CKDU weathered a storm of adversity to win best radio station again this year. Hurricane and Winter Juan both forced the station off the air, but music director Jessica Whyte sees it a different way. “I know this sounds crazy, but the day of the [winter] storm, there were around eight programmers stuck in the station and they put out some of the greatest radio I’ve heard in months,” Whyte says. “It was really great camaraderie until the power went out. The storm was a low, but there were benefits.” It’s this dedication to the Halifax community that makes CKDU stand out from the rest of the pack. Shows run the gamut from award winning spoken word, alternative music, hip-hop, Arabic and Greek programs. “We’ve got personality and we’re not playing the same records over and over again,” says Whyte. “It’s not always clean and glossy but it’s always fun and personal.”

Runner-up: Q104