Grandfather of Indigenous Media hits “1 million watts of Indigenous Power”
By Tyrone Perreault
After 47 years in the news business and reaching an incredible milestone, Bert Crowfoot proves Indigenous media is thriving.
His company Windspeaker Media, consists of five radio stations and an online news service.
After launching 106.3 Medicine Hat on March 1, Crowfoot officially reached one million watts of broadcast power in Alberta.
“One million? I can do two million!,” he said about the milestone.
To put the number into perspective, commercial radio stations typically broadcast at 50,000 to 100,000 watts.
Crowfoot has no plans to slow down anytime soon.
“I’m having fun,” he said.
Looking back, Crowfoot said the fun started in the 1980s, after he received a set of tapes called, The Psychology of Winning by Dr. Denis Waitley from his brother.
The set of motivational tapes described 10 characteristics of winners, which formed his life-long guiding philosophy.
Waitley’s inspirational words taught Crowfoot to find opportunity in negative situations, or as he puts it, “turning stumbling stones into stepping stones.”
Although he launched the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society (AMMSA) in 1983, the Indigenous media mogul’s love for journalism started at a much younger age.
He vividly recalled walking into his grandmother’s house and seen cartoons playing.
“I remember coming home one day and all of a sudden we had power,” said Crowfoot. “We had a TV before we had power
His journalism career started in 1977, when he was offered an opportunity to attend two sport tournaments on behalf of Native People Magazine.
After publishing two articles, Crowfoot became a full-time writer for the publication.
Forty-seven years later, he remains a leader in the industry.
Crowfoot is also a prominent photographer.
“If you look back to the pictographs on cave walls, you’ll see all the stories,” he explained. “We’ve always been visual in storytelling. The next step in the evolution from writing on cave walls to writing on hides is photography.”
While continuing to practice his passion for photography, Crowfoot began to take the steps necessary to build his media empire.
After a successful funding proposal to the federal government in 1983, Crowfoot found himself in a position to launch the Aboriginal Multi-Media Society (AMMSA).
The nonprofit society’s first media outlet was Windspeaker, a monthly news publication.
Three years later, AMMSA launched CFWE-FM radio, broadcasting news and entertainment to 48 communities throughout Northern Alberta.
Then in 1990, funding to the Native Communications Program was cut and as a result nine out of 11the federally funded Indigenous news outlets closed.
AMMSA’s media operations survived the cut thanks to a $250,000 nest egg generated by ad sales.
This crucial lesson shaped the way Crowfoot conducted business.
He learned the importance of diversifying revenue and not relying on one source of income – especially from the federal government.
AMMSA has evolved into Windspeaker Media.
Crowfoot utilized the power of a positive mindset and his entrepreneurial spirit to develop Windspeaker Media into the largest provider of Indigenous radio in North America.
After reaching 1 million watts, he already has his eyes set on his next goal.
Crowfoot remains optimistic about the future of Indigenous media. His latest project is an Indigenous music and voice bank..
“Always look for the opportunity coming down the road,” he said.
