The station was originally launched in 1948 on 1010 AM. It served the southern two-thirds of Alberta, including Edmonton and Calgary, from a single 50,000-watt transmitter site at Lacombe, near Red Deer, roughly halfway between Edmonton and Calgary. Prior to its launch, CBC Radio programming aired in Edmonton on private affiliate CFRN. In 1953, with signal reception in the city deteriorating, the rebroadcaster CBXA was launched on 740. In 1964, the CBC launched separate radio services in Edmonton and Calgary. CBX was reoriented to be Edmonton's CBC station, and its transmitter was relocated to Beaumont on CBXA's frequency of 740. CBR signed on as Calgary's CBC outlet, using CBX's old frequency of 1010 AM. In 2004, CBC Edmonton operations moved into a new digital broadcast facility downtown, bringing all operations of Radio and TV under one roof. The old TV facility on 75th Street had, while the Radio building on 51st Ave. had. The new combined facility has 38,700 total square feet. It is located at the Edmonton City Centre, on Winston Churchill Square. On March 16, 2006, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved the station's application to add a nested FM transmitter at 93.9 MHz in Edmonton to simulcast the AM programming. This relay, CBX-2-FM, officially began April 20, 2007.
Local programming
produced by CBX include Edmonton AM, and Radio Active. CBX also produces half-hourly news bulletins between 5:30 AM and 6:00 PM each weekday. Provincial or national news bulletins air on CBX outside of those hours. CBX also produces two music shows for the entire CBC radio networks: Saturday Night Blues and Canada Live air nationally on CBC Radio One/Sirius 137 and CBC Music, respectively. The last few BBM radio ratings measurements have shown CBX steadily climbing in audience share in Edmonton. As of the spring 2009 BBM measurement, CBX is the second-most listened to radio-station in Edmonton, behind news-talk radio station CHED. Edmonton AM also ranks second in the morning, while Radio Active ranks fourth amongst the afternoon radio drive-time shows.
Transmitters
On September 10, 2012, the CBC applied to move the following CBC low-power AM transmitters to FM. The CBC received approval on January 31, 2013 to convert the remaining AM transmitters to FM and the new transmitters will operate on these following frequencies:
CBXD 1540 to 99.3 with 50 watts
CBKC 1460 to 105.1 with 50 watts
CBWI 1450 to 92.3 with 50 watts
CBKD 1560 to 99.5 with 50 watts
CBXX 1240 to 101.5 with 50 watts
On October 25, 2013, the CRTC approved the CBC's application to delete the following low-power AM transmitter, CBXH John D'Or Prairie. An FM transmitter operates at 102.5 as CBXH-FM. The AM transmitters were deleted once the new FM transmitters commenced operation.
