Do you (or someone you know) have a 200-300 word story about you and CKUA that you’d like to share with us? Please let us know by writing us. We’d love to feature it! What do such stories look like?
Well, here’s one by CKUA listener, donor, and our first Backstage contest winner, Crystal Stamp-Cardinal!
My husband Chris and I were so thrilled when we found out that we had won the first Backstage contest on CKUA! The chance to speak with our favourite host, Baba, and have a custom playlist created by him was a dream.
First let’s go way back to the mid-1990’s. Chris and I were attending school at the University of Alberta. There he found the local radio station CJSR. There was a DJ named Master Crocodile, who played world music, which he made sure to tune into each week. Further to this, Chris worked at a warehouse in west Edmonton and had a diverse group of co-workers. They were from many different cultures new to Canada. It was an hour of music, when he and his allies would gather together, share food and listen to the variety brought by Master Crocodile that reminded them of home.
Fast forward…… A couple decades later, when Covid and working from home became a thing. I started to listen to CKUA again! Such a refreshing variety of music and DJs. One morning Chris stopped by at home and heard Mid-Morning Mojo with Baba. I told him that Baba and I start our day together and enjoy his wonderful mix of music.
His first comment was, “no, that’s Master Crocodile!!”
We debated for some time, and when Chris WON the first CKUA backstage contest, it was our opportunity to find out.
As we shared, and asked the big question, you could almost feel the smile and happiness coming from Baba through the phone and he confirmed that, yes!! he was that voice from our UofA days. Baba, aka Master Crocodile, appeared in the Edmonton Journal, January 4th, 2020.
During our hour long talk we shared some personal stories, I am proudly from the Saddle Lake Cree Nation and Chris is of German/Welsh decent. You can hear Our Story and Experience within the play list. (We love the RHCP mix Thanks BABA ❤)
So many good memories flooded back and we were amazed in how we were connected well before we ever got to speak! That my friends, is the beauty of music.
Baba is now a very dear to us, and we will always be connected in spirit. Thank you for the awesome experience and I hope everyone in the CKUA community enjoys our Playlist by Baba (aka Master Crocodile!)
