VOAR-FM (96.7

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

) 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 ...

, which airs a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

. It is licensed to

Mount Pearl Mount Pearl is the fourth-largest municipality and second-largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The city is located southwest of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, St. John's, on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the isla ...

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the populatio ...

, and serves the St. John's metropolitan area. VOAR is owned by the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sa ...

in Newfoundland and Labrador. Its

radio studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for recording and mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enough to record a single sin ...

s and offices are on Topsail Road in Mount Pearl. VOAR-FM is a Class C FM station. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is off Kenmount Road, also in Mount Pearl. The

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 ha ...

(ERP) is 100,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), 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 quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s, the maximum for most Canadian FM stations.

Programming

VOAR airs a blend of

Christian talk and teaching Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

programs along with

Contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

. Religious leaders heard on VOAR include

Charles Stanley Charles Frazier Stanley Jr. (September 25, 1932 – April 18, 2023) was an American Southern Baptist pastor and writer. He was senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta for 49 years and took on ''emeritus'' status in 2020. He founded a ...

, Jim Daly, Joni Eareckson Tada and

Chuck Swindoll Charles Rozell Swindoll (born October 18, 1934) is an evangelical Christian pastor, author, educator, and radio preacher. He founded Insight for Living, headquartered in Frisco, Texas, which airs a radio program of the same name on more than 2 ...

History

Early years

VOAR first began broadcasting in the fall of 1929 as 8BSL. In 1930, the station was renamed 8RA. It received 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 as ...

VONA (Voice of the North Atlantic) in 1931 (using the

ITU prefix The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) allocates call sign prefixes for radio and television stations of all types. They also form the basis for, but may not exactly match, aircraft registration identifiers. These prefixes are agreed upo ...

VO that was assigned to the

Dominion of Newfoundland Newfoundland was a British dominion in eastern North America, today the modern Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It included the island of Newfoundland, and Labrador on the continental mainland. Newfoundland was one of the orig ...

before it joined Canada. It later switched to VOAC (Voice of the Adventist Church) in 1933, then once more to its current call sign, VOAR (Voice of Adventist Radio) in 1938. VOAR is one of four Canadian stations, along with

VOWR VOWR (800 kHz) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The station is operated by the Wesley United Church of Canada with studios and offices at 101 Patrick Street. VOWR is a C ...

800, VOCM 590 and VOCM-FM 97.5, to still use call signs beginning with VO rather than C. Over the years, the station switched its frequency several times. From the 1950s through 1991, it broadcast at 1230 kHz, originally powered at only 100

s. It then moved to its final AM frequency, 1210. The new dial position was coupled with a boost in power to 10,000 watts, which was approved by the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...

(CRTC) in 1991. But because 1210 is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A

WPHT WPHT (1210 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station broadcasts a talk radio radio format, format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. Its studios are in Audacy's corporate headquarters on Market Stree ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, VOAR used a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

to avoid interference. It later moved its

city of license In U.S., Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broadcast ...

from St. John's to

, the community where its transmitter and studios are located.

Expanding through Canada

In 2002, VOAR began adding a network of FM rebroadcasters, while the main station was still being heard on the AM band in St. John's. At first, the rebroadcasting stations were in small communities around Newfoundland and Labrador. In recent years, VOAR has expanded into other provinces and territories. It currently has about 30 rebroadcasters, stretching across Canada. It is heard in four provinces and in the

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 ...

Moving to FM

On October 6, 2016, the CRTC received an application from VOAR to move to the FM band, with the

VOAR-FM. The proposed new station would have an

(ERP) of 100,000

s. At the same time, it would shut down its AM signal and its Bay Roberts

repeater In telecommunications, a repeater is an electronic device that receives a signal and retransmits it. Repeaters are used to extend transmissions so that the signal can cover longer distances or be received on the other side of an obstruction. Some ...

, VOAR-1-FM 95.9. The other VOAR repeaters would begin

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of 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, simultaneously) ...

ing the new FM signal. Reasons for the conversion request stated in the application were listener confusion with

800 AM (both stations receive each other's mail), signal reception issues in portions of the St. John's area, and the AM station's transmitter (installed in 1990) reaching the end of its usable life. On June 27, 2017, the CRTC approved VOAR's application to replace its AM radio station VOAR and its rebroadcaster in Bay Roberts. The new FM station in Mount Pearl would operate at 96.7 MHz with an ERP of 100,000 watts using a

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

at a

height above average terrain Height above average terrain (HAAT), or (less popularly) effective height above average terrain (EHAAT), is the vertical position of an antenna site above the surrounding landscape. HAAT is used extensively in FM radio and television, as it is ...

(HAAT) of 156.8 metres (515 feet). VOAR began testing its new FM transmitter in December 2018. It officially signed on the air the following month. VOAR completed its transitions to FM with the station's moniker becoming ''Lighthouse FM''. On January 10, 2020, the AM signal shut down.

Rebroadcasters

In 2002, VOAR added several FM rebroadcasters in various parts of the province, too far from St. John's to get a clear signal from the AM transmitter. Over the years, other rebroadcasters were added in other Canadian provinces and territories. VOAR is also carried across Canada on

Bell Satellite TV Bell Satellite TV (; formerly known as Bell ExpressVu, Dish Network Canada and ExpressVu Dish Network and not to be confused with Bell's IPTV Bell Fibe TV, Fibe TV service) is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite television service a ...

Channel 950 and locally on

Rogers Cable Rogers Cable is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, primarily in Southern and Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Roger ...

Channel 929. A new broadcasting license was issued in 2008. Also in 2008, several transmitters were put on the air in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

. The station also had repeaters in

Prince George, British Columbia Prince George is a city in British Columbia, Canada, situated at the confluence of the Fraser River, Fraser and Nechako River, Nechako rivers. The city itself has a population of 76,708; the metro census agglomeration has a population of 89,490 ...

107.3 (VF2510);

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the North Thompson River, North and South Thompson Rivers, which join to become the Thompson River in Kamloops, and east of Kamloops Lake. The city is the ad ...

105.1 (VF2525);

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

98.9; and Oliver 106.1 (VF2524). However, they were taken off the air due to licensing issues with the CRTC in January 2009. The station also had applications to expand into 25 additional communities in British Columbia in early 2009.

References

External links

Lighthouse FMVOAR-FM history
-

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 ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Voar (Am) Radio stations in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Christian radio stations in Canada Seventh-day Adventist media Mount Pearl Radio stations established in 1929 Adventism in Canada