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The B.C. FM Station Whose Call Letters Start With "VF"
I always get a kick out of learning something new about radio in this country and this is one of them. Most of us know that Canadian stations all start with the letter "C," with the exception of a few grandfathered outlets in Newfoundland, that begin with "V."
So how to explain a station in Revelstoke, B.C., whose actual call letters are "VF2590"? This is what the CRTC calls a "very low power" station, which puts out all of 4 watts. It calls itself "Stoke FM" and is, by necessity, a very local entity that essentially serves a tiny area at 92.5 FM. It was awarded a licence in 2011 and has been around ever since.
There's no real reason any of us should have ever heard of them, except on Monday, the CRTC renewed their licence for another few years, and I discovered their odd call sign. Apparently there are several sets of letters assigned to Canada, beyond the typical "C's" and VA-VG are among them. (There's also XJ-XO, which I've never heard of before and I don't think have ever been used.)
Are there others like this in Canada? I have to say I've never heard of "VF" as any kind of over-the-air licenced radio station ID before and I'm assuming it's a special category only for stations that are so low powered, you can barely hear them.
If you're curious about the place, it streams online and has its own website.
- tvguy
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Re: The B.C. FM Station Whose Call Letters Start With "VF"
There are hundreds of stations with the call sign beginning with “VF”. Typically these were assigned to low power licence exempt stations or rebroadcasters. Back in the late 1980’s when the CANCOM satellite service was licensed, there were a number of FM stations that were distributed. As recently as 1995, CANCOM was licensed to distribute CISL, CKNW, CJJR, CFUN ad CFMI from Vancouver-Richmond. I recall that there were many communities in BC where low power FM stations were licensed to retransmit the Vancouver AM and FM stations. Same occurred in other provinces. Even “C” series stations have had “VF” rebroads. For example, CILK-FM Kelowna, held a licence for VF2329 - Big Mountain BC. Then there are the Tourist and House of Worship stations, a thorn in my side. In Surrey BC, two so-called “licence exempt” stations violated the licence exemption order, and broadcast as full-time commercial ethnic stations. VF2689 Surrey operated at 106.9, as a commercial ethnic station until it was ordered to close down. VF2686 Surrey operated as “Surrey City Radio” until it was closed down in the same proceeding for multiple regulatory violations. I doubt that either of these stations ever broadcast their “legal” call signs. There have also been “VF” stations licensed by ISED in Calgary. At least one of those was operating under the “tourist radio” loophole but it was in fact a full-fledged commercial ethnic station. I am also aware of various aboriginal stations that have “VF” call signs. I am not aware of any XJ or XO call signs issued to low power or licence exempt FM stations but perhaps Skywave had access to the ISED database and could comment.
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Re: The B.C. FM Station Whose Call Letters Start With "VF"
Interesting stuff as always, tvguy! I had never heard of this before, and have no idea if there are any of these in Ontario. I suspected they might be reserved for extreme low power outlets, and frankly, I hadn't realized there were as many of them as you cite. Even CHOP-FM in Newmarket, which just recently got an expanded licence, has regular call letters.
I wonder if there's a list of these "VF" stations somwhere.
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Thread Starter- Juggie1
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Re: The B.C. FM Station Whose Call Letters Start With "VF"
I have come across the XJ to XO calls in the business 2 way and stl communications, particularly in the 450 and 950 MHz band. One of the stations I worked for had a 2 way to the planes and we had to identify each communication with the license calls XMJ225. I think that those licenses have since been handed back as they no longer have an airplane.
- tvguy
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Re: The B.C. FM Station Whose Call Letters Start With "VF"
Call signs with four digits preceded by "VF" (for radio) or "CH" (for television) are only assigned to very-low-power local services, such as rebroadcasters or limited-interest stations similar to Part 15 operations in the United States.
Here are the call sign blocks assigned to Canada by the ITU. These would be for stations including broadcasting, 2-way radio, amateur radio, etc.
Call sign block
CFA–CKZ
CYA–CZZ
VAA–VGZ
VOA–VOZ
VXA–VYZ
XJA–XOZ
- RadioActive
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Re: The B.C. FM Station Whose Call Letters Start With "VF"
And of course, the world's very first radio station was XWA in Montreal (later CFCF.) But that was long before these rules came into place.
Do the Environment Canada radio stations across the country have special call letters?
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Thread Starter- MJ Vancouver
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Re: The B.C. FM Station Whose Call Letters Start With "VF"
RadioActive wrote:
I always get a kick out of learning something new about radio in this country and this is one of them. Most of us know that Canadian stations all start with the letter "C," with the exception of a few grandfathered outlets in Newfoundland, that begin with "V."
So how to explain a station in Revelstoke, B.C., whose actual call letters are "VF2590"? This is what the CRTC calls a "very low power" station, which puts out all of 4 watts. It calls itself "Stoke FM" and is, by necessity, a very local entity that essentially serves a tiny area at 92.5 FM. It was awarded a licence in 2011 and has been around ever since.
There's no real reason any of us should have ever heard of them, except on Monday, the CRTC renewed their licence for another few years, and I discovered their odd call sign. Apparently there are several sets of letters assigned to Canada, beyond the typical "C's" and VA-VG are among them. (There's also XJ-XO, which I've never heard of before and I don't think have ever been used.)
Are there others like this in Canada? I have to say I've never heard of "VF" as any kind of over-the-air licenced radio station ID before and I'm assuming it's a special category only for stations that are so low powered, you can barely hear them.
If you're curious about the place, it streams online and has its own website.
I’ve actually heard this station. I was stuck on the Trans-Canada Highway just outside Revelstoke a few years ago due to a flood, while driving there from Calgary. I flipped around on the FM radio dial and found this station. It seemed like a decent community broadcaster, mostly just played music.
As for Environment Canada’s Weather Radio stations, they all have call letters. Most of them follow the format AAA###, and many of them start with X - for example, their London transmitter is XLN470, and Toronto is XMJ225. A small number of these licenses are held by the CBC and transmit on the FM band, and they use the usual format they do for their stations, but using P as the third letter. For example, they hold a license for Bruce Peninsula, with the call letters CBPS.
Normally when I see call letters starting with X, I think Mexico - such as XETV in Tijuana, which used to be the Fox affiliate serving San Diego.
Last edited by MJ Vancouver (August 14, 2023 2:27 pm)