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    CJUC 92.5FM Whitehorse Community Radio

How CJUC Gets On the Air
Background

How CJUC Gets On the Air

The technology behind Whitehorse’s community radio station.

CJUC runs on a small but powerful mix of studio gear, streaming software, and wireless links.

Here’s how it all fits together:

1. In the Studio

All shows start in the CJUC cabin studio, where we use:

  • Axia QOR16 digital audio equipment for clean mixing
  • OBPlayer to run music and programs 24/7
  • 3x ElectroVoice RE20 microphones –> DBX 286s –> Axia QOR
  • Mac Mini for playback & research

This is where mics, music, guests, and shows come together.

2. Encoding & Streaming

A dedicated computer takes the studio audio and uses FFmpeg to turn it into a broadcast-quality stream.
That stream is sent to our local Icecast server and becomes the master feed for both FM and online listening.

3. Wireless Link to the Transmitter

The Icecast stream is sent across town using a Ubiquiti PowerBeam — a focused, long-range wireless dish.
This connects the studio to the transmitter at the Yukon Arts Centre.

4. FM Transmission

At the Arts Centre, a Barix Exstreamer converts the stream back to audio and feeds it into our 30-watt CROWN FM 30T transmitter, which broadcasts CJUC at 92.5 FM.

5. Website & Online Stream

The same stream that is sent to our FM transmitter is also sent to the public via cloud servers, which relay the audio so listeners don’t overload the studio connection.

Uptime & Monitoring

CJUC aims for 99.9% uptime, which means the station should be online and broadcasting almost all of the time.

99.9% uptime translates to roughly:

  • < 45 minutes of downtime per month, or
  • < 9 hours per year

To stay reliable with a volunteer run, micro budget infrastructure, we use several tools to detect problems fast.

How We Monitor the Station

    • Dead-Air Monitor (custom Python bot)
      Listens to the stream 24/7 and alerts us on Discord & email if audio drops or goes silent.

    • UptimeRobot (cloud monitor)
      Checks our public stream and website every few minutes and alerts us if the relay or website goes down.

    • Icecast & FFmpeg logs
      Local logs show streaming errors, reconnect attempts, or hardware issues.

    • Tailscale network access
      Allows secure remote access so volunteers can fix issues quickly from anywhere.

Why Uptime Is a Challenge

Internet & Power Outages

      • The FM broadcast and our cjucfm.com livestream both go offline during power failures.

      • Internet outages can cause hiccups on both the stream and FM broadcast.

      • The station currently relies on DSL + Starlink, which are not enterprise-grade connections.

      • We are exploring cloud-based playout redundancy to reduce these risks.

Automation Quirks

      • OBServer, OBPlayer, Icecast, and FFmpeg occasionally require manual intervention.

      • Small issues in any part of the chain can cascade into silence or stuttering.

Volunteer-Run Infrastructure

      • All technical systems are maintained by volunteers.

      • We can’t always drop our day jobs immediately to fix problems.

      • Despite this, the station still achieves remarkably strong uptime for a community-run operation.

If Something Breaks – Please Tell Us!

Despite our best efforts, we don’t always catch every issue right away.  If you notice silence, glitches, dropouts, or anything that doesn’t sound right, please reach out.

Your heads-up helps us fix issues faster and keep the station sounding great.