CanoeFM was recognized at the recent National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA) awards, with Lorne VanSinclair winning for his show, Backbeat Radio, in the blues or similar music category.
The NCRA announced the winners of its 2026 Community Radio Awards in Broadcast and Online awards in May.
“These awards are a way to highlight the incredible work everyone has done and give it the recognition they deserve,” station manager, Roxanne Casey, said.
Casey said years ago, VanSinclair reached out to CanoeFM with an idea for a blues program — and the station proudly gave him the opportunity to bring his passion to local listeners.
“Backbeat has since grown from a community radio show in Haliburton County to an internationally-heard program airing on approximately 30 stations and online platforms across Canada, the U.S., Germany, and beyond,” Casey said.
VanSinclair said as a child, the family’s TV never worked, so he constantly listened to radio.
“But it was rock and roll, which is a combination of blues and country and gospel and pop. It was all mixed in there at the time, and I just became more fascinated with the music that went into it.”
He began buying vinyl. He found music from the 30s, 40s and 50s, “just had a special character about it; that was much more creative; nobody had ever done this before.” He also loved the production value; being able to hear individual instruments.
VanSinclair said the hard part for him was explaining to award judges what he does because, “it’s not exactly a blues show.” He refers to it as “vintage popular music,” while acknowledging it’s blues-based.
“Basically, all popular music comes from the blues, and I play a lot of really good blues stuff, but also Eddie Arnold, country, pop music. I play everything mostly from the 20s to the 60s, and that’s kind of hard to explain.” He loves that community radio allows him to play what he wants and not have to stick to a formula.
He’s asked what goes into putting a show out. “I go through my digital collection and pick out music I want to play. The hardest part is deciding what order to play it in, because when you’re playing something that’s widely varied like that, it has to sound good together. It always has to sound like one continuous piece of music, even though it could be recorded 100 years apart by totally different artists.”
He also finds bands playing vintage music as, “even though I’m doing a show on 50s music, I didn’t want to do a show just about dead people. I always invite current musicians who are playing music in that same style.”
The host added the award is a feather in the cap for CanoeFM. “It is just a fabulous station, so it’s good to see them getting a bit of notice themselves. They’re always called the little station that could. They really punch above their weight.”
When asked if his mission is to keep music alive he said, “very much … because a lot of the music I play is really obscure. I’d much rather be playing to a very young audience who is hearing all his stuff for the first time and saying, ‘whoa, what the heck was that? I didn’t know that was around’.”
And he intends to keep on doing the show, “for as long as I’m able.”
Casey couldn’t be happier, saying, “Lorne’s story reflects the heart of Canoe FM — a community station where passionate volunteers and experienced broadcasters can share their talents, preserve musical history, and connect listeners locally and around the world.” You can hear Backbeat every Sunday morning at 10 a.m.
