You’ve gotta admire him. Bryan Pearson (not pictured here), owner of the Astro Theatre in Iqaluit, has been quietly running a not-quite-legal rebroadcasting, uh, “service” — oh hell, I’ll say it, a pirate station — carrying CBC Radio for 13 years now.

He started it when CBC dropped Saturday Afternoon at the Opera from its AM broadcast. “That’s the only show that I listen to religiously,” he told a local paper. “So I got pissed off and bought a radio transmitter and a satellite dish.”

Pearson used to operate the station from his home, but later moved it to improve the signal’s reach. Still, on rainy days, some people in Iqaluit have trouble picking up the signal. It operates on only 1.8 watts of power, although the actual broadcasting licence he has is for 1/600th of a watt. “The same as your toaster,” he lamented.

Pearson says he’s never been hassled about the station, despite it being illegal.

CBC Radio now has a new station in Iqaluit, at 88.3 FM. Pearson says he’ll leave his station running anyway.

	11 Comments »	See also: Fanatical Fans, North, Transmission
	Email this	Posted at 7:46 am (17 Sep 2007)

The CBC’s Whitehorse bureau was evacuated yesterday morning when a pickup truck slammed into the back entrance.The driver suffered minor injuries in the incident, which took place around 10 a.m. PT. No one else was hurt.

“He sped up and hit the building,” said Whitehorse resident Ron Edwards, who was getting coffee when he saw the older-model truck swerving down Third Avenue.

RCMP are investigating the incident.

At the time of the crash, reporter Cheryl Kawaja was recording an interview in a radio studio just metres from the point where the truck came into contact with the building. The impact of the truck was loud enough to be picked up by microphones in the soundproof studio.

more

	3 Comments »	See also: North
	Email this	Posted at 8:27 am (15 Aug 2007)

On this day in 1973, CBC network television transmissions began to the North by way of the Anik-A communications satellites. The Anik A satellites were the world’s first national domestic satellites. Each of the satellites was equipped with 12 C-band transponders, and thus had the capacity for 12 colour television channels.

	Add Comment »	See also: North, Today In CBC History, Transmission
	Email this	Posted at 3:32 am (05 Feb 2007)

Proving the case that there’s something for everyone on the Internet… I found these instructions for sleeping in the Iqualuit airport. Crazy.

	Add Comment »	See also: Asides, North
	Email this	Posted at 9:22 am (10 Aug 2006)