When veteran radio host Nataliia Bortsova-Goriachieva signed off of the air on Feb. 23, she had no idea it would be her final broadcast in Ukraine.
Even more surprising to her, she couldn’t have imagined her next broadcast would be in Newfoundland almost eight months later.
Born in Ukraine when it was part of Soviet Russia, Bortsova spent over three decades as a journalist and host for TAVR Media, a national broadcaster based in the capital of Kyiv. She told CBC News she was part of the first FM radio station in Ukraine, but wasn’t sure what a radio host looked like when she began the role.
“We didn’t really know how people are supposed to work on the radio,” Bortsova said through a translator — her daughter, Anastasia.
“So what we did is we watched American movies, and we copied the way that radio hosts in American movies acted and tried to do something self-taught.”
Bortsova was unable to report on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she said, as it wasn’t safe to enter her studio after it began. FM broadcasting had been shut down and suppressed by Russia, and Kyiv faced shelling and bombings at the time.
Fast-forward to earlier this month, when Bortsova and her daughter arrived in St. John’s.
In a Facebook post, she detailed her life as a radio host, and wound up meeting with the Association for New Canadians, which introduced her to Rhea Rollmann, program director of CHMR, a community radio station broadcasting out of Memorial University.
“We try to provide diverse programming for all the different communities here in St. John’s. So the opportunity to work with someone of Nataliia’s calibre and experience was something we really jumped at,” Rollmann said Tuesday.
I like to think that I am making the lives of Ukrainian immigrants here a bit more interesting and a bit more happy.– Nataliia Bortsova-Goriachieva
Two weeks of planning led to the first episode of Доброго вечора. Ми з України airing this week, a radio show that translates to ‘We are from Ukraine.’
The show is a 30-minute news and music program detailing stories from Ukraine, Canada and Newfoundland and Labrador, delivered entirely in Ukrainian.
“The idea about creating a program like that came to me when I was still in Ukraine waiting for a visa,” Bortsova said.
“I thought that that would be really therapeutic maybe for people. Like hearing a voice that they recognize, because lots of people listened to my voice when they were in Ukraine and I was a radio host in the Ukrainian station. And also that would mean the world for them to hear their native language here being so far away from home.”
WATCH | Natallia and Anastasia Bortsova speak with the CBC’s Alex Kennedy:
Nataliia Bortsova-Goriachieva launched We Are From Ukraine on CHMR Radio this week, a 30-minute news and radio show performed entirely in Ukrainian. It’s helping newcomers have a piece of home, and allowing her to continue what she loves to do.
Monday’s show was a huge success, according to Rollmann, who says the station received calls from both Ukrainians and Newfoundlanders and Labradorians excited to hear Ukrainian on the radio.
“We’ve had a lot of folks reaching out … and that’s both newcomers to the province as well as Ukrainian community members who have been here for many years,” Rollmann said.
“You know, there’s something very powerful about being able to turn on your radio and hear locally produced programming in your first language. Playing music that you’re familiar with, talking about issues that matter to you as a community. That’s really powerful and really important.”
Many of the Ukrainian newcomers who called or emailed Bortsova were curious to learn more about their new home and stories of Newfoundland and Labrador, she said — topics she hopes to explore in future episodes.
“They want to know more about the history of Newfoundland, about the national cuisines of Newfoundland, about the superstitions and the mythical creatures and stuff like that, the celebrations. So people are really curious about everything about Newfoundland,” she said.
She also plans to grow the show with interviews in Ukrainian, musical guests and potentially introducing more English language programming as Ukrainians acclimate to the language and the province.
It’s an exciting time, she said, as it allows her to continue to do the job she’s loved for so many years.
“[The show] is extremely important to me here because radio is my life.… When the war started, I thought that I’m never going to be able to do this again. And I was ready to do all kinds of job here, just to have a job and to get by,” Bortsova said.
“I like to think that I am making the lives of Ukrainian immigrants here a bit more interesting and a bit more happy.”
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