Staff Picks: CBC Yukon remembers 2015

As 2016 approaches, we asked some of the CBC Yukon staff to look back at 2015 and share some favourite memories.

Red tide, and a flood

October 19 was a historic night in Canada, the night a new Prime Minister was elected, a night when new hope dawned, a night when the studio tried to kill me.

I was hosting the local breaks into national election coverage and posting on social media when a colleague burst into the studio: "A tap has broken upstairs, there's water everywhere!"

Soon, water started to drip into the studio. Then more water, and more.

I happily tweeted away details of Trudeau's victory while workers tried to see how much water was pooling in the ceiling above my head. Those efforts loosened a large acoustic tile that plummeted towards my table, bounced off a lamp and crashed to the floor.

So the Harper Conservatives weren't the only thing to hit the deck that night.

-Dave White, host of Airplay

Musical chairs at Caribou Days

In Old Crow, during the community's Caribou Days celebration, I was taking photos and video of people playing all sorts of races that involved skinning caribou legs, setting up tents and making bannock.

If participation in any event was low, the main organizer would point at someone and say, "you — join the game." Since Teresa Frost didn't take "no" for an answer, I found myself in a lively game of adult musical chairs.

There's something about a bunch of grown-ups launching their rear-ends at chairs at warp speed that's hysterically funny, and I couldn't stop laughing long after I was ejected from the game.

That's what I call "bum on the chair" reporting.

-Karen McColl, reporter 

Three fires in 12 hours

Working the weekend web desk means keeping tabs on breaking news in all three territories. Sometimes, especially in the summer, slow news days happen. 

Fires and police stories aren't uncommon, but three northern fires in 12 hours over the Labour Day weekend was a bit hectic. The weekend started with a small fire at Iqaluit's new airport, then the fieldhouse at Dawson City's ball field burned down. And then there was the biggie: the fire that destroyed Peter Pitseolak school in Cape Dorset. Juggling all three stories and collaborating with reporters three time zones away made for a busy weekend.

-Chris Windeyer, reporter

First remote, last remote

There are a number of memorable moments I could write about, but here is one of them. I got to experience doing a remote show at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre with the soon-to-be-retired Gwich'in Nantaii operator/announcer Ruth Carroll. It was my first remote, and Ruth's last.

Even more memorable was when I semi-co-hosted her program and she mine on Tusaavik. I also did a retirement interview with her which was also exciting.

It was fun to co-ordinate the remote shows of Nantaii and Tusaavik with the help of [CBC Yukon area manager] Karen Vallevand and technician Chris Meger.

-Dodie Lennie, host of Tusaavik

Few people, countless stories

Getting on the road and meeting people is the best part of my job.

Sometimes I go back and forth between thinking the rest of the country needs to know how awesome this place is, and thinking we are the best kept secret ever and it should stay that way.

Late this summer I was on the road for a quick trip to Beaver Creek, population about 100. Snow on the St. Elias Mountains, sun shining and I was heading out on a mission to gather material for one story.

But, as often happens, I pulled in to the Yukon community and it turns out everyone is a story. Each person I met was welcoming, full of life and had tales to tell. This is a real dilemma for a reporter. I gathered as much as possible in my short 24 hours there before driving five hours back to Whitehorse.

In the end, I was able to share a few profiles, and people far and wide met Yukon gems like coroner-fire chief-notary public-turned-hotelier, Beat Ledergerber, who's reviving the old Westmark hotel.

-Cheryl Kawaja, reporter

Two minutes, four bears and 50,000 people

​This year has certainly been marked by major changes in the way I deliver news stories about the Yukon in French. From television and radio in the past, social media is now at the forefront of my attention.

The most amazing example of the success of social media has been the video of a sow grizzly and her three cubs in September. That little two minute video with no narration reached well over 50,000 people, and is still going strong.

Perhaps we could add grizzlies at the legislative assembly to attract attention...

-Claudiane Samson, reporter, Radio-Canada

Staying connected

This has been sort of a crazy year at CBC, with lots of things happening.

In Whitehorse, unionized CBC employees started a low-key campaign to raise awareness about public broadcasting. Thank you, Yukoners for showing us so much encouragement.

Also, thank you for your participation in our radio programs and Facebook page. It's your contributions, interviews, news tips, photos and comments that make them successful.

So please, keep it up, the more we hear from you, the better CBC Yukon will become.

-Dave Croft, reporter