Canadian status updates

[Goldilocks94941]

Anyone on this list know why the CBC's "Espace-Musique" on 88.9 from Victoria has been off the air for the past week? Past experience suggests the CBC engineering dept is slow to make corrections, but after a few days, the silence starts to sound like there's a big problem. Any word of it in the local press?

Also, I drove down from Vancouver to Seattle last week, a few days after "The Peak" swapped freqs with CFRO "Co-op Radio," and actually found the "weaker" signal on 100.5 got out a lot further south than the new one for The Peak on 102.7. There was also a lot of flutter on 102.7, in town and on the highway, which wasn't evident on 100.5 It sounded like the publicized 100kw signal wasn't working yet. Is it now?

Some of us on the US side of the invisible border are trying to listen, too.

 

[Bongwater]

Anyone on this list know why the CBC's "Espace-Musique" on 88.9 from Victoria has been off the air for the past week? Past experience suggests the CBC engineering dept is slow to make corrections, but after a few days, the silence starts to sound like there's a big problem. Any word of it in the local press?

Also, I drove down from Vancouver to Seattle last week, a few days after "The Peak" swapped freqs with CFRO "Co-op Radio," and actually found the "weaker" signal on 100.5 got out a lot further south than the new one for The Peak on 102.7. There was also a lot of flutter on 102.7, in town and on the highway, which wasn't evident on 100.5 It sounded like the publicized 100kw signal wasn't working yet. Is it now?

Some of us on the US side of the invisible border are trying to listen, too.

102.7 didn't go to full 100,000 watt power, although they still could. I think they're running about 34,000 watts right now. CFRO's 100.5 signal comes in clear down to Marysville now

As for CBUX's 88.9 Victoria repeater, I noticed they disappeared too. Kinda lousy - their afternoon jazz show is awesome and my French has improved a lot. It could be slacking engineers. But possibly it could also be budget cuts at the CBC (I'm sure their listenership is pretty low. It's been said more people work for Radio-Canada and Espace Musique than those who listen in BC.) But usually the CBC doesn't pull the plug on something without a public notice. Hope they get back on the air soon.

 

[e-dawg]

102.7 didn't go to full 100,000 watt power, although they still could. I think they're running about 34,000 watts right now. CFRO's 100.5 signal comes in clear down to Marysville now

As for CBUX's 88.9 Victoria repeater, I noticed they disappeared too. Kinda lousy - their afternoon jazz show is awesome and my French has improved a lot. It could be slacking engineers. But possibly it could also be budget cuts at the CBC (I'm sure their listenership is pretty low. It's been said more people work for Radio-Canada and Espace Musique than those who listen in BC.) But usually the CBC doesn't pull the plug on something without a public notice. Hope they get back on the air soon.

I thought Canadian ERP takes the average of the ERP, not the maxium. Plus this station is directional, maybe it only pulls 34,000 south, and 100kw east-west from the transmitter site. Maybe this station has a null towards the US border.

 

[Dan Sys]

The Industry Canada database shows CKPK 102.7 with 34,000 watts (average ERP) and 70,000 watts (maximum ERP). CFRO 100.5 is listed as 2,800 watts (average ERP) and 11,000 watts (maximum ERP). Both stations are listed as directional.

As for CBUX-2 88.9 being off the air.....I have no idea, but I have sent some messages out to folks who might be able to provide us with an answer. It is unlikely due to the recent budget cuts at the CBC as shutting it down would have required an application and approval from the CRTC. Nothing along those lines has appeared on the CRTC site.

 

[Goldilocks94941]

CFRO on 100.5 clearly had the stronger signal of the two in Vancouver and driving around Richmond, a couple of days after the switch. By contrast, lots of picket fencing on 102.7 everywhere I drove. Must have been a big disappointment after all that publicity. I'd hope it's just some unforseen technical problem, but that's why I asked. 100.5 sounded stronger, louder, and had a lot less fading all the way into Whatcom County. No one would have thought 102.7 was the better deal, at least how it sounded a couple of weeks ago.
Personally, I'd like to be able to hear them, like I hear some of the other full-signal Vancouver stations, at least from Everett northward. But as of this past weekend, nothing at all on 102.7 was coming in around Arlington, Wash.

 

[Dan Sys]

From what I've been able to gather it sounds like CBUX-1 88.9 had an STL failure. Why it has taken over a week to to remedy the situation remains the big mystery. Still off the air as I speak.

