As long as they serve Hawkesbury properly, there won't be an issue.
Unlike sister station Z103, which abandoned their building in Orangeville, broadcasting from Toronto, while also functioning too much like a Toronto station.
Plus also, doesn't 88five also broadcast from Toronto? There's no issues there. They're serving Newmarket etc properly, not claiming to be a Toronto station.
 

There are a couple of frequencies in the London area that were assigned to Woodstock and St Thomas. I believe they are programmed from London.

MJ Vancouver wrote:

darcyh wrote:

There are a couple of frequencies in the London area that were assigned to Woodstock and St Thomas. I believe they are programmed from London.

CFHK St. Thomas has been physically based in London for over 20 years. I recall they had a studio on Richmond Street clear back in 2001. This was the old CHLO which had its studios in St. Thomas for all of its history on AM and initially when it moved to FM.

CKDK Woodstock did have a physical studio in Woodstock in more recent years, but I don’t know if they still do. During the 2000s they did attempt to run the station entirely from London, but there had been a complaint to the CRTC from another London station about that, citing unfair competition. As I recall the CRTC ordered Corus to keep CKDK physically located in Woodstock. I don’t know if that’s still the case.

In more recent history, CKOT and CJDL in Tillsonburg were based in Tillsonburg as long as they were locally owned. After Rogers bought those stations, I understood their operations were moved to London where Jack FM (CHST) is based.

Thanks MJ for the additional information. I had forgotten the call signs / frequencies of the Woodstock and St Thomas stations. When CHFK debuted it called itself the Hawk and played classic rock for awhile. I think it still identified as St Thomas. It's transmitter was at a newly constructed tower on Highbury Ave. about halfway between London and St Thomas. It changed formats several times and I have not listened since its classic rock days. The frequency might be 103.1. Also I heard at some point the transmitter / antenna was moved to the CFPL TV tower in London but I could be wrong on that. CKDK morphed from AM to FM and signed on at 102.3 but its signal was quite weak in London. It eventually moved to 103.9? and increased power and antenna height put a good signal into London. I believe the transmitter is still on a tower just east of Woodstock. I don't think the Woodstock studio / office on Dundas St is still there. The 102.3 frequency was eventually used in London by Bob/Jack/Fred/Bill or Joe FM.

As for CKOT / CJDL I did not know they are being programmed from London. A few months ago I was traveling through Tillsonburg and it appeared there was still an office on the main street but it be closed by now. CKOT gets a fairly good signal into London, but the station that replaced CKOT AM (CJDL FM) has much lower power and a significantly weaker signal. It is not surprising that they are now originated out of the London studios.

At one time it seemed important that a station licensed to serve a community had a physical presence there, and devoted some attention to the area. Now many stations are linked / networked together for much of their programming day and no one seems to care.

 
 

RadioAaron wrote:

...they're now in the longtime home of CFRA/CFMO on Isabella st.

Wow! I knew Evanov had left that little house on York Street, just didn't know where they had ended up.

Next door, at the now-empty lot at 200 Isabella, is where Pembroke's CHRO-TV had its first Ottawa studio under Mid-Canada ownership; and during the early years of "The New RO", they were in a tiny building on Kimway in Nepean, just over from the huge CJOH/CTV complex at Merivale & Clyde, with master control still at the Pembroke studios on TV Tower Road. The ex-CHRO and CJOH buildings are now gone, but Corus' two Ottawa stations (Jump 106.9 and Boom 99.7) are still originating from 1504 Merivale, the radio building next to the ex-CJOH location, where Jump's predecessor, CJSB 540, launched 40 years ago, and where Stingray's Hot 89.9 had its beginnings.

What's the difference you ask.  The shareholder in control of CHSC was what we might call a "scofflaw"  The reality is, there were complaints to the CRTC regarding the operation of CHSC. My recollection is that other ethnic broadcasters were complainants.  The CRTC has a quota for ethnic programming weekly 6 a.m. to midnight (15%).   CHSC was far exceeding that quota.  The owner applied for some relief from the rule, and was denied, but I recall he continued to program far in excess of the 18.9 hours per week - permitted under the regulation.   GTA ethnic stations had banded together to oppose the relief that he sought.   But that did not deter him and he continued to "up" the ethnic programming content and basically played "chicken" with the CRTC. He also did not file financial returns with the CRTC - and claimed they had been damaged in a flood.  Many other non-compliance issues that were about as stupid as I have ever seen, by a licensed broadcaster.  I recall listening to the audio stream of a CRTC hearing, and the operator of the station argued that Italian language music, did not constitute "ethnic" programming because "everyone loves Italian songs" ( or something to that effect).  The hearing was comical, in terms of his belligerence.  I also seem to recall there were unpaid employees who also intervened at the hearing. So they threw the book at him.    The difference here is, Evanov likely files all financial reports on time, pays its licence fees, doesn't broadcast large quantities of ethnic programming - contrary to the regulations and other broadcasters haven't complained to the CRTC regarding the operation of the station.   As an aside the two "partners" who owned CHSC, were also squabbling with each other.  One partner the guy who ran the station from his home or Woodbridge restaurant, owned food trucks that serviced construction sites and a restaurant in Woodbridge.  He was the "brains" behind the Italian programming.  The other partner was a real estate lawyer.  The real estate lawyer eventually tried to sell the assets of the station including the transmitter site.  That attempt went off the rails when suddenly he was disbarred on January 4, 2010 due to what may have been misappropriation of client funds.  The pair of them should never have held a broadcast licence.  Here is how the professional career of one of the CHSC "partners" ended abruptly.
https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onlst/doc/2010/2010onlshp10/2010onlshp10.html

Last edited by tvguy (January 17, 2022 3:42 pm)