CBC North

In Yukon, the regular CBC Radio One schedule in English airs on CFWH. CFWH is the only station in the network which uses the Saturday afternoon 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. local arts program block to air the French-language program Rencontres,[2] as the territory outside Whitehorse is not served by an Ici Radio-Canada Première production centre or a local francophone community radio station. Whitehorse is served locally by CFWY-FM 102.1, a repeater of CBUF-FM Vancouver which is owned locally by the Association Franco-Yukonnaise.[3]

In the Northwest Territories, there are two main station, one in Yellowknife in the Southeast and one in Inuvik in the Northwest.

Languages served by CFYK-FM Yellowknife besides English are Dogrib (Tide Godi,[4] "Great Lake news"), South Slavey (Dehcho Dene,[5] "Big River people"), and Chipewyan (Denesuline Yatia).[6]

First Nations' languages on CHAK Inuvik are Gwich'in (Nantaii,[7] "country road"), North Slavey (Le Got'she Deh, "locality and land"), and Inuvialuktun (Tusaavik,[8] "listening place").

The Nunavut service with its main station CFFB in Iqaluit is the only local or regional CBC Radio service which covers three time zones (Eastern, Central, and Mountain). Bilingual programs in Inuktitut and English are Qulliq[9] ("oil lamp") in the morning and Nipivut[10] ("our voices") middays. Afternoon programmes comprise Tausunni[11] ("smell of humans") from Iqaluit, Tuttavik[12] ("place of encounter") from Kuujjuaq, Nunavik (CFFB-FM-5) and Tusaajaksat[13] ("things heard about") from Rankin Inlet, Kivalliq Region (CBQR-FM). Evening shows include Ullumi Tusaqsauqaujut[14] ("heard today") and Sinnaksautit[15] ("bedtimes"). Furthermore there is a Sunday Request Show.

In the Nunavik region of Northern Quebec, CBC North is heard on a single-frequency network of low-power FM transmitters (main station: CFFB-FM-5 Kuujjuaq, 103.5 FM, 50 watts),[16] combining programmes from Iqaluit (CFFB) and Quebec City (CBVE-FM). These FM transmitters replaced the Northern Quebec Shortwave Service in 2012 (see below).

In Eeyou Istchee, CBMP-FM Chisasibi (105.1 FM, 105 watts) and its repeaters[17] carry the East Cree language programmes Winschgaoug (ᐗᓂᔥᑳᒄcode: cre promoted to code: cr ,[18] "get up") and Eyou Dipajimoon (ᐃᔨᔨᐤ ᑎᐹᒋᒧᐎᓐcode: cre promoted to code: cr ,[19] "Cree news") from Montreal. Until July 2020 they had been broadcast on the French outlet CBFG-FM.[20] They are supplemented by English language shows from Montreal and Quebec City. Former programmes include Âshûmîyi (ᐋᔔᒦᔨcode: cre promoted to code: cr , "pass it on") and the French Soirée Boréale.

CBC Radio Nord Québec used to operate a shortwave service, transmitted from the Radio Canada International transmitter (CKCX) in Sackville, New Brunswick, on 9.625 MHz with 100 kW and programmed from the CBC studios in Montreal. This shortwave service was shut down December 1, 2012 and replaced by five low-powered FM transmitters broadcasting on 103.5 MHz from Puvirnituq, Kuujjuarapik, Inukjuak, Salluit, and Kuujjuaq (CFFB-FM-5).[21][22]

Two CBC Radio One stations, CFGB-FM 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.

Both Radio One transmitters broadcast 1 kW Effective radiated power. These shortwave relays can be difficult to receive due to increased terrestrial noise from electrical and electronic systems. As well, nighttime broadcasting on 9.625 MHz is difficult due to interference from Radio Exterior de España, which uses that frequency at night for transmission to North America.

Since the 1920s up until the 1970s, CBC Northern Service featured a mailbag program on Friday or Saturday evenings entitled The Northern Messenger. Letters were sent to the CBC studios in Montreal and read on the air to listeners in far-flung settlements.[23] The Northern Messenger functioned in an era before long-distance telephone networks had reached the region as a way to provide residents in remote locations with a means to communicate with friends and family in the south, as normal mail delivery was infrequent or non-existent, especially during the winter months.

The original Northern Messenger was originally produced by KDKA and broadcast on its shortwave radio simulcaster, 8XS (later known as W8XK and WPIT). Its intended audience were Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers and other southerners stationed in the Canadian Arctic, to keep them in touch with events in the outside world. KDKA was owned and operated by Westinghouse Electric Corporation and the suggestion for Northern Messenger came from Canadian Westinghouse. The show consisted of messages from listeners to their friends and family living in the Far North, recorded music, and news, and would broadcast weekly from November to May, when normal mail delivery was unavailable. KDKA's Northern Messenger and "Far Northern Service" operated from 1923 until 1940; in later years the Canadian-produced version was carried.[24]

In 1932, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission began its own version of the service, initially under the name Canadian Northern Messenger, on its network of mediumwave and shortwave stations. The show was initially broadcast Saturday nights, and like its American cousin, consisted of personal messages from friends and family around the world to RCMP officers, missionaries, trappers, doctors, nurses, and scientists as well as Cree and Inuit,[25] and also ran from November to May. It was initially produced by CRCT in Toronto and carried on the CRBC's network including shortwave stations CRCX (Bowmanville), CJRO/CJRX (Winnipeg), and VE9DN (Drummondville, Quebec) - the shortwave stations would continue to broadcast the programme throughout the 1930s.[24] When the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was formed as the successor to the CRBC, the programme was continued by CBC Radio into the 1970s.[26][24] During its first year, Canadian Northern Messenger relayed 1,754 messages, and would handle six times that many by its fourth year.[27][28][23]

CBC produced the program out of CBO in Ottawa in the 1930s, then from its Winnipeg studio in the 1950s and early 1960s, and finally from its Montreal studios beginning in 1965. Beginning in the 1940s, it would be recorded and broadcast over western CBC stations CBW Winnipeg, CBX Edmonton, and CBK in Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories and Yukon Radio System on Friday nights, with broadcasts reaching Yukon and Northwest Territories, and then rebroadcast eight days later over CBC's powerful Sackville Relay Station aimed at Labrador, northern Quebec, and the eastern Arctic.[24][25]