It was created for easy communication between the towns or outposts and the rest of the country and was disbanded in 1959 when the system stations were taken over by the Department of Transport.
The NWT&Y Radio System was created in 1923 after the Department of the Interior, realizing the possibilities of wireless telegraphy to cover the vast areas of the northland, requested the Defence Department consider the installation of Army Radio stations to provide a reliable and rapid means of communication.
The first connection was established between Dawson City and Mayo (both in Yukon), in 1923, by the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals (RCCS).
Although originally built to aid in the administration of the North as well as to facilitate commercial development of the area, the radio system exceeded its original intent by providing communities with both a social centre and a lifeline to link isolated northern communities to one another as well as to the rest of the world.
From 1938 until 1942, under an agreement with Alberta Government Telephones, a radiotelephone service was provided at the following RC Signals stations: Edmonton, McMurray, Fort Smith, Yellowknife and Goldfields.