CBU is a Canadian

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 ...

, which airs 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 of ...

network, in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

. The station broadcasts on 690 AM (a clear channel frequency) and on 88.1 FM as CBU-2-FM. CBU's newscasts and local shows are also heard on a chain of CBC stations around the Lower Mainland. CBU's studios and offices are in the CBC Regional Broadcast Centre at 700 Hamilton Street in

Downtown Vancouver Downtown Vancouver is the central business district and the city centre neighbourhood of Vancouver, Canada, on the northwestern shore of the Burrard Peninsula in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. It occupies most of the north sh ...

. The AM

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 ...

is in the

Steveston Steveston, founded in the 1880s, is a neighbourhood of Richmond in Metro Vancouver. On the southwest tip of Lulu Island, the village is a historic port and salmon canning centre at the mouth of the South Arm of the Fraser River. The early 1900s st ...

section of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a ...

and the FM transmitter is on

Mount Seymour Mount Seymour is a mountain located in Mount Seymour Provincial Park in the District of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is a part of the North Shore Mountains, rising to the north from the shores of Burrard Inlet and Indian Arm ...

. CBU began transmitting in 1967 at 50,000

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 Wa ...

s, the highest power authorized by the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

(CRTC), allowing it to be heard throughout the

Metro Vancouver Regional District The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 ...

and around the

British Columbia Coast , settlement_type = Region of British Columbia , image_skyline = , nickname = "The Coast" , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Canada , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = British ...

. CBU's signal power was reduced to 25,000 watts after a 2017 fire.

History

The station was launched in 1925 as CNRV ''The Voice of the Pacific'' on 1100 AM, owned by the

Canadian National Railway radio network CNR Radio or CN Radio (officially the Canadian National Railways Radio Department)Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission The Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC), also referred to as the Canadian Radio Commission (CRC), was Canada's first public broadcaster and the immediate precursor to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Origins The CRBC was establi ...

in 1933, becoming CRCV. In 1936, the CBC was created, taking over the CRBC's operations, and CRCV became CBR. The transmitter was located on No. 4 Road in Richmond. This site was in use from 1938 to 1976. The station moved to 1130 in 1941 (see

Canadian allocations changes under NARBA The North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA) took effect on March 29, 1941, requiring nearly all radio stations in North America to change frequency. This article details the major Canadian allocations changes under NARBA. The prin ...

), and to 690 in 1952 when the

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 assig ...

was changed to its current CBU. Power was increased from 10,000 watts to 50,000 watts in 1967 with a transmitter site move to the Steveston shoreline. In 1947, an FM

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simult ...

was launched on

CBU-FM CBU-FM is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts the programming of the CBC Music network in Vancouver, British Columbia. The station broadcasts at 105.7 FM. CBU-FM's transmitter is located atop Mount Seymour. The station was originally la ...

. Distinct programming on the FM station was aired for the first time in 1964. In early 2008 the CRTC approved CBU's application for a simulcast of its programming on the FM band. On October 10, 2008, CBU began testing its FM simulcast on 88.1 FM as CBU-2-FM with an

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ...

of 19,500 watts, and it officially signed on soon after. Around the same time, the CBC also applied to broadcast on separate transmitters into Nanaimo, as well as the Sunshine Coast, with the intent to shut down the AM transmitter on 690 kHz if approved. The CRTC denied these other two transmitters due to the lack of available frequencies in the region. Among Radio One stations on the AM dial around Canada, CBU serves the largest area of population, since Montreal and Toronto are served by FM stations. CBM

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

moved to

CBME-FM CBME-FM is an English-language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec. Owned and operated by the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, it broadcasts on 88.5 MHz using a directional antenna with an average effective radi ...

in 1998, and CBL

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

's moved to

CBLA-FM CBLA-FM (99.1 MHz) is a non-commercial Canadian radio station in Toronto, Ontario. Owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the station is the flagship station of the CBC Radio One network, broadcasting a mix of news and tal ...

in 1999. In 2011 CBC applied to the CRTC to increase the coverage area of CBU-2-FM's transmitter. CBC has proposed to increase the height of the antenna and to increase the ERP to 97,600 watts. The ability to increase the signal coverage area is made possible by the fact that

