The station signed on the air on September 5, 2002; 21 years ago (2002-09-05). At first, it carried the Radio-Canada FM network live, even though Vancouver is three time zones away from Montreal.
In fall 2010, Espace musique stations in Western Canada began to air the network schedule on tape delay as appropriate for their respective time zones, in line with Radio-Canada's other terrestrial networks. Hence network programs now air on CBUX three hours after they air on Ici Musique stations in Quebec, Ontario and Atlantic Canada. Much of the daytime programming was devolved to local stations. On CBUX, Monique Polloni hosted from 9:00 a.m. to noon, followed by Célyne Gagnon until 3:00 p.m.
In addition, André Rhéaume hosts a world music program originating from CBUX which airs across the network on Wednesday and Thursday nights, from 10:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. local time.
Prior to fall 2010, all Espace Musique stations carried the entire network schedule without any recorded delays for time zone differences. During this era, CBUX was a partial exception: Rhéaume's program, which at the time was a two-hour jazz program which aired Monday-Thursday at 5:00 p.m. local time, followed by concerts at 7:00. This was the reverse of the order on most stations (concerts at 8:00 ET, jazz at 10:00 ET).
During the 2010 Winter Olympics, CBUX broke away from the national Espace musique schedule to broadcast a special radio service titled la radio culturelle, focusing on various cultural aspects of the games for French-language listeners.[2]