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A local Hamilton businessperson argues the city has gone long enough without an over-the-air CBC signal. And while lamenting the loss of CHML, she argues its demise may open up the frequency the Corp. needs to become a vital new news presence in Steel Town.
It’s time for a local Hamilton CBC radio station
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Meanwhile, a local Hamilton MP wants the vacated frequency used for something else - a community radio station.
The future of Hamilton’s airwaves: A call for community radio
These are just pie-in-the-sky ideas for the moment, but it does show we may not have heard the end of the AM900 signal just yet.
The Spectator has done several stories on the demise of CHML, but still hasn't posted anything on the resurrection of two other longtime staples - CKOC and CHAM. Hopefully, they'll eventually get there,
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How much wattage could a community station on AM reasonably afford? Would 1000 Watts be sufficient? I'm thinking of the TMU (Ryerson)'s 100 Watt AM signal which is barely audible in downtown Toronto.
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Maybe Poilievre will promise a new CBC station for Hamilton and any other cities that have lost their local stations and don't have a CBC station at present? That would be a good way of filling gaps left by the decline of local media.
Seriously though, "defunding" the CBC isn't going to help commercial radio or TV. The Aspers started the whole "defund" campaign 20 or so years ago when they took over the National Post thinking that somehow CBC was stealing viewers from Canwest Global. All it will do is ensure that when Corus, Bell, and Rogers cut local stations or turn them into automat, and as Postmedia cuts local newsrooms, towns and cities across the country will be left dependant on blogs and social media for local news.
Last edited by Hansa (August 22, 2024 8:31 am)
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While the need for an over-the-air CBC station in Hamilton is questionable, I think there's a great deal of merit for the CBC to consider expanding its online presence to cover more Hamilton news, as well as the Niagara Region. With CHML gone and CKTB's status as a source for local news now up in the air, it's an opportunity to allocate resources to prevent these communities from becoming the same sort of news desert we see here in Durham Region.
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BowmanvilleBob wrote:
While the need for an over-the-air CBC station in Hamilton is questionable, I think there's a great deal of merit for the CBC to consider expanding its online presence to cover more Hamilton news, as well as the Niagara Region. With CHML gone and CKTB's status as a source for local news now up in the air, it's an opportunity to allocate resources to prevent these communities from becoming the same sort of news desert we see here in Durham Region.
That's where I land too. CBC will not be starting up AM stations anywhere.
Also, at a time when the ad-supported news model is completely broken, talk of defunding the CBC isn't opportune. They're going to be essential until a new model emerges.
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Could you imagine 95.3 FM going back to being Y 95 after 23 years, and then 107.9 becoming CBC Radio One? Energy was actually scoring a lower 25-54 number than CHML in the Spring ratings. I think the Summer ratings are due out within the next week or two.
Last edited by Marc1178 (August 22, 2024 10:55 pm)