| Type | Broadcast radio network Television system |
|---|---|
| Country | Canada |
| Owner | Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |
| Key people | Hubert Lacroix, president |
| Launch date | 1958 (radio) 1973 (television) |
| Former names | CBC Northern Service |
| Official website | CBC North |
CBC North is the name for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio and television service in the Canadian Arctic. Originally known as the CBC Northern Service, its first operations began in 1958 with radio broadcasts (including the takeover of CFYK—originally a Royal Canadian Signal Corps-owned, community-run station in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, which began broadcasting in 1948). Around the same time, the CBC took over CHFC in Fort Churchill (then an army camp in northern Manitoba); the station had previously run a variety of programs, including American AFRS shows. Peter Mansbridge is its most distinguished alumnus. The station in Churchill was closed in the late 1970s and moved to Rankin Inlet as CBQR-FM.
CFFB began operation in Frobisher Bay (now known as Iqaluit, Nunavut) on February 6, 1961. The service initially consisted of local programming in Inuktitut, English and French, along with news and other programs from the CBC network received via shortwave. With the advent of the Anik series of satellites, Inuktitut and English radio programming from CFFB became accessible in most Eastern Arctic communities.
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CBC North Radio carries daily aboriginal language programming in Dene Suline, Tlicho, North and South Slavey, Gwich'in, Inuvialuktun and Inuktitut. The shows include news, weather and entertainment, providing a vital service to the many people in Northern Canada for whom English is not their first language.
In the Yukon, the regular CBC Radio One schedule in English is aired on CFWH. CFWH is, however, the only station in the network which uses the Saturday afternoon local arts program block to air a French language program, as the territory is not served by a Première Chaîne production centre or a local francophone community radio station.
In the Northwest Territories, afternoon programming is pre-empted; instead, CBC North airs special afternoon programming in First Nations languages. On CFYK in Yellowknife, which serves the southern part of the territory, the afternoon schedule is as follows:
On CHAK in Inuvik, which serves the northern Beaufort Delta area, afternoon programs include Nantaii in Gwich'in from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. The Northwest Territories otherwise hears the usual CBC Radio One schedule.
In Nunavut, greater differences occur on CFFB. The Nunavut service is the only local or regional CBC Radio service which covers three time zones (Eastern, Central and Mountain). The local morning program, Qulliq (broadcast in Inuktitut and English segments), airs from 6 to 10 a.m. and is followed by abbreviated broadcasts of The Current and Q. At noon a bilingual program, Nipivut, airs in Inuktitut and English. In the afternoons, programming is in Inuktitut and includes Tausunni from Iqaluit, Tuttavik from Kuujjuaq and Tusaajaksat from Rankin Inlet. During the evenings, Ullumi Tusaqsauqaujut presents highlights from the day's Inuktitut programs at 10 p.m. Eastern. At 10:30 p.m. Eastern Sinnaksautit features traditional Inuit storytelling. The nighttime edition of Q follows Sinnaksautit, after the 11 p.m. news. The CBC Radio One network schedule continues through the night.
The Nunavut program service also carries a CBC North regional live music program called The True North Concert Series on Saturday afternoons at 5 pm Eastern Time. TNCS features concert recordings from across the three northern territories. There is also a music request show for youth, which airs on Sunday afternoons at 3 pm Eastern Time.
In the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, the program service from Nunavut is heard on a network of community-owned FM transmitters, with some program differences. Weekday mornings from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. Quebec AM from CBVE-FM Quebec City is heard, and a repeat of Tuttavik from CBC in Kuujjuaq airs in the evening.
CBC Radio Nord Québec also operates a shortwave service, transmitted from the RCI transmitter in Sackville, New Brunswick, on 9625 kHz with 100kW and programmed from the CBC studios in Montreal. Radio Nord Québec also airs a hybrid Radio One/Première Chaîne schedule mixed with programming in Cree and Inuktitut to the James Bay region.
Two CBC Radio One stations, CFGB in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador (with call sign CKZN) and CBU in Vancouver, British Columbia (with call sign CKZU) operate shortwave relay transmitters, but neither transmitter site has the ability to reach the Arctic with usable signals year-round.
During the 1960s, the CBC Northern Service featured a mailbag program on Saturday evenings entitled The Northern Messenger. Since mail delivery was rare in the north, letters were sent to the CBC studios in Montreal and read on the air to listeners in far-flung settlements.[1]
Both Radio One transmitters broadcast 1 kW ERP. CBC Radio One and CBC Northern Quebec shortwave relays can be difficult to receive, due to increased terrestrial noise from electrical and electronic systems.
The primary CBC North television production centre is in Yellowknife (CFYK), with smaller production centres in Whitehorse (CFWH) and Iqaluit (CFFB). The CBC North television service is seen through a network of both CBC-owned and community-owned rebroadcasters in virtually all communities in the Northwest Territories, the Yukon, and Nunavut. CBC North is essentially a television system within a larger network, airing the same programming as CBC Television (with some exceptions). The station airs an hour-long evening news program known as CBC News: Northbeat, anchored by Randy Henderson. It was the sole local newscast that was not merged into Canada Now from 2000 to 2006.
A daily newscast in Inuktitut, Igalaaq, is also aired at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time, again at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time in Nunavut and at 4 and 5:30 p.m. in the Northwest Territories with anchor Rassi Nashalik. A weekly Cree newsmagazine, Maamuitaau, also airs on CBC North TV. These programs also aired on APTN before that channel launched its own news operation. Unlike the other owned-and-operated CBC stations CBC North airs few local ads, instead airing additional promotions for other CBC programs and public-service announcements.
There are two CBC North television feeds: one for the NWT and Nunavut on a Mountain Time schedule and another for the Yukon on Pacific Time. All local CBC North programs originate from Yellowknife and other Arctic locales. Viewers with C-Band dishes used to enjoy CBC North in the clear until about 2000 when the CBC switched to a proprietary digital system, requiring a C$3000 receiver.
Before the change to digital transmission, the two CBC North TV satellite feeds originated in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador (which was seen in the Eastern Arctic) and Vancouver, British Columbia, (which was seen in the NWT and the Yukon). Those channels carried regional programs originating in those areas to the north. With the new digital transmission system (now centralised at CBC Television's headquarters in Toronto), the north no longer sees the regional east-coast and west-coast programs. Some US communities offer CBC North on cable or low-powered TV; in Alexandria, Minnesota, for example, Selective TV, Inc. offers CBC North on one of their LPTV channels.
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