CJCB is a Canadian radio station broadcasting from Sydney, Nova Scotia at 1270 AM. The station is the third oldest radio station in Nova Scotia, hitting the airwaves on February 14, 1929. The station’s current format is country.
CJCB is the only commercial radio station in Canada to broadcast on 1270 AM. The station is owned and operated by the Maritime Broadcasting System, a company that owns several other radio stations in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. I heard them with country music. My report using their webform was answered within a day.
While the transmitter location is Sydney, the station advertises as CJCB Cape Breton:
- The call letters CJCB originally stood for “Cape Breton” (the “CB” part), chosen when the station launched on February 14, 1929, as one of Canada’s early commercial radio outlets.
- Founder Nate Nathanson explicitly intended it to serve the island’s population, and the “CB” directly represented Cape Breton.
- Sydney is the largest city and regional hub of Cape Breton Island (part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality), so a station based there naturally positions itself as the voice of the entire island, not just the city.
- The station broadcasts content relevant to all of Cape Breton, including coverage of the Cape Breton Eagles (the island’s QMJHL hockey team), local events, and island-wide community programming.
In short, while the transmitter and studios are technically in Sydney, CJCB identifies as a Cape Breton station because that’s its heritage, its audience, and its intended market.
