As of February 28, 2021, CKUA is the 13th-most-listened-to radio station in the Edmonton market according to a PPM data report released by Numeris.

[1] CKUA was founded on November 21, 1927[2][3] through a provincial grant which allowed the University of Alberta's Extension Department to purchase the licence of CFCK, which had been on the air since 1922, sharing a frequency with CJCA.

[2] On March 20, 1997, the station went off the air for five weeks due to political squabbles, poor financial management, and attempts at privatization.

Despite rising audience numbers and steady revenue, the station cited factors including the recent inflation surge, limited government funding, and the vacancy and devaluation of the Alberta Hotel building, which it owns and rents out, for its financial struggles.

[8][9][10] The station's practice of supporting local, independent, and non-commercial artists has helped launch the careers of musicians such as k.d.

[11] CKUA schedules different programs throughout the week and thus can offer many different genres including blues, bluegrass, R&B, Celtic, country, classical, jazz, reggae, folk, hip hop, dance, funk, rock, roots, and world.

The provincial government-funded programme provided the station with 12% of its annual income until the contract was lost to an Ottawa firm, Black Coral Inc., in January 2010.

[14] CKUA announced plans to shut down its legacy 580 AM signal, the longest continuously-used AM frequency in Canada, in the spring of 2013.