City Thunder Bay, Ontario Branding CBC Radio One First air date 1973 | Broadcast area Northwestern Ontario Frequency 88.3 MHz (FM) Format public broadcasting | |
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CBQT-FM is a Canadian radio station. It is the CBC Radio One station in Thunder Bay, Ontario, broadcasting at 88.3 FM, and serves all of Northwestern Ontario through a network of relay transmitters.
Contents
History
The station was launched in 1973 on the AM band as CBQ 800. The 800 frequency had been vacated earlier that year by the defunct CJLX. CBQ Radio's inaugural morning broadcast in December 1973 made it the second city in Ontario to get a regional broadcast centre. The call sign CBQ was a last minute choice by station managers since CBL (for Lakehead) or CBT (for Thunder Bay) were taken by the CBC stations in Toronto and Grand Falls, respectively. Instead the letter Q was chosen for Quetico Provincial Park near Atikokan, which is west of Thunder Bay.
Prior to CBQ's launch, CBC Radio programming aired on private affiliate CFPA 1230.
CBQ moved to the FM band as CBQT-FM in 1990. The CBQ-FM call sign was already in use by the CBC Stereo sister station on 101.7 FM. Some of the relay transmitters for CBQT previously rebroadcast CBL in Toronto.
Local programming
The station's local program is Superior Morning, hosted by Lisa Laco. The station formerly also produced Voyage North, hosted by Gerald Graham in the afternoon, although that program was replaced in August 2014 by Up North, hosted by Jason Turnbull from the studios of CBCS-FM in Sudbury. The move faced some protest in the city, with Thunder Bay City Council passing a unanimous resolution requesting that the federal government rescind its 2012 funding cuts to the CBC.
CBQT's rebroadcast transmitters in the Central time zone also simulcast the 5 p.m. hour of local programming from CBW (Winnipeg) so that the network's World at Six airs at 6 p.m. local time.
The CBC Radio studio in Thunder Bay also produces the hourly weekend weather reports for all of Ontario after the hourly news break.
Repeaters
CFTL-FM, a radio station in Big Trout Lake owned by the Ayamowin Communications Society, rebroadcasts CBQT-FM part-time, with additional programming originating from CKWT-FM Sioux Lookout. It is currently unknown if this station is still broadcasting.
AM to FM
Some of CBQT-FM's repeaters currently operate on the AM dial. Future plans are possible to convert the remaining repeaters to the FM dial.
On December 21, 2012, the CBC filed an application to the CRTC to convert the following AM transmitters to the FM dial:
The CRTC approved the applications for both transmitters on May 8, 2013.
On January 21, 2013, the CBC filed an application to the CRTC to convert Sioux Lookout transmitter CBLS 1240 AM to 95.3 FM with 500 watts (average & maximum ERP). Antenna height will be 182 metres (EHAAT) and the radiation pattern will be non-directional. As well this new FM transmitter will serve the nearby town of Hudson, Ontario and Hudson's CBQW 1340 AM transmitter will be deleted as well. The conversion was approved by the CRTC on April 17, 2013.
On May 14, 2015, the CBC applied to convert CBLN Nakina from 1240 kHz (AM) to the FM band at 98.1 MHz with 50 watts, antenna height 9.1 metres (EHAAT) with a non-directional antenna pattern. The CRTC approved the CBC's application on July 28, 2015.
On December 22, 2016, the CBC applied to convert CBLW White River from the AM band (1010 kHz) to the FM band (97.7 MHz) with the proposed callsign CBLW-FM.
On March 2, 2017, the CBC applied to convert CBLM Marathon from the AM band (1090 kHz) to the FM band (107.5 MHz) with the proposed callsign CBLM-FM. CBEH (1010 kHz) Terrace Bay may also be shutdown.