Canada Radio Live — Free Online Stations

Canada has a strong claim to one of the very first scheduled radio broadcasts in the world, and it built a radio system shaped by two languages and a powerful neighbour. Both facts explain what you hear when you search for Canadian radio live or want to listen to Canadian radio online.

20 May 1920: Montreal to Ottawa

On the evening of 20 May 1920, members of the Royal Society of Canada gathered at the Château Laurier hotel in Ottawa to hear a programme sent from Montreal by XWA, the experimental station of the Canadian Marconi Company. The soprano Dorothy Lutton sang, and the broadcast came about six months before KDKA's famous election night in the United States. XWA later became CFCF, short for "Canada's First".

Radio on the rails

In the 1920s Canadian National Railways installed radio equipment on its trains and built a network of stations to entertain passengers crossing the country. That network became one of the foundations of national public broadcasting.

1936: the CBC and Radio-Canada

Worried that American stations would dominate Canadian airwaves, Parliament created the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1936. The CBC serves English Canada and Radio-Canada serves French-speaking audiences, especially in Quebec, giving the country two public radio cultures side by side.

Canadian content

In the early 1970s the regulator, the CRTC, introduced rules requiring stations to play a share of Canadian music. The "CanCon" rules are still debated, but they helped build a domestic recording industry and gave many Canadian artists their first airplay.

Today's dial

Commercial groups such as Bell Media, Rogers and Corus run most private stations, while CBC Radio One, CBC Music and Ici Radio-Canada Première provide national public service. Indigenous-language and community stations serve the North. Below you can play the Canadian radio stations we index, in English and French, free in your browser.