 

[Goldilocks94941]

Sad thing is I phoned the Victoria offices of CBC today, and neither the receptionist nor the technical person she spoke with had any idea the station was off. (I understand their transmitter site is close to town in Victoria, not with the Radio Two tower on Salt Spring Island.) She didn't have a way to monitor the over the air signals, when I asked if she could hear it, and assured her it wasn't a problem with reception changes at my home. She gave me the number of the main CBC techical coordinator in Vancouver for all of Western Canada, and he didn't know that the station was down either.
If any one affiliated with CBC participates on these boards, could you give us some hope that there actually is someone there who is monitoring your own broadcasts? I'm sure if Radio One went down, it might only take three or four days to get it back on the air (!), not more than a week to find out about it. I guess as long as the phone apps and internet are working, who cares about a hi powered FM signal anymore, eh?

 

[Bongwater]

Sad thing is I phoned the Victoria offices of CBC today, and neither the receptionist nor the technical person she spoke with had any idea the station was off. (I understand their transmitter site is close to town in Victoria, not with the Radio Two tower on Salt Spring Island.) She didn't have a way to monitor the over the air signals, when I asked if she could hear it, and assured her it wasn't a problem with reception changes at my home. She gave me the number of the main CBC techical coordinator in Vancouver for all of Western Canada, and he didn't know that the station was down either.
If any one affiliated with CBC participates on these boards, could you give us some hope that there actually is someone there who is monitoring your own broadcasts? I'm sure if Radio One went down, it might only take three or four days to get it back on the air (!), not more than a week to find out about it. I guess as long as the phone apps and internet are working, who cares about a hi powered FM signal anymore, eh?

If Radio One went down, you'd definitely hear about it sooner than later. It's the highest rated station in Victoria.

But when Espace Musique, broadcasting to a virtually non-existent French speaking audience on Vancouver Island went down. I'm sadly not surprised no one noticed. And ironically, it took someone from SOUTH of the border to even tell them what was going on.

What does that say?

Don't get me wrong. I love Espace Musique's jazz programs. But I'm wondering if it's really worth the power bill if no one in their target area appears to be listening to this radio station.

No one at all.

 

[e-dawg]

Speaking of French, I still don't understand the language laws. If Canada is a bilingual nation, English and French are the *OFFICIAL* why I only hear English rest of Canada, and French only in Ottawa, Quebec, and northern New Brunswick?

 

[Dan Sys]

Bongwater said:

And ironically, it took someone from SOUTH of the border to even tell them what was going on.

Unbelievable and actually quite embarrassing if you ask me. The CBC is planning to expand Espace Musique services to medium sized B.C. markets like Kelowna, Kamloops, Prince George, etc. over the next few years. That begs the question WHY?

 

[Bongwater]

Bongwater said:

And ironically, it took someone from SOUTH of the border to even tell them what was going on.

Unbelievable and actually quite embarrassing if you ask me. The CBC is planning to expand Espace Musique services to medium sized B.C. markets like Kelowna, Kamloops, Prince George, etc. over the next few years. That begs the question WHY?

Speaking of French, I still don't understand the language laws. If Canada is a bilingual nation, English and French are the *OFFICIAL* why I only hear English rest of Canada, and French only in Ottawa, Quebec, and northern New Brunswick?

What's the point? Why not put CBC Radio 3 on some of these stations?

 

[mimo]

Speaking of French, I still don't understand the language laws. If Canada is a bilingual nation, English and French are the *OFFICIAL* why I only hear English rest of Canada, and French only in Ottawa, Quebec, and northern New Brunswick?

As a Canadian you should know this.

The French speaking population is negligable in western Canada. When I grew up in Vancouver in the 80's, there were only 144 French Canadians in the city and Calgary (where I also lived) had 2000 French speakers. The French never migrated out west and those who did had children who adopted English as their native toungue as it was the dominant language. You don't notice French until you hit Winnipeg, and that's only in the (former city now neighbourho0d) St. Boniface area. When Canada was created, the population of both language groups was equal, now with westward expansion, immigration from Britain, U.S. and other places, English speakers made up the majority of the population. Only 8 or 9 million of Canada's 36 million are French.

 

[Bongwater]

Speaking of French, I still don't understand the language laws. If Canada is a bilingual nation, English and French are the *OFFICIAL* why I only hear English rest of Canada, and French only in Ottawa, Quebec, and northern New Brunswick?

As a Canadian you should know this.

