CiTR 101.9 FMCiTR 101.9 FM

UBC students have been making radio since 1937, when four of them talked a commercial station into airing a campus variety show. The club became RADSOC, then CYVR — promptly shut down for six months by the student society for going on air before its licence came through — and finally CiTR. A low-power FM licence put it on 101.9 in April 1982, opening with Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and a full Class A licence in 1989 pushed it to 1,800 watts, reaching most of the Vancouver basin from a transmitter on campus.

Around ninety volunteer shows now share the week, and the spread is the point: Bepi Crespan Presents files itself under difficult music, Powerchord handles the metal, Soca Storm the Caribbean end, Pacific Pickin' the bluegrass. Live From Thunderbird Radio Hell puts local bands on air in one take. The station has published Discorder, its own Vancouver music magazine, since 1983.