| Frequency | 162.4–162.55 MHz |
|---|---|
| Programming | |
| Format | Weather radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Environment and Climate Change Canada, Meteorological Service of Canada, NOAA, National Weather Service |
| History | |
| Founded | 1976 |
| Links | |
| Website | Weatheradio Canada |
Weatheradio Canada (French: Radiométéo Canada) is a Canadian weather radio network owned and operated by Environment and Climate Change Canada's Meteorological Service of Canada division. It is one of the two weather radio systems across North America, and is an official partner of the National Weather Service. Weatheradio Canada is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec and transmits in both official languages (English and French) from 230 sites across Canada. Weatheradio Canada, as well as Environment Canada's weather telephone service Hello Weather, utilizes Nuance Communications text to speech voices. Starcaster[1] Text to Speech, owned by STR-SpeechTech Ltd, was used from 1994 to 2021 (to 2022 to today in some places).
In most locations, the service broadcasts on one of seven specially-allocated VHF radio frequencies, audible only on dedicated "weather band" receivers or any VHF radio capable of receiving 10 kHz bandwidth FM signals centred on these assigned channels, which are located within the larger "public service band". The radio frequencies used by Weatheradio Canada are the same as those used by its American counterpart, NOAA Weather Radio (whose parent agency, the U.S. National Weather Service, is also a partner with the Meteorological Service of Canada) and receivers designed for use in one country are compatible for use in the other. Since 2004, the service has used Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) alerting technology to disseminate severe weather bulletins. Weatheradio has indicated that, in 2021, it also plans to add other hazard and civil emergency information (such as natural disasters, technological accidents, AMBER alerts and terrorist attacks) to its broadcasts.[2]
In some locations, primarily national parks, provincial parks and remote communities with little or no local media service, a transmitter operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation carries the service on a standard AM or FM broadcast frequency. As of August 2007, most of these AM and FM transmitters were unlicensed by the CRTC under a special license exemption granted to low-power non-commercial broadcasters.[3]