CANADA COURIER: (07/14/96)

CANADA COURIER

by Christopher Guly

Winnipeg's mouth that roars

On May 28, Josyp Demko hosted the final installment of his live Winnipeg cable-TV series, "Ukrainorama."

After more than 500 episodes featuring such Ukrainian Canadian guests as comic Luba Goy and former Winnipeg Mayor Steve Juba, Mr. Demko has forged a niche in Winnipeg's local television market and Ukrainian community - not without controversy.

Sporting a Taras Bulba-like mustache, the 48-year-old, Polish-born broadcaster has become one of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress's most vocal critics.

In a recent telephone interview from his Winnipeg office - where he manages the Ukrainian babushka-importing company, Winnipeg Textiles - Mr. Demko railed at the UCC's inefficiency in maintaining a downtown office building, while only occupying a portion of it.

He takes shots at its thrice-yearly newsletter, The Bulletin, which details UCC President Oleh Romaniw's activities. "It will say something like 'President attends dinner with Metropolitan.' So what does he do? He eats, he drinks and makes a small speech."

UCC spokesperson Ihor Shawarsky said he believes Mr. Demko sees himself as the "social conscience" of the Ukrainian Canadian community. "Whether it helps him gain notoriety, I don't know. I'm only speculating. But I don't think he's malicious. I think he makes his comments out of naiveté."

To help Mr. Demko get better informed, the UCC's Manitoba Provincial Council recently invited him to sit on its board as a representative of the local cultural group, Institute Prosvita. He agreed. That is perhaps the first time the UCC and Mr. Demko have come together.

On several occasions, he has applied for funding from the UCC's Shevchenko Foundation, only to be turned down. But Mr. Shawarsky said Mr. Demko's applications did not qualify under the organization's criteria. "He basically wanted support to purchase capital equipment," said Mr. Shawarsky.

But that's all in the past, since Mr. Demko has left the television studio for the radio booth. In late April, he launched a Ukrainian phone-in show on Winnipeg's ethnic radio station, CKJS, on Sundays from 8 to 9 p.m. Like his TV gig, Mr. Demko's new radio spot is essentially a one-man show. Though CKJS provides the technology - as did Shaw Cable for "Ukrainorama" - Mr. Demko is left to come up with the funds.

Acquiring commercial sponsors will be crucial if the activist host of "Radio-Zustrichi" is going to realize his dream of linking Winnipeg Ukrainians with their counterparts in Ukraine. So far, Mr. Demko has attracted four Ukrainian Canadian businesses, including Winnipeg Textiles, to buy a 30-second, $30 (about $22 in U.S.) ad. Out of that, the married father of two children gets a 30 percent commission. "Enough to buy me gas and a coffee," he explained in his quick-fire speaking style.

Having recently been described as the Ukrainian version of local talk-radio guru Peter Warren by the Winnipeg Free Press, Mr. Demko plans to give his phone-in show more of a reach by letting callers use English. "It's realistic since we all know the Ukrainian language is declining [in its use]," he said.

Still, Mr. Demko, who previously worked for Radio Canada International, intends to strengthen the link between Winnipeg and Ukraine. Not necessarily earth-shattering stuff, but glimpses of more obscure details about Ukrainian life.

"It mostly gives an opportunity for people to share," he explained. "I spoke to this guy who lives in Vorkuta [in northern Russia], who told me 70 percent of the 300,000 people who live there are Ukrainian. I didn't know that."

Already, Mr. Demko, who holds a master's degree in Ukrainian literature from the University of Warsaw, has made some inroads in personalizing the relationship between Canada and Ukraine.

Given his profile in Winnipeg, someone recently presented Mr. Demko with a letter Canada Post Corp. accidentally delivered to them. Only the name "Mrs. Tataryn" appeared on the envelope.

No address. Thanks to his media spot, Mrs. Tataryn contacted Mr. Demko. "I read the letter on the air," he said. "It described a wedding, at which two cows were killed and 500 people attended. Since it was signed only by 'Mykola,' Mrs. Tataryn gave me permission to read it."

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