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July 27, 2022 2:00 pm  #1


Could There Be A New "Old" FM Coming To Sarnia?

Sarnia is an odd market. One company - Blackburn Media - controls all three radio stations in the city. The only competition is from out-of-town spill outlets.

On Wednesday, the CRTC released a decision turning down a new non-Blackburn applicant, saying there's simply no room for another commercial radio station there. 

But the most interesting part of the announcement to me was this sentence:

"Blackburn expressed an interest in filing an application to convert its existing AM radio service CHOK into an FM service. Blackburn is currently restricted from doing so by the Common Ownership Policy."

But doesn't CHOK already have a low power (200 watts) repeater on 103.9? Are they talking about a brand new station, which would see 1070 AM completely eliminated? (Or would that now act as the repeater?) 

The CRTC press release notes that they won't even consider any applications for a new station for another two years at the earliest. But does that include an existing outlet like CHOK? Could there be yet another new station in the Imperial City in the near future? Only time - and the CRTC - will tell.

CRTC Sarnia Radio Press Release

Blackburn Media's Sarnia stations

Last edited by RadioActive (July 27, 2022 2:03 pm)

 

July 27, 2022 3:20 pm  #2


Re: Could There Be A New "Old" FM Coming To Sarnia?

Interesting. Thanks for posting. 


I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
 

July 27, 2022 8:23 pm  #3


Re: Could There Be A New "Old" FM Coming To Sarnia?

Just curious. Are most of the Detroit FM's receivable in Sarnia?

 

July 27, 2022 9:00 pm  #4


Re: Could There Be A New "Old" FM Coming To Sarnia?

mace wrote:

Just curious. Are most of the Detroit FM's receivable in Sarnia?

Most Detroit FM's can easily be received with an outdoor directional antenna. In the car they are hit and miss; with lots of drop outs and noise. Hope this helps.

 

July 27, 2022 9:17 pm  #5


Re: Could There Be A New "Old" FM Coming To Sarnia?

CHOK 1070 has a good signal with a huge coverage area through the day. Don't how well it does after sunset. As mentioned they simulcast on 103.9 in stereo with 200 watts. It gets out quite well for a solid 20 miles or so. I'm not sure if there is a FM frequency available where they could use sufficient power to cover anywhere near what the AM does now.

Sarnia also receives strong signals from its neighbour in Port Huron with two AM stations; 1450 and 1380 as well as FM's Q-Country 107.1, WGRT 102.3 (modern adult), WBTI 96.9 (modern hits), a translator 105.5 for its 1450 AM (rock) signal and a translator 92.7 for its Marine City 1590 WHLX (country & rock) station. Interesting the 92.7 FM signal is in mono and has been for as long as the translator has been on the air. There are other signals on the lower part of the FM band too. A Christian and maybe a NPR outlet.

Last edited by darcyh (July 27, 2022 9:19 pm)

 

July 31, 2022 9:30 am  #6


Re: Could There Be A New "Old" FM Coming To Sarnia?

darcyh wrote:

mace wrote:

Just curious. Are most of the Detroit FM's receivable in Sarnia?

Most Detroit FM's can easily be received with an outdoor directional antenna. In the car they are hit and miss; with lots of drop outs and noise. Hope this helps.

Oddly enough, I was in Sarnia and area yesterday (beautiful day) and made a point of scoping around the dial on my way in and out of town, 

darcyh is right, the Detroit and Windsor stations while they do come in are not always the best signal in the car.   There are quite a few stations to pick up in Sarnia, but seem to be weighted down a bit by two or three religious stations, and a lot of country radio. Not sure if any of these were repeaters or translators but one of the religious stations came up in two different spots on the dial.  London radio is also hit and miss in Sarnia itself but really improves just outside of town.   Didn't know that Strathroy has a station, A/C, and lots of local ads.

Other than the religious stations, it was a little tricky sometimes to tell where the station was coming from.  The best way was during commercials, the US stations then were instantly identified with their content and very long commercial breaks.
 
Surprising a lot of the commercials didn't sound like they were in stereo.  In fact a couple of the American stations didn't sound like they were broadcasting in stereo, but had a very compressed and equalized satellite sound.

