The National Research Council Time Signal is Canada's longest running but shortest radio programme. Heard every day since November 5, 1939 (three years and three days after the CBC's establishment), shortly before 13:00 Eastern Time across the CBC Radio One network, it lasts between 15 and 45 seconds, ending exactly at 13:00. During standard time, the signal is at 13:00 Eastern Standard Time and during Daylight Saving Time, the signal is at 13:00 Eastern Daylight Saving Time.
The signal is also heard on some stations of the Première Chaîne radio network at 12:00 ET daily.
The signal consists of a series of 300 ms "pips" of an 800 Hz sine wave tone, each one starting at the top of each UTC second, up to ten seconds before the hour, followed by silence, and then a one second-long 800 Hz tone to mark the top of the hour. The CBC time signal is typically delayed by about 300 ms with respect to the CHU time signal, because each CBC radio station receives the actual time signal from Ottawa by satellite.
The spoken header, as announced by a local on-air talent at each station, is typically of the style,
| “ | Now, the National Research Council time signal. The beginning of the long dash following ten seconds of silence indicates exactly one o'clock, Eastern Standard Time, January 15th, 2010. | ” |
In different time zones, the local time and time zone is used instead. This header is usually spoken over the initial pips. As of May 2011, the length of the silence has been reduced to six seconds.
At the top of many other hours, and at the discretion of each station, a one-second tone is sounded, but the hour itself is not necessarily announced.
Read more about National Research Council Time Signal: NRC Telephone Talking Clock, NRC NTP Service
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