95.9 The Goat broadcasts active rock into the Nechako Valley from Vanderhoof, British Columbia, a town that sits at the geographic center of the province. Licensed today as CIRX-FM-1 and owned by Vista Radio, the station's roots stretch back more than five decades under a different name and a different frequency.
From a 1973 AM License to a Forced Move to FM
The station began as CIVH, launched on 1340 kHz in 1973 after Prince George Broadcasting Ltd. secured the license, according to The History of Canadian Broadcasting. It stayed on AM for more than four decades before a transmitter failure in 2018 forced a permanent switch to FM. Rather than simply relicense the AM signal, Vista Radio asked the CRTC to revoke CIVH's license outright and folded its coverage into CIRX-FM-1, committing to boost local programming from three and a half hours a week to 126 hours to cover the gap left behind.
Part of Canada's Second-Largest Radio Owner
Vista Radio, the company behind the station, was founded in 2004 by Paul Mann, Jason Mann, Margot Micallef, Barb Fairclough, and Bryan Edwards, and has since grown into the second-largest radio station owner in Canada. Its Northern BC push swept up stations across Vanderhoof, Burns Lake, Prince George, Quesnel, Smithers, and Williams Lake, building a regional network out of small-market signals that larger broadcasters had largely left alone.
Broadcasting From the Center of the Province
Vanderhoof's own claim to fame gives the station an unusual geographic distinction: a cairn placed in 1912 by the Dominion Observatory marks the town as the geographic center of British Columbia, the first higher-order survey monument established in the Nechako Valley. For a town of roughly 4,500 people serving close to 10,000 across the surrounding rural area, that landmark status puts 95.9 The Goat in a genuinely singular spot on the map.
Why Tune In
95.9 The Goat offers active rock with real staying power behind it, a station that survived a transmitter failure and a full license overhaul without losing its place in the Nechako Valley. For listeners in one of the more remote corners of Vista Radio's network, it remains the local rock signal built to outlast whatever equipment problem comes next.