A History of Radio at McGill University
CKUT (founded in 1987) has roots going all the way back to 1921... here's our attempt at tracing the history.
^Radio McGill in 1973… some of those records must be in the library still.
The McGill Radio Association was founded on October 6, 1921 and had many different iterations over the years.
These eventually led the students of cable radio project CFRM to write a successful application for an FM licence, which was granted in 1987 and gave birth to the CKUT we know today — transforming what was for decades a student-only project into a hybrid organization combining the enthusiasm and insight of student members with diverse and intergenerational contributions from Montreal’s greater cultural community.
CKUT bloomed into a legendary institution in Montreal, home to many of the city’s most respected DJs, activists, journalists, and cultural commentators. The station’s custom mix of eager new voices and steady veteran hosts has been steady trucking thru the 00’s and today as 90.3FM continues to be a place where you can hear things that you won’t hear anywhere else.
Our Time Capsule Blog offers deep looks into the history from 1987-onwards and we are still working on putting the early pre-FM days together. You can check out annual updates below in a slideshow spanning 1924-1974 of student yearbook “Old McGill” to see how far the roots go.
