How far do you have to go to find pirate radio in Yellowknife? Try Kam Lake

Drivers flipping through radio stations may have noticed some new content on the airwaves in some parts of Yellowknife recently. 

In the Kam Lake area, as recently as Tuesday, radios were able to pick up a signal on 106.9 FM of previously broadcast material from last year's freedom convoy protest in Ottawa.   

This includes broadcasts of Tucker Carlson, Jordan Peterson, Rebel News and other, lesser known, podcasters and personalities. 

Residents flagged the content first on Reddit. 

No new broadcaster has been listed on the CRTC website for Yellowknife.

Cabin Radio, a Yellowknife-based media company, applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for a commercial FM licence in August of 2019, but the application has yet to be approved or denied. 

According to the Radiocommunication Act and the CRTC guidelines it's illegal for anyone to broadcast on an FM frequency without a license. 

"No person shall, except under and in accordance with a radio authorization, install, operate or possess radio apparatus," the Radiocommunication Act reads. 

Dave Goodwin is the regulatory affairs officer with Radio Amateurs of Canada. 

He said it is legal for someone to broadcast on an FM frequency, but only at such a low power level it can only be heard from from a distance of about 60 metres. The current broadcast can be heard from at least a few kilometres away in either direction. 

As for why this is illegal, Goodwin said the radio airwaves serve very specific purposes and therefore a licence is required. 

There's airwaves dedicated to broadcasters, like the CBC, airwaves for dispatchers and airwaves for cell phones. 

The licensing and regulations ensure that none of these are disrupted.

"Let's say you have two transmitters in the same frequency, and you can have those two transmitters interfering with each other if you know one is attempting to communicate with one listener and the other is trying to communicate with another listener. If they're both in the same frequency, how do you separate the two?" Goodwin said. 

Goodwin drew an analogy between breaking broadcast laws and breaking traffic laws. He said a person can't just decide to start breaking broadcasting protocols in the same way a person can't just start driving on the wrong side of the road.

In terms of how the person has tapped into the FM frequency, Goodwin said that is actually pretty easy. 

"Well simplest way would be to go on on on eBay or Amazon and buy something cheap and dirty. There are FM transmitters that you can buy," he said. "They can be bought legally. They cannot be legally possessed or used." 

The regulations around radio broadcasting are enforced by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED).

A spokesperson for ISED said they take "allegations of non-compliance seriously and undertakes appropriate action to investigate and respond as the situation warrants."

"In order to protect the integrity of its investigation process, ISED does not comment on whether an investigation is underway in a given situation."

The CRTC said it hasn't received a complaint on the matter.

CBC News tracked down the source of the broadcast to a home in the Kam Lake area. This was done by driving a vehicle until the signal became most clear. The nearest home to the strongest broadcast had several antennas outside the home.  

CBC News spoke to a man in the building who said he wasn't operating a radio station.