CIUT-FM, Campus, Toronto
University of Toronto Community Radio
| Station | Year | Freq. | Power | Owner/Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CIUT-FM | 1987 | 89.5 | 15,000 | University of Toronto Community Radio |
1966
CIUT started out as a closed circuit station at the University of Toronto. The “UT” in the call sign represented the university. Sudios and offices were located on campus at 91 St. George Street.
1986
On March 20, the Students Administrative Council of the University of Toronto (would become known as University of Toronto Community Radio Inc.) received a licence to operate Toronto’s second student/community FM station. The first was Ryerson’s CKLN-FM. The CRTC at this time, generally only allowed one such station per city. The new station would broadcast on a frequency of 89.5 MHz and have an effective radiated power of 15,000 watts. The varied musical format would draw on personal record collections and the resources of the U of T’s Edward Johnson Music Library. The station would be allowed up to four minutes per hour of restricted advertising.
1987
On January 15 at 12 noon, CIUT-FM went Metro-wide on 89.5 MHz with an effective radiated power of 15,000 watts. Studios remained at 91 St. George Street. The 269.7 metre antenna was located atop First Canadian Place in downtown Toronto. CIUT was on the air 24 hours a day with 15 full-time staff and 300 volunteers. The first broadcast began with an eight hour get-acquainted special.
CIUT-FM had an extended international audience for a short time. A filtering problem on an intermediate Teleglobe frequency at CIUT’s new transmitter site atop First Canadian Place caused the station’s programming to radiate into an Infosat uplink. This resulted in CIUT’s signal being beamed to earth stations in Britain. The problem was corrected and CIUT’s “superstation” status came to an end.
Tom Jokinen was news features co-ordinator.
2003
On August 11 the CRTC renewed CIUT-FM’s licence until August 31, 2010.
2011
On August 31, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence for CIUT-FM to December 31, 2011.
2012
On August 28, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence of CIUT-FM to December 31, 2012. On December 21, the licence was renewed to August 31, 2016.
2014
CIUT-FM lost its 27-year-old transmitter in April. Station manager Ken Stowar was trying to raise money from listeners to buy a new one. In the meantime, CIUT was still on the air with a diminished signal and reach.
The story continues elsewhere…
Effective September 1st 2019, we will only be adding new material to these station histories in exceptional circumstances. Our intent to chronicle the early days of these radio and television stations has been achieved, and many new sources and technologies, from the CRTC website to Wikipedia, and others, are now regularly providing new information in these areas.