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1928 Radio

CJCB Sydney, Nova Scotia 880 kc/s 50 watts

Station History:

CJCB went on the air from the book and music store of owner Nathaniel Nathanson on February 14th, 1928. "Nate", as his friends called him, had begun to sell radios along with the phonograph records the store had carried for years. But there was little to listen to on these new radios. On a 'good night" you could pick up three or four U. S. stations, but only after dark and only when "conditions" were right. So Nate bought a ship's radio and had it altered to work on land.

The station was on the air for one or two hours at lunch time and three hours in the evening. CJCB was and still is a community minded station.

On February 8th, 1930, a night clerk of a Sydney hotel was murdered, and CJCB was asked by the police to broadcast a description of the occupant of the hotel room where the murder occurred. On the following day, a man applied for work at a lumber camp at nearby Point Edward. He noticed they had a radio and wondered why it was not in use. He said he knew something about radio and offered to fix it. He got it working and one of the first things they heard was the description of the wanted man. One of the men listening slipped away and called Sydney police who arrived, captured the man who was later convicted and executed.

In 1935 a transmitter house was built at South Bar to house a 1,000 watt transmitter which went into service December 25th with a new spot on the dial 1240 kc/s.

On September 5, 1936, Mrs. Beryl Markham, the first woman to fly the Atlantic from East to West heading for New York was very low on fuel due to strong westerly head winds, came in low over the beach and landed in a bog at Bauline, near Sydney, nose into the ground. CJCB was on the scene and broadcast an interview with her that was carried world wide.

A short wave 1,000 transmitter was added on the 49 metre band and CJCX became the first short wave service in Eastern Canada in 1937.

Disaster struck at the Princess Colliery in December of 1938, when a "manrake rope" broke and dozens of miners were dumped in a heap at the bottom of the shaft. Twenty-one men were killed and many injured. Up to the minute news of survivors was heard over CJCB and a couple of evenings later the station launched an appeal for funds to help victims of the disaster and in just a few hours till very late that night, $ 14,000. was raised, a fortune in those depression days.

Local programs that held listeners attention were "The Coronation Cruise", "Casino" and "The Cotter's Saturday Night" the latter being heard across Canada. CJCB was an affiliate of the CBC Network until 1948 when the CBC's own station came on the air in Sydney.

Now at 10,000 watts and in AM Stereo and moved slightly up the dial to 1270 kc/s. CJCB still serves Cape Breton and eastern Nova Scotia.

Sister station CKPE-FM came on the air in 1962 at 94.9 on the FM dial. Both stations remain rated number one and two in the Cape Breton market as they have for years.

Source : D. L. Brown - Vice-President

updated to March, 1996

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