Whatever Happened to Wake Up Winnipeg?

Sunday, Sept 16, 2012
Toronto, ON.

It is with mixed emotions that I announce the indefinite hiatus of Wake Up Winnipeg which aired on UMFM 101.5 (CJUM-FM) in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada. After nearly 3 years and 121 episodes, Wake Up Winnipeg aired it's last episode on May 4th, 2012.

Due to personal commitments outside of the radio program, alongside an impending relocation to Toronto Ontario, the weekly talk show that "woke listeners up" to local events, news and information will no longer be producing new episodes.

When Paul and I created Wake Up Winnipeg neither of us had expected it to grow into what it later became. Throughout three years, our show invited over 112 guests, conducted 20 live in studio sessions, created 20 video pieces, and wrote 126 blog articles. All of our content was well received, not only by our local listeners on UMFM, but to listeners around the world including countries like Russia, Germany, the UK, Iran and the Netherlands.

Had it not been for our station managers Jared and Michael, alongside our friends and fellow volunteers at UMFM and Winnipeg's artist community, our show may not have ever grown. Truthfully, a lot of our content was suggested through these means and without their help, our show would have probably amounted to nothing more than the radio equivalent of watching paint dry.

Of course, it goes without saying that Wake Up Winnipeg would not have continued had it not been for our loyal listeners and fans who tuned into UMFM 101.5 weekly to hear what we had in store. It was because of you, our listeners, that we created and produced our little talk show, never expecting it to survive past ten episodes.

With your help, we were also able to produce three amazing benefit shows which saw money raised for causes like The Winnipeg Folk Festival, Jazz Winnipeg's Jazz On Wheels, The Children's Hospital Foundation, The Rainbow Society, The Red Cross and The Kids Help Phone. Local donation was always something that I felt important for a community based talk show; With your help we were able to make small dents in causes we all felt important. For that, I thank you.

I also attribute a lot of our success to our online communities which included our Twitter and Facebook accounts, our website, and of course our iTunes podcast which actually accounted for 25% of our web-traffic. In fact, in 2012 thus far Wakeupwinnipeg.com has been visited by 49,662 people and our Podcast has been downloaded 6,715 times. I must say, that's not bad for a locally based independent talk show.

By now I've probably been able to distract you from asking yourself a question that may be on your mind as you read this.

"What happens next?"

Don't worry, I had a feeling you were going to ask. . .

All of our Wake Up Winnipeg content will remain in place online for archived use. You will still be able to download episodes from our last season of Wake Up Winnipeg through the iTunes music store. Our blog and all of it's content will remain intact and in place as a reminder of The Little Talk Show That Could....

For now, our Facebook Fan Page and Twitter accounts will still be branded as Wake Up Winnipeg. This will likely change as time goes on and may be re-branded in the future. Stay tuned for more on that. The twitter edition of "The Wake Up Winnipeg Wire" will continue to updated daily and can be found online at http://paper.li/wakeupwinnipeg/1315625212.

Our loyal listeners may recall a time when Paul and I hosted a secondary program on UMFM entitled The Aimless & Andy Show. This later moved to the iTunes music store and continues to grow there.

I am pleased to announce that I will be using this relocation to re-establish The Aimless & Andy Show and hope to start producing new media through our iTunes Podcast within the next little while. This will also include our well read concert reviews alongside interview opportunities and in-studio sessions.

Along with my own personal relocation, Aimless & Andy Productions (which was previously based in Winnipeg) will continue it's growth in it's new Toronto location. One can only assume that being located within Canada's largest city will bring new and exciting opportunities to our already well established team.

Until then, I encourage you to visit and bookmark our website at http://aimlessandandy.com/ for our future developments. You can also follow along with us at Facebook.com/Aimlessandandy and on twitter @Aimlessandandy for even more updates. 

Finally, when the time is right, I intend on working closely with affiliates of the National College Radio Association in creating a new talk show which I hope to air in the Greater Toronto Area. There may also be an opportunity in the future to syndicate this program on my home station of UMFM in Winnipeg. Only time will tell.

My only request is for your continued support as I move into a bigger market. I welcome you to keep in touch with me through e-mail, social media and by downloading new episodes of The Aimless & Andy Show. Our e-mail addresses will remain the same, with the exception to media.

Media releases, story ideas, important announcements, interview opportunities and other inquires can now be directed to Andru@Aimlessandandy.com or Info@aimlessandandy.com. Please feel free to keep me in the loop as I may use your releases in future episodes.

Words cannot express how thankful I am to the citizens of Winnipeg, as well as to all of the businesses, organizations, festivals, volunteers, our station managers Michael and Jared and to our friends and family that helped support us along the way. They say that Winnipeg is the City of Opportunity, and I can personally assure you that this statement holds true. Little did some of you know this show became a huge part of my every day life. With it's end, I can't help but feel a small piece of me has been left behind.

Once again, Thank you for an amazing 3 year ride.

Andru Valpy

Editor in Chief - The Aimless and Andy Show

E-mail: andru@aimlessandandy.com
Web: http://aimlessandandy.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/AimlessAndru
Facebook: http://facebook.com/AimlessAndAndy