CHEK-DT CHEK-DT (channel 6) is an independent television station in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, serving Vancouver Island and Greater Vancouver. The station is owned by the CHEK Media Group, a consortium made up of station employees and local inv ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

moved from the adjacent VHF TV channel 6 to 49, as part of the over-the-air digital television transition. This CBC transmitter application was approved September 13, 2012. In November 2018, CBU reduced its full-time power from 50,000 to 25,000 watts. A fire destroyed part of the station’s transmitting facilities in 2017 and it was decided repairs would have been too costly. CBU transmits in HD Radio on 88.1 MHz. , this signal provides simulcasts of CBU-FM on subchannel HD2 and

CBCV-FM CBCV-FM is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts the programming of the CBC Radio One network in Victoria, British Columbia, and throughout Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the ...

on subchannel HD3.

Shortwave relay

In 1941, CBR established a shortwave relay for remote areas of British Columbia using the call sign CBRX and operating on a frequency of 6.16 MHz (in the 49m band) with a power of 150 watts. The call sign changed to CBUX in 1952 when the AM station became CBU. In 1965, the call sign changed to CKZU, recognizing that the ITU prefix CB was not assigned to Canada, but to Chile. The station was given permission to increase its power to 1,000 watts in 1986. The transmitter was adjacent to CBU's AM transmitter. In February 2017, it was announced that CKZU was unlikely to return to shortwave. The CBC stated that the transmitter was in a state of disrepair with no replacement parts available due to aging equipment. Purchasing a new transmitter would be too costly due to the minimal number of listeners who tune into the facility.

Local programming

CBU's

local programs 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 television ...

are ''The Early Edition'', hosted by Stephen Quinn, in the morning; and ''On the Coast'', hosted by

Gloria Macarenko Gloria Macarenko, is a Canadian television and radio journalist. From 1989 until 2014, she was the longtime host or co-host of CBC Vancouver's supper-hour television newscast at 5:00 or 6:00. She later hosted the CBC Radio One local program '' B ...

, in the afternoon. CBU also originates the lunch-hour show ''BC Today'', hosted by Michelle Eliot, as well as the weekend programs ''North By Northwest'', hosted by Sheryl MacKay, in the morning; and ''Hot Air'', hosted by Margaret Gallagher, on Saturday afternoons. These shows (except for ''The Early Edition'' and ''On the Coast'') are broadcast province-wide to Radio One's stations in

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ' ...

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, ...

Prince Rupert Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, (17 December 1619 (O.S.) / 27 December (N.S.) – 29 November 1682 (O.S.)) was an English army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Royalist cava ...

and

Prince George Prince George may refer to: People British princes * George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (1449-1478), middle brother of Edward IV and Richard III. * Prince George Augustus, later George II of Great Britain (1683–1760) * Prince George Will ...

, as well as their respective rebroadcasters.

Transmitters

CBU's signal on 690 AM also directly broadcasts to

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "Hub City," which was ...

and

Gibsons Gibsons is a coastal community of 4,605 in southwestern British Columbia, Canada on the Strait of Georgia. Although it is on the mainland, the Sunshine Coast is not accessible by road. Vehicle access is by BC Ferries from Horseshoe Bay in West ...

Current on-air staff

* Amy Bell, weekday morning traffic reporter * Michelle Eliot, host of weekday noon-hour program ''BC Today'' * Margaret Gallagher, host of Saturday afternoon music program ''Hot Air'' *

, host of weekday afternoon program ''On the Coast'' * Sheryl MacKay, host of weekend morning program ''North By Northwest'' * Stephen Quinn, host of weekday morning program ''The Early Edition'' * Robert Zimmerman, morning news editor

Former CBU personalities

* Rick Cluff, former host of ''The Early Edition'' * Anne Petrie, former host of CBU radio program ''3's Company''

References

External links

CBC British Columbia
* * *
Bureau of Broadcast Management; PPM Top-line Radio Statistics, Vancouver CTRL
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cbu (Am) BU BU Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission Radio stations established in 1925 1925 establishments in British Columbia CNR Radio