Calgary’s Sad Songs Singer Mariel Buckley Wins $101K AB Prize

By David Farrell

It took six years for Calgary’s retro Country singer Mariel Buckley to pull the resources together to record a second album and its reception has exceeded her wildest expectations.

Produced by Calgary fan Leroy Stagger, Driving In the Dark became a #2 hit on !earshot’s National Folk/Roots/Blues Chart, won in the Roots Solo Artist category at the recent Western Canadian Music Artistic Awards, and last week was voted grand winner in Project Wild’s 4^th annual rising Alberta country and roots artists’ contest, sponsored by Pattison Broadcasting New Country FM, WILD 953 (CKWD-FM), and Alberta Music.

The road to winning the grand prize of $100,953.00 involved a series of showcases, a Project Wild Bootcamp, and a public online voting tally that was used in a jury of professionals who used the data in the final assessment of three finalists—2^nd and 3^rd place winners (Mariya Stokes and Blake Reid Band) taking home $75K and $50K respectively.

The Bootcamp runs one-week and offers workshops on performance, songwriting, marketing, media strategy, music business, music accounting, tour strategy and social media.

Read more about Buckley on her website, and below some of her music captured in performance.

According to the regulatory filing for the Calgary FM, WILD 953’S annual over-and-above Canadian Content Development (CCD) contributions are set at $1,250,000 in the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 broadcast years and $729,133 in the 2020-2021 broadcast year.

Of this amount, the licensee must allocate at least 20% per broadcast year to FACTOR. The remaining amounts of this additional CCD contribution shall be allocated to parties and initiatives fulfilling the definition of eligible initiatives set out in paragraph 108 of Commercial Radio Policy 2006, Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2006-158, 15 December 2006.

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect photo for which we apologise.