordia, CJLV 1570 in Laval, CFNJ in St-Gabriel-de-Brandon, CJVD-FM in Vaudreuil, Radio Humsafar 1610, CPAM 1410 AM. He’s consulted for all of them at some point, and more.
He brought the call letters CJMS back to the area, getting a licence for what would then become 1040 AM in St-Constant — it fell into some hot water with the regulator after he sold a controlling stake in the station, and then made the case to the commission that its licence should be pulled, which it eventually was.
His contributions weren’t just on paper. When K103 moved to its new building in 2014, Mathieu set up the broadcasting facilities, including a series of physical relays to switch between microphones, something few others would dare to even try nowadays.
Mathieu was also very vocal about his opinions. He didn’t hold back when he thought other broadcasters weren’t doing what he thought was right. Whether defending his clients or just the broadcasting system as a whole, he repeatedly intervened with the CRTC or just vented to me and others.
We had various discussions over the years about broadcast engineering, about things that could be done to improve the industry. One of the topics I’ve had on the back burner for a while is expanding access to the FM band in large cities by opening up the 76-88 MHz band previously used for VHF television channels, and allowing second-adjacent channels (existing stations have a de facto veto on these channels two spots away from their signals, which is why we don’t have stations at 96.5 or 98.1 in Montreal, for example). He agreed with the ideas and promised to tell me more about ways to reform the band next time we talked.
Unfortunately I won’t get that chance to pick his brain. Michel Mathieu died Feb. 20. He leaves behind various family members, people he worked with, and a legacy of community radio stations he helped get on the air and stay there.
Syd Gaspé, who has spearheaded the return and upgrades to the Kanesatake station, credited Mathieu as a mentor in a Facebook post this week. Mathieu also spoke highly of Gaspé and the work he has done in the Mohawk community.
A memorial for Mathieu will be held Sunday, March 2 at 2 p.m. at 2159 boul. St Martin Est in Laval. His family has invited people in the radio sphere (both professional and ham radio, as he was also a ham operator) to share their stories about him there.
So S A D to lose an ICON!
A man fiercely dedicated to his craft. Mike will be missed.
Tribute to a fellow geek. Nice bro.
Mike was Chief Eng at Chom when I started there in the late 70s. A real character. But a believer. There is no one left but one or two people in the whole country who knows the stuff about studios and transmitting that he did. It’s a dying profession…maybe dead, actually. A lot of multicultural and racialized stations would never been heard without him. Nuff respect Mike.
I had some interactions with him 2-3 years ago when I assisted him at K103 setting up their “amber alert” box on a new internet connection. I’m the brief time I spoke with him (about 2 hours) found him so interesting and knew I only scratched the surface about his knowledge.
Truly a big loss
A wonderful tribute to a friend who brought something special to the table for you. I can imagine the conversations between two radiophiles like you and Mathieu. I didn’t know about him but with your tribute, I feel as if I did. They are a rare breed, the guys that know radio virtually inside and out. Condolences to his family and friends like you.
Steve, you did a bombass job capturing Mike’s persona here. He was one of the more interesting characters I ran into in my role as the Godfather’s Wife. I’d been told he wasn’t in the best shape but it’s still a jolt. A real passing of an era.
I had the opportunity to work with Michel many years ago at Standard Sound. Great guy and very knowledgeable. RIP Mike