The French speaking population is negligable in western Canada. When I grew up in Vancouver in the 80's, there were only 144 French Canadians in the city and Calgary (where I also lived) had 2000 French speakers. The French never migrated out west and those who did had children who adopted English as their native toungue as it was the dominant language. You don't notice French until you hit Winnipeg, and that's only in the (former city now neighbourho0d) St. Boniface area. When Canada was created, the population of both language groups was equal, now with westward expansion, immigration from Britain, U.S. and other places, English speakers made up the majority of the population. Only 8 or 9 million of Canada's 36 million are French.

There is a tiny French language community in the Coquitlam area. They are FAR outnumbered by the Mandarin and Hindi speakers in Greater Vancouver and Surrey. And aside from the CILS foundation, I know of NO French speakers in Victoria.

 

[Goldilocks94941]

Update from the CBC's "Seattle bureau":
The engineer in charge of the CBC facilities at their Burnaby facility phoned me back, and together we figured out that their remote monitoring of the 88.9 transmitter suggesting zero power was not faulty, as they had surmised, but indeed was indicating a problem with the transmitter. It may be transmitting at around 10% of power, which might be enough for people in Victoria to still hear the signal, but not much beyond. I could barely hear the French announcer as I drove up the hill from the Edmonds waterfront, as the station was uncharaceristically drowned out by a religious repeater and Mercer Island's rap station competing for attention. He was a bit amazed that they received no complaint calls about the outage until mine, which, technically, would be "East" of the border. It should be fixed in a few days. Reception reports from you all will be appreciated.

On my analog kitchen radio where I usually listen, I'm also hearing whatever religious satcaster has a chain of stations on 89.1 possibly drifting over close to 88.9 tonight in the North Seattle Shoreline area. I'm hearing two signals with the same programming, off by about a quarter second, with religious programming, instead of French. Goddamn/merde.

Personally, I think it is laudable, even if the audience numbers are small, to have a French language cultural service in "English Canada," as an attempt to lessen the divide between the cultures. I have heard Anglos listening to it in Seqium Wash., since it played cool music, and the French announcing was brief enough to not be a problem for monolinguists. Now with revamped music programming, after Radio Two's lead, which reduces the amount of classical and world music in favor of light French pop (think Putumayo-type stuff), I'm guessing the audience is even smaller. Otherwise, Victoria has a local low power (intentionally) community station in French on 107.9 Fm.

I still suspect a Torrey conspiracy to devalue the CBC and Radio-Canada. under the guise of trying to reach a "younger" audience, so that people will suggest they sell them off to commercial competitors. However, even with fewer hours for sublime classical music (French composers are perfect at night), and frothy pap filling many of the daytime hours, I still support the CBC mandate to provide noncommercial programming across the entire country. And to let English speakers enjoy some of the usually-sophisticated French taste in music beyond Quebec.

 

[jonbruce]

Did not realize there were so few french canadians in Vancouver. My uncles on my mother's side migrated there way back in the 1930's. My uncle Fred, known as Chief opened the first Chevron gas station in Canada at 4th and McDonald. He also owned a Sunbeam car dealership in the 1950's.

 

[mimo]

Espace Musique is an outstanding service. It seems that the French Language stations are often much better than their English counterparts. I personally like the idea that Espace Musique is available in places with a very small French speaking populations. I guess the small population of French speakers in Coquitlam may be it for the lower mainland. However there are more Francophones who have moved west in the past decade, but not at the levels we see in the east.

I'm glad to hear that they've figured out the problem. I do know that thre are Anglos who do enjoy the programming across the country, I've spoken to quite a few of them by phone.

 

[crainbebo]

Speaking of stations off the air, did you know KAFE did some tower maintenance last night around 11PM? I wonder if anyone was up to hear CHHR in full clarity, or even better, KXDD or KFIS...

-crainbebo

 

[swhyde1980]

Speaking of stations off the air, did you know KAFE did some tower maintenance last night around 11PM? I wonder if anyone was up to hear CHHR in full clarity, or even better, KXDD or KFIS...

-crainbebo

Here in Bremerton none of those stations, but one my friends here reported a staticy signal from KMAS's translator on 104.1.  Confirmed it after switching to 1030 AM and back.

 

[bobdavcav]

Is Bremerton just that much closer to Shelton? Sounds like it was at night, and I can't get KMAS at night, all I get on 1030 is KTWO.

 

[Bongwater]

Is Bremerton just that much closer to Shelton? Sounds like it was at night, and I can't get KMAS at night, all I get on 1030 is KTWO.

Bremerton is fairly closer to Shelton, but KMAS's signal is pretty weird too. I can't get them at all in Seattle, but they come right in in Lynnwood, Everett and clear up to Mount Vernon and even around the Port of Bellingham. But at night, KTWO has 1030 all to itself in most areas...