1 of 1- RadioActive
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Dufferin's Two Brantford Stations To Swap Formats
Say goodbye to CKPC as a country outlet. It's going to do the Lord's work instead.
The CRTC has agreed to allow Dufferin Communications, which operates CFWC-FM as a Christian format and CKPC which does the country twang, to effectively swap formats, moving the religious content over to AM while bringing the more mainstream music to the FM band.
The latter will also get a big power boost, from 250 watts to 3,000 with a transmitter height increase to go along with the deal.
I can't quite recall the last time two stations switched formats like this, although I'm sure it's happened before.
But you have to wonder how Dufferin stays in business. Everytime they go to the CRTC, whether for Proud FM, Z103.5 or any of their other properties, they always complain that they can't make any money. It's the same thing here, with the company insisting this is the only way to keep both stations solvent.
"CKPC has experienced revenue losses since 2014, and CFWC-FM, since 2018, the year the licensee acquired the assets of that station...Dufferin cited difficulties in broadcasting a music-intensive format on the AM band as an explanation for CKPC’s performance and submitted that the format would perform far better on the FM band.
"It further submitted that the power increase for CFWC-FM would allow the station to reach a greater portion of the market it was licensed to serve. The licensee added that, should its applications be approved, both CKPC and CFWC-FM would experience modest total incremental revenue growth over the next three years, which would improve the stations’ long-term viability."
This is one of the few times the CRTC has bought into a request from Dufferin. I guess they were due for a win eventually. No word on when the switch will take place.
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- RadioActive
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Re: Dufferin's Two Brantford Stations To Swap Formats
By the way, Dufferin noted it plans to operate the FM outlet in a "combined country and folk" format. That's a very strange hybrid and I'm not sure how they will make that work.
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Thread Starter- Radiowiz
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Re: Dufferin's Two Brantford Stations To Swap Formats
It doesn't take much to figure out that the CRTC most likely gave in because...for once, Evanov group is talking about a station that IS serving the market they ARE licensed to serve, and will continue to do so with a power boost...NOT a power boost to serve some other market.
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- RadioActive
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Re: Dufferin's Two Brantford Stations To Swap Formats
And in fact, the CRTC noted in the decision that there are no other stations serving Brantford, but that it's in competition with several radio outlets from out of town. It's one of the reasons there were no interventions to Dufferin's application and that they agreed to the request.
(Dufferin tried to claim its transmitter site is leased on a month-to-month basis, which seems crazy to me, and that the equipment is prone to overheating. The Commission pointedly noted they didn't submit anything to prove this claim and that they only granted the request for more power based on the financial need.)
"Dufferin stated that the continued availability of the current transmitter site for CFWC-FM, at which the station has operated since 2002, is precarious given that the agreement is in the form of a month-to-month lease and can therefore be terminated on short notice. It added that the current transmitter site is unsuitable, given that the station has experienced issues due to overheating equipment and service drops as a result of technical issues....
"The Commission notes that Dufferin did not submit any documentation to support its claims of unreliable or poor signal reception. Consequently, the Commission finds that Dufferin has not demonstrated a compelling technical need to justify the requested technical changes for CFWC-FM."
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Thread Starter- paterson1
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Re: Dufferin's Two Brantford Stations To Swap Formats
Well, with only 6,300 listeners per week full coverage CKPC has nothing to lose. Even now they are a bit of a mish mash, mostly country but they do have some syndicated programming and religion in the evening, so going all religion, which will be mostly purchased time will generate more money for them.
CFWC with a country/folk format might work. At least nobody else is doing this. Hope they plan to give it some decent promotion for the change. K106 in Owen Sound years ago had a Rockin Country/Folk format for about 4 years, they promoted it as The Mix That Kicks. They dropped it when Bayshore launched a full time country fm station.
- Jody Thornton
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Re: Dufferin's Two Brantford Stations To Swap Formats
@RadioActive says: I can't quite recall the last time two stations switched formats like this, although I'm sure it's happened before.
Kitchener's CHYM and CKGL switched in 1992, no?
Last edited by Jody Thornton (February 17, 2020 4:53 pm)
Cheers,
Jody Thornton
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Re: Dufferin's Two Brantford Stations To Swap Formats
The stations flipped but formats on each remained the same.
CHYM's CHR moved to FM and CKGL's country flipped to AM. A few years later CKGL became news talk.
- markow202
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Re: Dufferin's Two Brantford Stations To Swap Formats
Is Jewel 92 changing or is this have to do with the AM outlet? Very confusing.
- RadioAaron
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Re: Dufferin's Two Brantford Stations To Swap Formats
markow202 wrote:
Is Jewel 92 changing or is this have to do with the AM outlet? Very confusing.
No; they actually have three stations. 93.9 and 1380 are switching formats - 92.1 is staying as is.
- markow202
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Re: Dufferin's Two Brantford Stations To Swap Formats
Is Jewel 92 changing or is this have to do with the AM outlet? Very confusing.
No; they actually have three stations. 93.9 and 1380 are switching formats - 92.1 is staying as is.
Gotcha, thanks.