Kathleen Lippa
Northern News Services

Alert (Oct 04/04) - As far as radio stations go, you can't go any higher on the planet or get any cooler than CHAR FM in Alert.

The radio station at Alert -- Latitude 82.51 north, Longitude 62.35 west -- has been in existence since the mid-1960s and is operated by a rotating team of volunteer DJs.

"It's a morale booster," explained Tony LaBossiere, communications advisor for the Canadian Forces

"And at the same time it provides recreational activity for the volunteer DJs."

Alert has a 75-person strong Canadian Forces crew in Alert.

CHAR was initially an AM broadcasting station until the early 1980s. Although the exact date is unknown, the station evolved to operate in a computer based "closed circuit" environment. Today, they play everything from rock to country. Every Thursday they have a trivia contest.

The Canadian Forces team that resides in Alert is in charge of a number of tasks surrounding issues of Canadian sovereignty, defence and the environment.

CHAR FM is an important and fun creative outlet for Canadian Forces personnel who dwell in a land where temperatures hover around -50C and a dark season that lingers for most of the year. The station just re-applied to the CRTC to renew its radio licence, something they haven't done in seven years.

The station broadcasts a few hours in the morning and a few hours at night and only the crew in Alert can enjoy the programming, explained Rob Martin with Industry Canada.

Martin deals with the technical needs of the tiny station and hopes they get their licence renewed. He has never been to Alert, but is intrigued by the Northern station.

"If you're not in Alert, you can't hear the show because the signal is too weak to pick up," said Martin. "When you think the average radio station down south broadcasts at 100,000 kilowatts of power, Alert is 76 watts," he added laughing.

"It is just so remote."