1090 CHEC in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

''Brocket 99'' was a comedy

audio tape An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present ...

that parodied

aboriginal people in Canada In Canada, Indigenous groups comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. Although ''Indian'' is a term still commonly used in legal documents, the descriptors ''Indian'' and ''Eskimo'' have fallen into disuse in Canada, and most consider them ...

. It has been described as a "phenomenon" by some, and racist by others.

1986 tape

The premise of the Brocket 99 tape was that of a fictitious

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

broadcasting from Brocket, Alberta, on the

Northern Peigan The Piikani Nation (, formerly the Peigan Nation) ( bla, Piikáni) is a First Nation (or an Indian band as defined by the '' Indian Act''), representing the Indigenous people in Canada known as the Northern Piikani ( bla, script=Latn, Aapátohsi ...

reserve (a real

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

reservation 70 km west of

Lethbridge, Alberta Lethbridge ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. With a population of 101,482 in its 2019 municipal census, Lethbridge became the fourth Alberta city to surpass 100,000 people. The nearby Canadian Rocky Mountains contribute to ...

), hosted by a character named "Ernie Scar" and featuring other participants. The tape

stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...

Canadian

peoples as habitual users of alcohol, drugs and welfare, engaging in anti-social behavior, and low in intelligence. The content of the tape is a mixture of music, advertisements, news, sports, interviews and local announcements divided into two parts corresponding to the two sides of a cassette tape in common use at the time. Music played on the tape included complete versions from AC/DC,

Hank Williams Jr. Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style is often considered a blend of southern rock, blues, and country. He is the son of ...

The Romantics The Romantics are an American rock band formed in 1977 in Detroit. The band is often put under the banner of new wave and power pop. They were influenced by 1950s American rock and roll, Detroit's MC5, the Stooges, early Bob Seger, Motown R&B ...

Paul Revere & the Raiders Paul Revere & the Raiders (also known as Raiders) were an American rock band formed in Boise, Idaho, in 1958. They saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s. The band was known for including Revol ...

, John Anderson,

Doctor and the Medics Doctor and the Medics is a British glam rock band formed in London in 1981. The group was most successful during the 1980s and is best known for their cover of Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart. The ...

and

Dwight Yoakam Dwight David Yoakam (born October 23, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, and film director. He first achieved mainstream attention in 1986 with the release of his debut album ''Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.''. Yoakam had considerabl ...

, although AC/DC is the most used artist throughout the tape. Advertisements on the tape were either original creations interspersed with vulgarity, racism, and stereotypical language for real products, such as for

Lysol Lysol (; spelled Lizol in India) is a brand of American cleaning and disinfecting products distributed by Reckitt, which markets the similar Dettol or Sagrotan in other markets. The line includes liquid solutions for hard and soft surfaces, ai ...

, or taken from legitimately produced radio commercials for companies such as

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, d ...

, Penner's Men's, and Women's Wear in

Taber, Alberta Taber is a town in southern Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by the Municipal District of Taber. It is approximately east of the City of Lethbridge at the intersection of Highway 3 and Highway 36. Taber is famous for its corn due to the l ...

and

Beaver Lumber Beaver Lumber (Castor Bricoleur in Quebec) was a Canadian building supply chain owned by Molson. It was once Canada's fourth largest building supply chain with 138 stores. In 2000 it was purchased by Home Hardware, a cooperative of over 1000 in ...

. News, sports, interviews, and local announcements on the tape are largely original creations interspersed with factual entities, such as the Seattle Seahawks and

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

, as well as non-existent entities, such as "Brocket Used Motors" and "Brocket Alcohol & Drug Abuse Hotline" created specifically for the tape. It is unconfirmed though realistically impossible that any of the music or produced or original advertising content for any of the businesses referred to in the tape would have authorized their use during the production of the tape, owing to the stereotypical and racist content used by the tape's creators. The tape was created in 1986 by Tim Hitchner, a radio DJ in Lethbridge, Alberta, as a parody and not intended to be marketed. Hitchner worked as a radio DJ at CHEC, CKTA, and

CKIZ-FM CJIB-FM (107.5 MHz) is a radio station in Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. Owned by the Jim Pattison Group, it broadcasts an adult hits format branded as ''Beach Radio 107.5''. History The station began broadcasting in 1947 as CJIB at AM 9 ...

from 1985 to 1992. It is claimed that Hitchner was inspired to create Brocket 99 based on another underground tape circulating in 1986 called "AIDS Radio" that was a spoof of a homosexual radio station using stereotypical and bigoted references. The initial method of distribution from Tim Hitchner has not been documented, although its wider distribution has been described as viral. The tape has been described as an "international underground phenomenon". Hitchner died February 12, 2011. On February 12, 2011, a fan site reported the then anonymous actor who played Ernie Scar had died at age 49, of

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may ...

due to coronary artery disease. CKIZ's list of past employees on its website currently identifies Hitchner as the voice of Ernie Scar.

Documentary film

In 2005, filmmaker

Nilesh Patel Nilesh Patel is a Canadian director and producer of films. Early life Patel was raised in Prince George, British Columbia and attended Duchess Park Secondary School, where he was first exposed to the ''Brocket 99'' audio tape. He attended the cit ...

produced and directed a documentary called '' Brocket 99 — Rockin' the Country'', which examined the ongoing popularity of the tape and the relationship between aboriginal people and others in Canada. The film won the Séquences Magazine Prize for best documentary film at the 2006 Montreal First Peoples Festival. In 2004, prior to the release of the documentary, Mark Campbell of

Global News Global News is the news and current affairs division of the Canadian Global Television Network. The network is owned by Corus Entertainment, which oversees all of the network's national news programming as well as local news on its 21 owned- ...

interviewed Nilesh Patel to discuss the creation and subject matter of the documentary. In addition to discussing prevailing Canadian attitudes on race and culture in the context of the documentary, Nilesh Patel also made an unsubstantiated claim during the interview that Mark Campbell was in denial of being the creator of Brocket 99. Contrary to this claim, no evidence has ever been presented implicating any individual other than Tim Hitchner in the creation of or participation in Brocket 99. On February 15, 2015, Mark Campbell wrote a blog post confirming again that he was neither the creator of nor a participant in Brocket 99.

Notes

External links

Official Brocket 99 website
*2006 documentary film ** **
Brocket 99
' on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brocket 99 Culture of Alberta Canadian radio comedy First Nations culture First Nations in Alberta Parodies Race-related controversies in radio Ethnic jokes

1986 tape

Documentary film

See also

Notes

External links