Yukon francophones celebrate 30 years on the air

Yukon's francophone community is celebrating 30 years on the air.

This weekend marks the third decade for the radio show, "Rencontres."

The show whose name translates to 'meetings,' or 'gatherings' was started as a way to connect with the Francophone community.

It's now completely run by volunteers.Once a week they gather at the offices of CBC Yukon torecord their show which airs Saturdays on the FM airwaves of CBC North.

The arrangement is unique within CBC and Radio-Canada.

Program host Angelique Bernard remembers some translation difficulties in the early days.

"Before 1998 the show was done with French volunteer hosts but English technicians," she said, adding that technical staff would have no sense of a host's intentions such as introducing a song.

Bernard says more than 200 volunteers have helped on the show over its 30 years.

To mark the anniversarya special two-part program began this weekend on CBC North Radio One. The second part airs Saturday March 21 at 5 p.m. PDT.