Radio watchers around town are noticing some strange noises high up on the AM dial. CJLO, Concordia University’s student radio station, has finally got equipment setup to begin broadcasting on its assigned frequency, 1690kHz, and is beginning tests.

The CJLO saga goes way back to about 2001, when a real campaign to get it on the airwaves began. A Concordia Student Union vice-president remarked at the time that he expected it to be on the air by the end of the school year or 2003 at the latest. The station submitted its application to the CRTC in 2004 for use of the 1690kHz frequency, and the application was approved in March 2006, giving it 24 months to begin broadcasting (they were granted an extension to Oct. 1, 2008).

The antenna is erected and connected in a mud pit in Lachine, just down the hill from the station’s Loyola home. The station is currently limited to short, 5-minute tests (mostly generated tones to test reception and range) until an inspector arrives to do his thing. Once that’s done at the end of August, the station can begin full testing and launch in the fall.

More from the CJLO AM blog.

Now, does anyone have an AM radio lying around? More importantly, one recent enough to have the extended AM band that CJLO is in?