Record breakers

>> CKUT’s Masters at Work celebrates over ten years on the air

by SCOTT C

F or over 10 years, the people at Masters at Work on CKUT 90.3 FM have made sure that hip hop was a top priority. Mike Mission and Ken Dawg have flooded the airwaves with hip hop classics and soon-to-be hits for as long as most people can remember hearing rap on the radio in MTL. The duo’s Saturday evening slot of 7–9 p.m. has one of the station’s largest listening audiences and shows no signs of abating. The Mirror spoke to Mike Mission, one half of this Montreal hip hop staple.

Mirror: So Mike, man, how long has this been going on, for real?

Mike Mission: Wow. It’s hard to believe, but we’ve been doing Masters at Work for 11 years this year. We’ve pretty much kept to the same format of strictly hip hop over the years, but we throw in a little R&B here and there as well. We’re really trying to keep people up to date with everything from American to Canadian artists.

M: Would you say that Canadian artists didn’t always get the equal spins that they’re getting now?

MM: I find that there’s definitely more of them stepping out and that means that it’s getting to more people. I’ve found that there are a lot of people with talent here, but nobody was passing us demos or calling us up for publicity. There’s more people reaching out to us now.

M: How important do you think it is to break new records on the radio every week?

MM: I think it’s really important because there’s just so much stuff that’s available now that the radio, TV and club combined can’t fit it all in there. Radio and the club are two different things. In the club, you’re trying to play part hits, or stuff they know, and also hit them with some new stuff. Radio is there to break records. It’s the perfect forum to do that.

M: Do you find that what gets played on a show like Masters at Work has a direct influence on what gets played in the club?

MM: It has an influence, like if it’s a song that we like, we’ll play it a lot in the hopes that other people will like it as much as we did and play it out.

M: Do you think Montreal is ready for its own urban radio station?

MM: I think that Montrealers are very up to date with their music, and they’ve been ready for a long time. It’s not that people aren’t ready, or that nobody wants to do it, it’s the financial support that’s missing. K103 is great and I give them credit for taking a step in that direction, but I hope that we can organize ourselves soon so that there’s more music for everyone. 7

Masters at Work, Saturdays, 7-9pm on CKUT 90.3 FM. Mike Mission plays Aria, Fridays, 2-5am