The Island in Ontario

Nautel technology plays a key role in Canada’s only Green Radio Station

It’s an idyllic setting: crystal clear azure water; incredible natural beauty; fresh clean air; diverse wildlife; and endless, pristine shoreline all on the largest freshwater island in the world. Beautiful Manitoulin Island, an all-season retreat for tourists located in northern Ontario, is also the site of the first and only green radio station in Canada.

At 100.7 The Island we’re proud of both our island and our state-of-the-art technology including: automatic switching system from our main transmitter to the backup transmitter in the event of a failure; live on remotes that include full control of the studio from the remote location; and extensive monitoring of transmitters, environmental and servers in a self-healing environment through redundancy.

Most radio stations have three things in common – they have a tower site on a hill, the tower site is outside of town, and they use vast amounts of electricity. So why not go green with wind power? We have and by using a 50′ wind turbine with grid connection at the tower site we not only power our transmission plant, but also generate a revenue stream by selling electricity back to the power company. In these tough economic times, it makes for a pleasurable experience when you open your power bill to find a substantial credit versus the routine high energy costs. At this rate, our wind turbine will have paid for itself within one year! You too could benefit from this kind of technology – an energy efficient Nautel NV series transmitter coupled with a wind turbine – to find out how, contact Craig at

Craig Timmerman talks to CMT about the recent installation of a 50′ wind turbine at his station in Manitoulin Island

When our station first moved to high power from 50 watts to 1830 watts in March, 2007 we purchased a transmitter from a Nautel competitor in the US. We experienced so many problems that when we further increased our power in October, 2009 to 27,500 watts our number one priority was product quality and customer service. Another important consideration was energy efficiency.

After considerable research, Nautel fit those requirements perfectly and the class leading efficiency and compact footprint of the NV10 made it a great fit for our vision of a green station. Additionally, the prospect of buying Canadian was very attractive to us. We purchased a Nautel NV10 and picked it up directly from the factory in September, 2009.

This was our second purchase of a brand new high-powered transmitter, and our experience was considerably different with Nautel. We found the staff to be helpful, considerate and patient. Additionally, our on-site visit for training was exceptional. The opportunity to visit the factory and speak directly with the technician building our specific transmitter was fantastic!

When considering Nautel there were many factors involved including price; energy efficiency; quality and overall customer service. To this end, we have been very pleased with all aspects of our Nautel experience. When making large purchases such as this, we always give careful thought to overall operating costs. As all radio stations share a similar problem – high electricity costs – we wanted to be pro-active. We took the Nautel NV10 with its energy efficiency, coupled it with the installation of a wind turbine and became Canada’s first green radio station.

Video of Craig Timmermans switching to the new NV10 transmitter

To further enhance our green station vision it is our intention, by the end of 2010, to install another four wind turbines creating a micro-wind farm. We’re also considering the installation of solar panels. We anticipate further expansion in the not so distant future and look forward to another road trip to Hackett’s Cove to pick up a new NV20 – because when you buy quality, it ultimately pays for itself.

Craig Timmermans
President
CFRM-FM
Manitoulin Radio Communication Inc.