Music was a giveaway as well, and a few of the stations including Blackburns COOL FM were doing retro weekends. Listened to WRIF in Detroit, good station, good announcer, too many commercials though, and the music was ok but not great. 

CBC radio english and french were coming in loud and clear so they must have transmitters somewhere near Sarnia, and I caught an NPR station that also appeared twice on the dial.  Didn't listen to the AM dial much, too noisy and not very listenable.   CKWW came in pretty good on the 402 just outside of town, but like the other Windsor/Detroit stations on AM not great in Sarnia itself in the car. 

Interesting market, but I am not so sure another commercial station is required right now, there is quite a bit already for the small Sarnia/Port Huron area, and much from out of town. Sarnia looks like it is booming right now, lots of construction and the town itself looked scrubbed up and clean, but needs rain. Hadn't been there for years and it looks like it is growing.   When I was briefly in London yesterday, the forest city was lush and green, so they have had enough rain so far to keep everything looking healthy.  Interesting on the 401 and 402, lots of US license plates yesterday on the highways.  Maybe a long weekend there as well?  

 

July 31, 2022 10:32 am  #7


Re: Could There Be A New "Old" FM Coming To Sarnia?

"Interesting on the 401 and 402, lots of US license plates yesterday on the highways.  Maybe a long weekend there as well? "

Tigers in Toronto?

Last edited by The Weed (July 31, 2022 10:36 am)

 

July 31, 2022 12:04 pm  #8


Re: Could There Be A New "Old" FM Coming To Sarnia?

The Weed wrote:

"Interesting on the 401 and 402, lots of US license plates yesterday on the highways.  Maybe a long weekend there as well? "

Tigers in Toronto?

Certainly that would be some, but a lot of plates from Ohio, NY, a few from Indiana. I was surprised by the number of NY plates.  Nice to see we are starting to get tourists back. 

 

July 31, 2022 12:34 pm  #9


Re: Could There Be A New "Old" FM Coming To Sarnia?

I don't think the July-August transition weekend is a long one in the U.S. My sister lives in New York and it's not anything special in that state. Likely more a Canadian thing to extend the time off in our short summers.

I'm guessing the tourists are just Americans taking a weekend to head to places within driving distance. (And don't forget, their dollar goes a lot farther on this side of the border.) Also a big weekend to head to Toronto for the Caribbean Carnival, although news reports indicate the crowds aren't as big as in years past. Still, given the state of our airport, driving is almost certainly preferable to flying into that madhouse.  

     Thread Starter
 

July 31, 2022 9:09 pm  #10


Re: Could There Be A New "Old" FM Coming To Sarnia?

I am in Ottawa and get the Jays and Leafs at night on 1070 Sarnia.

 

August 1, 2022 12:14 am  #11


Re: Could There Be A New "Old" FM Coming To Sarnia?

I lived much of my life up on the Bruce Peninsula. CHOK would pound in like a local during the day and was often listenable at night.


I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
 

August 1, 2022 8:23 am  #12


Re: Could There Be A New "Old" FM Coming To Sarnia?

P1: On your trip to Sarnia, you mentioned that you listened to WRIF. Just curious if you stumbled across 94.7 WCSX. The classic rock station has only half the power of WRIF [13500 watts vs 27000 watts] so their signal could be iffy in Sarnia. I listen to them online Sunday mornings from 7-10. They have a program called Overeasy where they play the "Softer side of Classic Rock"

 

August 1, 2022 11:08 am  #13


Re: Could There Be A New "Old" FM Coming To Sarnia?

mace wrote:

P1: On your trip to Sarnia, you mentioned that you listened to WRIF. Just curious if you stumbled across 94.7 WCSX. The classic rock station has only half the power of WRIF [13500 watts vs 27000 watts] so their signal could be iffy in Sarnia. I listen to them online Sunday mornings from 7-10. They have a program called Overeasy where they play the "Softer side of Classic Rock"

I may have mace but don't remember those call letters. The dial was fairly full with distant signals in and out on FM.  If I did hear them it would have been outside of Sarnia.  Did hear 94.5 COOL out of Wingham and they have a rebroadcaster at 91.7 in Bluewater which could be picked up along 402 along with 94.5. They rarely identify the repeater frequency. Again, I may have heard them but didn't catch any call letters.