CKXU 88.3FM - From the Students' Union Building at the University of Lethbridge, Southern Alberta's only campus and community radio station!

The History of CKXU 88.3 FM

The past few years have seen a number of exciting changes at CKXU 88.3 FM: the station has moved to the FM band, with an associated increase in listenership and in interest in the station; our programming continues to grow in scope; and we have taken a step into the future with the addition of Internet broadcasting. However, the station began under much more modest circumstances.

In 1972, a public address system was set up in section A of University Hall at the University of Lethbridge to broadcast musical content inside the building from mid-morning to early afternoon. The station was managed by a three-member executive under the auspices of the Students’ Union of the University of Lethbridge.

The CKUL Radio Society was incorporated in October, 1977, to govern the affairs of the station, and a year later the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) granted the society a licence to broadcast at 530 AM. Even in those early days, the Board of Directors of the station was eyeing a move to FM by increasing the number of daily broadcast hours and developing the long-term income streams necessary to maintain such an operation.

Unfortunately, at a mere 25W, the AM transmitter was of such low power that it was drowned out by the time it reached the parking lot of the University, by a station originating in Montana . However, the move to a broadcast band still represented a major step forward in the life of the station. Not only was CKUL now a bona fide radio station, it was broadcasting 65 hours per week with 25 DJs rather than occasionally with a mere handful of programmers.

The effort to move to FM began in earnest in the 1980s, with the first documents being filed with the CRTC in the middle of the decade. In the spring of 1988, it was decided to move in the interim to an emerging broadcast technology – cable FM. This turned out to be a fortuitous decision, as the AM transmitter malfunctioned shortly thereafter. It was hoped that FM would come quickly, but the process turned out to be more difficult than originally anticipated.

For the next decade, the station executive and Board of Directors worked on gaining independence from the Students’ Union and accruing the funds necessary to move to broadcast FM. As part of that process, CKUL’s call letters changed to CKXU, and on April 8th, 2004, the station began to broadcast at 88.3 FM to the city of Lethbridge and the surrounding area from a 100W transmitter located on top of the Students’ Union Building at the University of Lethbridge. CKXU 88.3 FM now broadcasts for more than 126 hours per week, year-round, with a volunteer core of over 100 members.