CJLI “The Light” was heard one night in October 2020 on 700 kHz, a frequency were we usually hear just WLW in Cincinnati at Lista. One night the signal of CJLI in Calgary was sufficiently strong on the northern antenna to beat the signal of WLW at times. CJLI broadcasts a Christian radio format with a night time power of 20 kilowatts.
Les Moore, Assistant Program Director and also a morning host, confirmed my not so perfect audio recording with an e-mail.
After 39 years of DX-ing, I eventually passed verified station no. 1000!
CKJR became the station for this jubilee. CKJR is a station we have heard briefly before too, but never as good as one morning on our most recent DX-pedition. CKJR easily beat the East Coast sports stations WRED and WVEI as well as Radio 208 in Copenhagen. This on the northern “prairie” antenna, of course.
Chief Engineer Douglas Mattice confirmed my reception of CKJR with a nice QSL-letter, just as he did for my reception of sister station 840 CFCW two years ago.
Branded W1440, CKJR broadcasts an oldies format broadcasting from the city of Wetaskiwin, Alberta. The station broadcasts with a power of 10 kilowatts.
Unless I abandon my job and my family, I bet I will never experience verified station no. 2000… 🙂
It’s always a treat to hear stations from as far west as Alberta at Lista. Contrary to Northern Scandinavia, where powerful stations from the prairies are considered pest stations, signals usually don’t reach such far inland at such a southernly location as Lista.
I was quite pleased when hearing country music on 840 kHz one morning last March. There was not much doubt about the identity of the station: This had to be CFCW and sure enough there was a jingle ID as “8-40 CFCW” in between two country songs. Doug Mattice, Chief Engineer at Newcap Radio in Edmonton confirmed my reception with an e-mail and even attached a real QSL letter.
CFCW transmits with a nighttime power of 40 kilowatts from a transmitter in Camrose southeast of Edmonton.
First QSL from the latest DX-pedition to Lista arrived when Johnny Rocket, Program Director, confirmed my reception of CJCA on 930 kHz. CJCA was heard late one morning on this DX-pedition on our antenna directed towards the West Coast of North America. This was our very first reception of CJCA.
CJCA broadcast Christian programming from Edmonton, Alberta, usually using the branding and identification “930 – The Light”. Their transmitter power is 50 kilowatts, but despite this CJCA is definitely not a regular catch at such a southernly location as Lista. Contrary to the Arctic, CJCA has to compete with the signal of several stations on the East Coast (notably CJYQ, CFCB and WBEN) at Lista.
The first verification from the latest DX-pedititon to Lista (November 2009) came from CHRB in High River, Alberta. CHRB had a very good signal several mornings during our stay and could even be heard well into the afternoon untill around 15.00 local time (14.00 UTC). That was quite exceptional as CHRB was a station I had never managed to hear untill this DX-pedition. This time we could listen to this station for several hours with good quality and no interference.
Laverne Siemens, Director of Engineering at parent company Golden West Radio, confirmed my reception of CHRB with a full detailed QSL letter as a Word attachment. He tells that CHRB operates with a power of 50 Kilowatts 24 hours a day into a four tower array during the night and into a 500’ omni tower during the day.
CFAC in Calgary, popped up for a couple of minutes one morning on 960 kHz at Lista in October 2008. CFAC is considered a “pest station” by DX-ers listening from Arctic Scandinavia, but for us DX-ing from the southern tip of Norway CFAC is an unusual catch.
Jerry Pendree, Director of Engineering Alberta at Rogers Broadcasting, confirmed my reception with an e-mail some weeks ago.
As mentioned a couple of times earlier on blog, we heard a number of unusual stations at Lista in October 2008. I have to add that many of the stations which we consider “unusual” are powerhouses up in Arctic Norway and Arctic Scandinavia though. One of these, CKMX in Calgary, popped up one morning on 1060 kHz at Lista with a clear station identification among the country music played.
Engineer Richard Luddick confirmed my reception of CKMX with an e-mail yesterday. This was my very first verification from a station in Alberta.
Arild's DX Diary 
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