CJAI-FM

CJAI is Amherst Island Public Radio, a radio station in Stella, Ontario, Canada. Broadcasting at 92.1 FM, the station airs a community radio format serving the Amherst Island region.

The station launched on April 1, 2006, originally on 93.7 FM. [ [http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2005/db2005-550.htm Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2005-550] ] Previously licensed as a developmental community radio station, CJAI changed frequency to 92.1 FM in October 2007 and was granted a permanent license on December 6, 2007. It now operates as a 250 Watt class B community broadcast undertaking.

The station is volunteer-run, and is the only Canadian broadcast station located in a barn. Operating from the barn's 14ft x 19ft milkhouse, it houses two studios (each 6ft x 7ft) and its antenna is high atop the barn's 85ft silo. Altogether, it is one of the smallest legally licensed broadcast stations in the world.

Personalities associated with the station have included longtime CBC and Global television anchor Peter Trueman, Global and CBC newsman Terry Culbert, plus community members including Adam Miller, Brian Little, Alan Kidd, Leah Murray, Ellis Wolfreys, Cheryl Saunders, Ross Haines, Doug Green, Dave Youell, Dayle Gowan, Ian Murray, Sally Bowen, Rosemary Richmond and Michael Rowan.

Funding of the station comes through donations, memberships, sponsorships, farmers market booths, and fundraising events: a book sale held the second Saturday of July, and the Amherst Island Folk Festival (http://www.amherstislandfolkfestival.ca) . On its website is a "Ferry-Cam" to see if the M/V Frontenac II is making its regular schedule. CJAI-FM plays old time radio shows five times a week, and Librivox book readings each weekday. Its musical content is 71% Canadian on average, and 100% on weekends between 6AM and 6PM.

CJAI is a member of the National Campus and Community Radio Association, and the Amherst Island Folk Festival is an Ontario Council of Folk Festivals (OCFF) member event.

The station moved to its current frequency of 92.1 FM in October 2007, following the licensing of a new radio station on the adjacent 93.5 frequency in Kingston. [ [http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2007/db2007-376.htm Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2007-376 ] ] [ [http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2007/db2007-414.htm Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2007-414] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.cjai.ca Official website]
* [http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/listings_and_histories/radio/histories.php?id=1087&historyID=983 CJAI history at Canadian Communications Foundation]