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CKUA Top 5 Hot Files

1. Part 1 – Workshop West Theatre's artistic di...(Arts Alberta)
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2. Part 1- Tony Dillon-Davis talks with the Jef...(Arts Alberta)
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3. Part 1 – Tommy Banks talks to Allan Sheldon ...(Arts Alberta)
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4. Part 1 – Colin McLean talks with Jim Marsh, ...(Arts Alberta)
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5. Part 1 – The new theatre program at Grant Ma...(Arts Alberta)
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Awards & Firsts

Firsts

CKUA football commentatorsThough CKUA has had to relinquish its claim as having the first live play-by-play sports broadcast in Canada in 1928 - that honour instead goes to Radio Queen's University, which beat CKUA to the punch by five years - there have been plenty of other firsts for the station. Here is just a selection, ranging from technological advances to initiatives in programming.

 

  • In 1996, CKUA became the first radio station in Canada to go online, broadcasting live on the Internet via RealAudio. By November 2001, CKUA.com would broadcast online to more than 60 countries.
     

  • The peak limiter, a common tool for modulation control in the radio broadcaster's arsenal, was invented by Edmonton radio engineer Edward Jordan, who got his start as CKUA's first control room operator.
     

  • In 1959, CKUA became one of the first stations in the country and the first in Edmonton to broadcast in stereo.
     

  • CKUA was a pioneer in national on-location broadcasting in the '30s when a choral concert from the Edmonton studios was piped into the parlour cars of the Canadian National Railways.
     

  • CKUA would become the first broadcaster in the world to provide coverage of a legislature's Question Period in a daily hour-long show of the same name hosted by Warren Graves.
     

  • Popular performers destined for stardom - such as Robert Goulet, k.d. lang and Jann Arden - would receive their first broadcast exposure on CKUA.
     

  • Edmonton polka king Gaby Haas would host Continental Musicale, the world's longest-running show with the same host and producer. The European music show began broadcasting in 1946, and won its longevity title after its 2,081st episode on Sept. 21, 1986.

Awards

On the programming side, CKUA has continually gained national and international recognition for its shows.

In 2001, for instance, Travel Treasures host Lisa Robinson was honoured with the Tourism Media Award at the inaugural Alberta Tourism Awards, for excellence in Travel Journalism. The program, which began as a 16-week summer series in 2000, is broadcast Thursdays and Fridays (and re-broadcast Saturdays and Sundays). It now has more than 100 episodes.

The Chevron Ecofile won the Emerald Award for Environmental Excellence in Communications, Media and the Arts in 1996. But the station's productions -- including the Alberta School Broadcasts -- had been attracting notice years before these latest additions.

A look at its work during the '80s, for instance, shows a deft hand at drawing both listeners and plaudits. In 1983, 1984 and 1986, there would be four ACRTA nominations for shows covering history, and Western Canadian poetry. One program from the life science series, Listen to the Prairies, won the prestigious Minister of Education Prize for Radio in the 13th Japan Prize International Educational Program Contest. Other competitions throughout the '80s would honour shows in history, life science and public affairs.

Not even the CKUA website has escaped critical evaluation. As far back as 1998, just two years after the site went online, CKUA.com was selected for the Links2Go Key Resource Award.

And in 2001, it won The National Post's Design Exchange Silver Award in Interactive/New Media Category. As the newspaper declared in its evaluation: "The CKUA.com site is a marvel of Web interactivity and a triumph of new communications technology. Contained within the Piet Mondrian-like site layout is an impressive arsenal of communication possibilities, including archived files that can be downloaded...The most significant feature may be real audio transmission that delivers CKUA programming to listeners worldwide."

As a station, CKUA has been the recipient of numerous awards including:

  • the Prairie Music Industry Awards' Radio, Television and Print Media Outlet of the Year in 1999, 2000 and 2001;
     

  • the Alberta Recording Industry Associations Award for Alberta's Best Radio Station in 1995, 1996 and 1999;
     

  • and in 1998, the University of Alberta named CKUA Radio the recipient of the Builders of Alberta Award;
     

  • also in 1998, CKUA Radio and its longtime radio educational partner Athabasca University receive the Award for Excellence in Partnership at the 14th Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Distance Education.
      

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