CJSR is a volunteer-run campus and community radio station with a stated mission, "to enlighten and entertain our audience through high quality and diverse programming that constantly challenges the status quo".

by Shayne Giles won a Community Radio Award In Broadcasting And Online (CRABO).

CJSR's broadcast license is held by the First Alberta Campus Radio Association (FACRA), which is funded by a mix of fees assessed to students at the University of Alberta (under the auspices of the taxation powers of the University of Alberta Students' Union and the Graduate Students' Association), donations from listeners, and limited advertising revenue.

In 1970, CKSR was born: a "seat of the pants" radio station that broadcast a weak FM signal to the U of A and anyone else who could pick it up.

FACRA was formed as a partnership between the University of Alberta Students' Union (which collected a levy from students on the station's behalf) and the Friends of CJSR Society (which solicited listener donations and which held the station's capital assets).