It took six years of dealing with government regulators, corporations and forces of nature, but CJLO has finally hit the airwaves. As of Friday, Concordia University’s CJLO radio station is officially on the dial at 1690 am.
Back in 2002, the Canadian Radio Telecommunications Commission, which licenses Canadian radio stations, put a hold on all new licensing applications. This delayed CJLO’s plan to move from broadcasting on their website to the radio an extra two years.
Then after receiving the CRTC’s green light in 2006, CJLO lost the site they had chosen for their antenna to a private corporation.
After finding another site in industrial Lachine, construction was again delayed due to last year’s unusually large snow fall.
But far from discouraged, the CJLO team kept pushing. Station manager Chris Quinell prides himself in the professional and energetic staff he has assembled over the past two years.
“CJLO has over 100 volunteers, most of them working 15 to 20 hours a week,” he said.
Founded in 1998, CJLO has up until now only been able to broadcast on their website, cjlo.com. Its mission is to promote local and underground artists. Bands such as Arcade Fire, Feist, Modest Mouse and Kanye West were regulars on CJLO’s broadcasts before they made it to the mainstream.
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