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You may remember back in Dec. 2022, when the SOWNY board came unglued with a multiple posted topic (at least 74 replies and thousands of page views) about the mysterious and sudden end of a station called Q107 in Calgary.
There was much speculation about what would happen to the place and why the plug was pulled, before the information was finally confirmed the next month - the FM would simulcast CHQR, its AM talk show formatted counterpart, in a move that led some to wonder if it was even legal to make such a sudden switch without CRTC permission.
It went on that way for over a year until the discovery of this letter on the CRTC website on Friday. It essentially asks the Commission to withdraw three applications - one that called for the revocation of CHQR's licence, another that would have allowed the AM-to-FM simulcast and a third request to get rid of a CFGQ (aka Q107's) licence amendment that would require at least 50 percent spoken word programming on the FM outlet.
So now what will become of two of Calgary's biggest radio stations? For the moment, it's a mystery wrapped in an enigma that's almost as strange as the original move to put the AM on FM two years ago.
Thanks to Dan Sys of Canadian Radio News for the info.
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Next owner's problem.
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Corus is selling CHQR and CFGQ (ex CKIK)?
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I was wondering why QR had removed "Talk on FM" from all their promos and stingers in the last few weeks. This clearly answers my question.
I just hope Corus doesn't scrap CHQR's signal on CKRY-FM HD2 while they're rebuilding CFGQ into something else.
Last edited by ED1 (June 7, 2024 8:16 pm)
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Bristol wrote:
Corus is selling CHQR and CFGQ (ex CKIK)?
Not to start any rumours, but some SOWNY board posters, and possibly myself believe that Corus as a whole might make an exit from the business soon enough, so not just CHQR and CFGQ...
Last edited by Radiowiz (June 8, 2024 6:47 am)
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Radiowiz wrote:
Bristol wrote:
Corus is selling CHQR and CFGQ (ex CKIK)?
Not to start any rumours, but some SOWNY board posters, and possibly myself believe that Corus as a whole might make an exit from the business soon enough, so not just CHQR and CFGQ...
Corus has been trying to sell a number of stations but Local Radio Labs buying Indie for over 7 million really screwed up plans. Because there aren’t a lot of companies that will want to pay 7 plus million for stations like the Edge or Q107.
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Radiowiz wrote:
Bristol wrote:
Corus is selling CHQR and CFGQ (ex CKIK)?
Not to start any rumours, but some SOWNY board posters, and possibly myself believe that Corus as a whole might make an exit from the business soon enough, so not just CHQR and CFGQ...
That would be disappointing as I still watch and listen to their TV/radio broadcasts. I had a year’s contract with them about ten years ago and they were a great company to work for at the time, would be a shame to lose them.
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Apparently, with apologies to Jean-Paul Sartre, there will be "No Exit" by Corus in Calgary, with Broadcast Dialogue revealing the company will continue talk on CHQR-AM, and is looking for a 'new format' for Q107 in the city. The FM simulcast will end by July. What replaces it remains to be seen - and heard.
Corus to abandon talk on FM in Calgary
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Nothing's changed since last week.
Hard to sell a station that's tied up with the CRTC for non-compliance.
They'll put a placeholder music station on it.
In Winnipeg's failure-to-launch, they ended up with a bare-bones all VT'd from Alberta Country station.