Located at 17 Conney’s Lane in historic Arichat, Nova Scotia, Telile has been a vital piece of the community for over three decades. Born from, and in response to the collapse of the North Atlantic cod fishery, attempts to stimulate the local economy and create a reliable media outlet lead to Telile’s early beginings. Today, Telile houses a modern production studio and set; holds a broadcast license, and continues to adapt and evolve to an ever changing environment. Today, Telile couldn’t operate without the dedication of its Station Crew.

 

 

Through the 2000s and 2010s, Telile featured a daily scroll which informed viewers of
community events, offered free advertising to individuals and organizations, and delivered free
personal and family announcements. Once a month, on average, it offered a new show (covering
a local event and/or interviews with community members) which it would then run a few times
per week. This programming also included music performances by local artists. Telile also
broadcast the Municipality of the County of Richmond council meetings which became an
important source of news for residents. Also highly popular has been its regular weekly
televised Bingo which, from the early days of Telile, has continue to provide Telile with the
lion’s share of its operating revenue.

 

In more recent years, Telile has recognized that its role as a community broadcaster needs to
change again in order to better align its media production capacities with the demands of 21 st
century, to remain relevant to the community it serves, and to remain financially viable as a non-
profit organization. To these ends, it recently underwent a complete equipment overhaul (costing
around $450,000) to switch over to digital broadcasting. It also installed an emergency broadcast
system to serve its entire local community. It has added a green screen to its studio and updated
its cameras and editing equipment. Its website has been completely revamped and it now offers
much of its content on its YouTube channel where it has more than 850 subscribers.

 

By 2019, Telile’s Facebook page had a following of over 2,000 members. It now live-streams its
Wednesday night Bingo games at the same time that they are broadcast. With funding from the
federal Local Journalism Initiative (LJI), it has hired dedicated journalists to cover local news
and events, and has put its summer students to work to create content material. It has expanded
its program offerings considerably and opened up new opportunities for funding and
collaboration by joining the Canadian Media Fund and forging closer ties with the Cape Breton
Partnership.