Chantal Dunn

Living the dream at Sonic 102.9

For as long as she could remember, Chantal Dunn was always a music fan, predominantly weaned on grunge acts like Audioslave and Pearl Jam, thanks to her parents’ taste in alternative rock. But any aspirations of a career path in the industry eluded Dunn until she saw Almost Famous, a celluloid dramedy about a teen scribe who finagles a Rolling Stone gig to cover a touring upstart band.

“I watched that movie a billion times as a kid; I was just in love with rock n roll and bands and rock journalism. One day, it kind of clicked and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, you can work in this industry for a living!’”

said Dunn.

At 25, Dunn is living the dream, helming a two-hour, late-morning weekday slot on modern rock FM station Sonic 102.9. Away from the mic, she performs a multitude of tasks from conducting band interviews to posting all the station’s activities on platforms that include Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.

“I like it all,” said Dunn, whose efforts earned her runner-up status in the 2025 Canadian Radio Awards’ Young Broadcaster of the Year category. “I think the sweet part of my job is that I can get to do a little bit of everything.”

Dunn’s emergence in the radio trade is taking place during a precarious period that sees legacy media struggling to keep pace with its digital competition. While print and television are gradually being eclipsed by electronic counterparts from social media to podcasts, radio continues to be a more formidable beast to bring down.

That’s no surprise to Dunn, who argues that her favourite medium has also kept pace with the times by incorporating those online tools into its business model. “You can get Sonic right now, for example, not just through our dial, but we have an app, we have our social media, and we have the podcast on multiple platforms,” she said. “Radio, I think, is just so accessible, and I also don’t think there’s ever been a time when people don’t value human connection, especially since COVID.”

Besides her affinity for radio, Dunn also treasures a valuable connection to St. Albert, although she’s lived in Edmonton most of her life. Raised in one of the Alberta capital’s more northern neighbourhoods, Dunn was encouraged by her francophone mother to attend École Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville (ESSMY), a French immersion school in nearby St. Albert. She relished her six years at the school, recalling highlights that included a field trip to an orphanage in Costa Rica, and the time her English teacher got Dunn to annotate lyrics by Rise Against, her favourite band.  

“The teachers, the staff, and the experience there, I felt really made it for me,” said Dunn. “I know some students liked to go to Paul Kane or other places for the big high school experience, but I honestly thought that education-wise, my learning at ESSMY was so one-on-one, and you got a lot more out of it.”

She also felt at home in St. Albert, where she found the surroundings were more serene than life in Edmonton. “I could definitely walk around with my friends and get to be a teenager and wanna walk to the 7-Eleven and get Slurpees. It was a lot less daunting than walking in Castledowns or Clareview to get a Slurpee,” She said, laughing about the memory. “It was definitely safer.”

After getting her high school diploma, Dunn enrolled in the media communications program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. During her first semester, she lucked out in landing a spot on Sonic’s promotional street team and working overnight DJ shifts, before eventually getting a weekend slot. After graduating from NAIT and wanting to expand her skill set, Dunn snared a weekday spot at Sonic’s sister station in Grande Prairie, where she worked for three years. She returned to Sonic in 2024.

Dunn admits that luck played a huge role in her professional journey, given that most of her Gen-Z peers still try to make ends meet in the so-called gig economy. But she’s quick to point out she was in a similar position while at NAIT, at one point holding down three jobs between classes. 

“I busted my butt. I remember waking up in the morning and not remembering what shirt to put on. I’d be bartending until 1 a.m., have a 7 a.m. class and go to HomeSense after. I know what it’s like to have multiple jobs.”

declared Dunn.

For now, Dunn is content to have only one job, which has occasionally taken her far beyond the studio. She’s attended such extravaganzas as the Grammy Awards and the Junos, but her biggest thrill took place in 2023 at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremonies in New York. Accredited as a photographer, Dunn captured images of Sheryl Crow, Sia, and Tom Morello, guitarist of Rage Against the Machine, the event’s inductee. 

But for Dunn, the most touching moment of the ceremony occurred when Elton John played “Tiny Dancer,” a song included in the soundtrack of Almost Famous, the very movie that helped entice Dunn to pursue the profession she enjoys now.

“So, it was this weird moment for me where this is like, very full circle.”