Cameras started rolling this week in Fort McPherson, N.W.T., where the community radio station is starring in a documentary by the National Film Board.

The film, which began shooting on Monday, aims to give viewers a glimpse into one year at CBQM, a small volunteer-run station that has been a lifelife for about 800 listeners in the Mackenzie Delta.

Fort McPherson, N.W.T. is about 110 kilometres south of Inuvik.
(CBC)

Over the last 26 years, listeners to CBQM have heard an eclectic cast of on-air programmers, from elders spinning country songs to local RCMP constables hosting their own weekly program.

"I wanted to capture that kind of essence of community, with all these DJs, especially all these old-timers who are on the air," Dennis Allen, the film's Inuvik-based director and producer, told CBC News on Tuesday.

"These are people that I grew up listening to and watching, so I have a real sense of belonging when I listen to the radio."

Allen said his film will be in production for the next year, and is scheduled for release in the spring of 2009.

He said he hopes the CBQM documentary will show viewers what it's like to live in Fort McPherson, a tight-knit Arctic hamlet with a population of about 775, located 110 kilometres south of Inuvik.

Among the personalities to appear in the documentary is Frank Firth, 71, who co-hosted a weekly mid-morning show for nine years.

"We just got on [the] radio from 11 to 12 in the mornings on Wednesdays, and gave information and played mostly ... fiddle music from way back, and a lot of George Jones and all the old-time singers from way back," Firth said.

"We kind of ended our programs with up-to-date music, like, for the youngsters, and nobody complained."

It was programming like Firth's that Allen heard while passing through Fort McPherson with his radio on — the inspiration for the film.

"I would always tune in because they played such good music. You know, they played really old-time fiddle music and old-time country music," Allen said.

"It gives you a real sense of … familiarity and kind of belonging. You know when you're out in your cabin all by yourself, you know it's a real good friend to have the radio station on. I guess that was the reason I wanted to do this film."

Allen is known for his 2005 NFB documentary My Father, My Teacher, which showed candid conversations he had with his father about family, culture, addictions and community.

The National Film Board was encouraged to pick up CBQM's story because it's unique to the North, executive director David Christensen said.

'When you're out in your cabin all by yourself, you know it's a real good friend to have the radio station on.'—Dennis Allen

"I'd seen a number of documentaries about northern communities, but nothing that had really captured what was a really interesting spirit of northern living through the radio station," Christensen said.

"It was a northern story told by a really great northern filmmaker."

Community radio stations are common in Canada's North, providing familiar voices, local news and announcements to residents in hamlets and towns across the territories.

Such stations also provided a key service, such as conveying people's messages to those who don't have telephone access, Firth said.

"Think about your neighbours, think about giving them messages, bring them up to date and all that stuff. That's what we do," he said.