CBY is a

clear-channel A clear-channel station is an AM radio station in North America that has the highest protection from interference from other stations, particularly concerning night-time skywave propagation. The system exists to ensure the viability of cross-cou ...

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

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 ...

in Corner Brook,

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

. It is owned by the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

and it carries the CBC's Radio One network. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to the ...

is off the

Trans-Canada Highway The Trans-Canada Highway (French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the Atlantic Ocean on ...

near Massey Drive in Corner Brook. CBY is a Class A station, transmitting with 10,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

s, using a

non-directional antenna In radio communication, an omnidirectional antenna is a class of antenna (electronics), antenna which radiates equal radio power in all directions perpendicular to an axis (mathematics), axis (azimuthal directions), with power varying with angle ...

. By day, the signal covers most of Western Newfoundland. At night, with a good radio, it can be heard around the

Maritime Provinces The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of Ca ...

and parts of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

and

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

. Nine FM rebroadcasters provide additional coverage throughout Western Newfoundland and the Northern Peninsula.

History

The station was launched in 1943 as VOWN, standing for the Voice Of Western Newfoundland. Before 1949, stations in Newfoundland were given

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assign ...

s beginning with a V. The original frequency was 790 AM and it was owned by the

Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland The Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland (BCN) was the government-owned public radio service of the dominion of Newfoundland.Jeff A. Webb, ''The Voice of Newfoundland: A Social History of the Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland''. Unive ...

, the pre-

Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

public broadcaster Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

. On March 31, 1949, BCN was absorbed by the CBC when Newfoundland joined Canada, adopting its current call sign. CBY moved to 990 kHz in 1963. CBNA St. Anthony signed on the air on August 2, 1969 at 600 kHz, but has since moved to 100.3 FM. On October 19, 2012, CBY made its final broadcast from its longtime studios of 53 years on Premier Drive in Corner Brook after the announcement of budget cuts by the federal government. The station is now located in the Valley Mall, a decision that drew much criticism mostly because of the size of the new studios. The former CBC location was a building, owned and operated by the CBC. The call sign CBY was previously used by a CBL rebroadcaster in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

from 1938 to 1943.

Local programming

CBY produces its own local morning show, ''The West Coast Morning Show'' hosted by Bernice Hillier. The station otherwise simulcasts CBN in St. John's during the network's local programming blocks, with some exceptions (i.e.,

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

s).

Transmitters

On May 27, 1986, the CRTC approved the CBC's application to change CBNE from 1370 to 1420 kHz. CBNE was later converted to 91.9 MHz on February 15, 1989. On February 5, 2018, the CRTC approved the CBC's application to convert CBNA 600 to 100.3 MHz with an effective radiated power of 4,500 watts (non-directional antenna with an effective height of the antenna above average terrain of 173 metres). The licensee also stated that the new FM transmitter will reach a greater population than the existing AM signal.Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2018-46
CBY Corner Brook – New transmitter in St. Anthony, ''CRTC'', February 5, 2018

References

External links

CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
* * BY BY Radio stations established in 1943 Clear-channel radio stations {{CBC-stub