A HISTORY OF THE

SUNSHINE COAST RADIO SOCIETY

In August 1994 several people responded to a newspaper ad inviting those who are interested in Community Radio to attend the very first meeting.

The final draft of our constitution submitted to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs was completed and in March 1995 we became incorporated as the “SUNSHINE COAST RADIO SOCIETY. In that constitution, the mandate of the society “To provide community radio service to the Sunshine Coast over the airwaves, through wires or cable, to transmit news and music of local interest, is spelled out. During the course of the year we negotiated with the local television Cable Company (Coast Cable Communications) to allow our programs to be heard over the community info channel Sunday evenings.

Originally our programs were approximately 1-2 hours in length. Over the course of the next 18 months, we were producing community programs that were mainly of local interest including fishing reports, music, storytelling, and interviews with local personalities. This phase of our broadcasting came to an end in May of 1997 due to equipment failures and lack of funds.

The Sunshine Coast Radio Society suffered a loss of membership at that time, and took on a less demanding role of collecting and cataloguing archives from Canadian broadcasting. This has led to an impressive collection of historical programs including the last Jack Webster radio broadcast on CJOR Vancouver, commentary by Jack Cullen of CKNW of the Beatles 1964 visit to Vancouver, Red Robinson’s ‘Teen Canteen’ show from CKWX in 1957, as well as a nearly complete collection of C-FUN jingles from the early 1960’s. We also have airchecks from many other cities throughout North America and the world. This is a phase of our operation that will continue because of the interest that it generates.

In August 1999, support for Community Radio rallied when the local radio station went off the air and plans went ahead for a community based radio station. Interest and membership reached a new high after shopping mall presentations in Sechelt and Gibsons.

During the winter of 1999 and early part of 2000, plans took shape for a new community radio station, which we called C-VUE FM 105.9.

In September of 2000, our radio station began operation, carried over the Coast Cable system.
It is based in Sechelt, and we are on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We’re on Cable 11 as the background music for the community channel, and also on 105.9FM on your stereo when hooked up to cable. We’ve added streaming on our Website www.civu.net , and are now heard around the world.
C-VUE FM is completely staffed by volunteers from the community, and offers a variety of programming featuring local talent and news of interest to the Sunshine Coast.

In September of 2005 we celebrated our five-year anniversary, thanks to the support of the Sunshine Coast residents and businesses.