Normally, if you tune into Hot 89.9 FM or 93.1 CKCU FM on your radio dial, you expect to hear music and banter. Today, you might hear something different: dead air.
That's because the antenna the stations share caught fire, disrupting service on both stations.
CKCUFM alerted listeners to the problem with a tweet at 3 a.m. “CKCU's antenna has sustained damage,” it read. “As a result, we will only be broadcasting online for at least the next day or two #CKCU fixing ASAP.”
The station’s satellite is located at Camp Fortune near Chelsea, Que.
CKCU station director Matthew Crosier says he was called by a sound engineer at around 2:30 a.m. this morning, and was told there had been a fire at Camp Fortune. “We are in the process of putting together an emergency plan,” Crosier wrote in an email.
This morning at 8:40 a.m., the station’s DJs and volunteers received more information via email. “So it looks like our antenna is toast. We don't know what caused this problem,” read the email.
CKCU programs will continue as regularly scheduled, but will only broadcast online until further notice.
Crosier advised listeners to get their CKCU fix via the internet at ckcu.fm and Rogers channel 944.
“We will be off the air for at least a few days and probably longer,” he wrote in another email. “We are working as fast as possible to fix this.”
Hot 89.9 FM also uses the same antenna at Camp Fortune. At 8:39 a.m. this morning, the station tweeted the news. “Sorry Hotties! Our antenna caught fire last night and we're running on the backup. Please be patient, we'll be back to full strength ASAP,” it read.
Josie Geuer, Hot 89.9’s program manager, confirmed that the station’s capacity is limited. “It was an electrical fire and it did in fact catch fire,” she says. “We are now broadcasting off our emergency transmitter, which obviously has a weaker signal so can’t penetrate to the radios we normally grab.”
A flurry of comments on Hot 89.9’s Facebook expressed despair. “I'll go crazy today without you guys!” read one.
Hot 89.9 has called in a power gripper specialist to assess the damage. He’s “the only one in Canada,” according to Geuer, which means he won’t be able to visit the site for at least a day. “The damage to our antenna is pretty bad,” says Geuer.
She laughed off the incident, pointing out the irony of the fire. “Absolutely, it’s ironic that things got too hot in there!”
