CHAK is a Canadian

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

, broadcasting at 860 AM in

Inuvik Inuvik (''place of man'') is the only town in the Inuvik Region, and the List of municipalities in the Northwest Territories, third largest community in Canada's Northwest Territories. Located in what is sometimes called the Beaufort Delta Re ...

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

. The station broadcasts the programming of the

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent o ...

network known as

CBC North CBC North (; ; ) is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio and television service for the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon of Northern Canada as well as Eeyou Istchee and Nunavik in the Nord-du-Québec region of Quebec. Hist ...

History

CHAK was launched in 1947 as a local community station in neighbouring

Aklavik Aklavik (Inuvialuktun: ''Akłarvik'') (from the Inuvialuktun meaning '' barrenground grizzly place'') is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Until 1961, with a population over 1,500, the community served ...

on 1230 AM. A new station was built by the CBC in the new town of Inuvik to replace the old station in Aklavik. The new CHAK went on the air on November 26, 1960, on 860. The station was now part of the CBC Northern Radio Service. CHAK received CBC news and topical programs by picking up CBX

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

and relaying the broadcast. Tapes recorded in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

were also flown in on regular airline flights. Eventually the station was linked into the primary CBC network feed. The history of CHAK originated prior to 1960 and called itself "CHAK, the friendly voice of the Arctic". According to the

Canadian Communications Foundation The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) was a Canadian nonprofit organization which documented the history of broadcasting in Canada, particularly radio and television networks, programs and broadcasters. The organization was established in ...

, the station began broadcasting on 1230 kHz in 1947, mainly for community broadcasts such as church services and special messages to people in the bush and the Arctic. The station was originally operated by the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army () is the command (military formation), command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also re ...

and volunteers, particularly the daughter of the Hudson Bay manager, and was one of Canada's most northerly radio stations. A year later, CHAK was airing CBC's school programs at the request of the

Department of Mines and Resources Natural Resources Canada (NRCan; ; )Natural Resources Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of Natural Resources (). is the department of the Government of Canada responsible for natural r ...

. In 1953, CHAK received federal approval to change frequencies to 1490. It is unknown if the station had moved back to 1230, prior to CHAK's launch in 1960.

Local programming

During the network's primary

local programming The terms local programme, local programming, local content or local television refers to a television program made by a television station or independent television producer for broadcast only within the station's transmission area or televisio ...

breaks, CHAK airs the same programs as

CFYK-FM :''"CFYK-FM" was the previous call sign for what is now CBNY-FM, a repeater of CBU-FM Vancouver.'' CFYK-FM is a Canadian radio station broadcasting at 98.9 MHz ( FM) in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The station is owned by the Canadian ...

Yellowknife Yellowknife is the capital, largest community, and the only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of t ...

, including ''The Trailbreaker'' on weekday mornings, the noon-hour program ''Northwind'', ''Trail's End'' in the afternoon, and ''Northern Air'' on weekend mornings. However, the two stations diverge from Radio One network programming in the afternoon, producing separate programming streams for their local

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

( Gwich'in) and

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

(

Inuvialuit The Inuvialuit (sing. Inuvialuk; ''the real people'') or Western Canadian Inuit are Inuit who live in the western Canadian Arctic region. They, like all other Inuit, are descendants of the Thule who migrated eastward from Alaska. Their homelan ...

) communities. CHAK airs ''Nantaii'' in Gwich'in from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. and ''Tusaavik'' in

Inuvialuktun Inuvialuktun (part of ''Western Canadian Inuit'' / ''Inuktitut'' / '' Inuktut'' / '' Inuktun'') comprises several Inuit language varieties spoken in the northern Northwest Territories by Canadian Inuit who call themselves ''Inuvialuit''. Some d ...

from 3:00 until 4 p.m. CHAK has two rebroadcasters in

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

, both in communities where CFFB, the CBC North station in

Iqaluit Iqaluit is the capital of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. It is the territory's largest community and its only city, and the northernmost city in Canada. It was known as Frobisher Bay from 1942 to 1987, after the large bay on the coast on ...

, also broadcasts. This is done in order to provide CHAK's afternoon

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

programming to these communities, as CFFB's afternoon schedule concentrates on programming in

Inuktitut Inuktitut ( ; , Inuktitut syllabics, syllabics ), also known as Eastern Canadian Inuktitut, is one of the principal Inuit languages of Canada. It is spoken in all areas north of the North American tree line, including parts of the provinces of ...

Transmitters

Notes

In Paulatuk, Tsiigehtchic and Ulukhaktok, CHAK's signal is rebroadcast on transmitters owned by local community groups rather than by the CBC. Three further community transmitters operating on 107.1 in Colville Lake, 107.1 in

Sachs Harbour Sachs Harbour ( ; ) is a Hamlet (place)#Canada, hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. Situated on the southwestern coast of Banks Island in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, the population according to the 202 ...

and 100.1 in

Old Crow, Yukon Old Crow is a community in the Canadian territory of Yukon. Located in a periglacial environment, the community is situated on the Porcupine River in the far northern part of the territory. Old Crow is the only Yukon community that cannot ...

are unlicensed by the CRTC under its exemption for low-power community radio undertakings. Tuktoyaktuk Broadcasting Society opened CFCT on 600 kHz with 1,000 watts at 6:45 p.m. MST, on January 20, 1971. In 2005, CFCT became a rebroadcaster of CHAK, changed frequencies to 1150 kHz and changed its call sign to CBAC. On September 11, 2014, the CRTC approved the CBC's application to convert CBAC to 99.9 MHz. Rebroadcaster CBAK originally received CRTC approval in 1985 to operate a low-power transmitter at Aklavik on 540 kHz (AM). In 1998, CBAK received approval to change frequencies to 1210 kHz with the power remaining at 40 watts.

AM to FM

In 1994, the CRTC approved an application from the CBC to change CBQMs frequency from 680 to 690 kHz. On April 19, 2013, the CBC applied with the CRTC to convert CBQM to 99.9 MHz. The application was approved on September 19, 2013. The callsign was changed to CBAH-FM. On May 8, 2013, the CBC received CRTC approval to convert CBQI 920 to 100.9 MHz. The callsign was then changed to CBXY-FM. On March 15, 2017, the CBC applied to convert CBDW 990 to 99.9 MHz. This application was approved on June 23, 2017. On March 12, 2019, the CBC applied to convert CBAK 1210 to 97.7 MHz. This application was approved on May 14, 2019.Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2019-149
CHAK Inuvik – New transmitter in Aklavik, ''CRTC'', May 14, 2019

References

External links

CBC North

CHAK (AM)
at The History of Canadian Broadcasting by the

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chak (Am) Hak Hak Inuvik