The CNR Radio system dies in name only. The CRBC got the three CNR-owned stations, the Montreal studios and some extra control gear in Winnipeg for $50,000.

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.