It's official - there will be a new ethnic community station in London, Ont. It will be a weak outlet of only about 50 watts at 90.9 FM and will broadcast in various languages, as outlined above. No word yet on when it will be on the air, except it has a best before date of June 2025. 

This is pretty much a pro forma decision and one I fully expected from the CRTC, which often favours ethnic broadcasters. But it does come with this interesting wrinkle:

"The applicant proposed to operate the station at 90.9 MHz. The Commission notes that multiple frequencies are available in London and surrounding areas that could support a low-power FM radio station. Consequently, 90.9 MHz is not the last frequency available to London and surrounding areas...

 "...a low-power FM radio station, which is the type of station that the applicant has requested authorization to operate, is considered a secondary assignment operating on an unprotected channel. As such, the operation of the applicant’s proposed station would not remove the availability of this FM allotment nor preclude the Commission from later approving an application for a full-power radio station with protected status operating at 90.9 MHz."

Hmm. So does that mean that potentially, one day, they might be asked to give up that frequency? I'm not sure I'd want to spend all that money setting this up, knowing it may not be permanent.

CRTC Decision

Could be. But in the meantime, they're launching on a teeter-totter. If I was going to all the expense of setting up those facilities, I'd want a better guarantee. But perhaps they'll just be happy getting the thing on the air.

I don't know a lot about the ethnic make-up of the Forest City. Is there a big Indo-Canadian audience available in London? 

MJ Vancouver wrote:

Anecdotally I have heard that there has been a surge in immigration from South Asia in London in the past several years, concentrated close to Argyle Mall.

We live in that area of London and I haven't noticed that. That ethnicity mix seems to be more pronounced in the west end around Wonderland Rd or the Hyde Park area.

London is a pretty small city. They shouldn't have a problem covering the city with 50  W.
 

I remember Faith FM changed their frequency one time. It was on 105.9 when it was known as Grace FM or Inspire FM. Now it is on 99.9 FM and the signal in the west part of London is pretty static most of the time. Sometimes the station from Sarnia 99.9 The Fox will sometimes take over Faith FM's signal. So I am beginning to wonder what was the main reason to change Faith FM's signal. Maybe that German station in Aylmer or some station from Michigan, Ohio or Pennsylvania?