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It’s been a while since there’s been much to report on of note from the CRTC, but this coming week will have at least two related items of interest to this board.
The first is an assessment on whether there’s enough market capacity for the Commission to issue a call for radio applications for a new station in Brampton. The second is a similar study to see if Aurora can accommodate an outlet of its own.
I will be especially curious to see what they say about that first one and if they do decide in the affirmative, what formats they’ll deem acceptable. (Brampton already has one full time ethnic station – CIAO at 530 AM. Surely they don’t need another.) Just as interesting is where in the world on the dial they’d be able to put a newcomer. I suppose the old CHIC-AM frequency of 790 is still around but who’d want it? I can't think of a place on FM that's open in this area. (They can't have 960 AM - that seems to be forever frozen by CKNT, the still-hasn't-signed-on-despite-it-being-five-years-since-they-got-the-licence all talk format in Mississauga.)
Also this coming week, My Broadcasting will find out if they get to put yet another MyFM on the air in small town Ontario, this time in Simcoe. The original application called for a classic hits station at 99.7.
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Didn't the CRTC recently grant a Multicultural station @ 1350 AM for Brampton?
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Yes, Humsafer from Montreal. CFKA and it expires Oct. 20/2017
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andysradio wrote:
Yes, Humsafer from Montreal. CFKA and it expires Oct. 20/2017
That’s correct and it’s worth noting that in that decision about 1350 issued back in October 2015, the CRTC concluded that, while there were already 10 (!) stations in the GTA that catered to ethnic communities, the growing incomes and populations of those sectors means there was room for more. Hence the decision to allow Radio Humsafar.
They originally issued this call seeking whether Brampton could sustain yet another station in November of last year. I guess this is the result of that study. In going back through the CRTC press releases, I notice that it was spurred by a request for a station at 1190 AM, the old CJMR spot (which started as a mainstream music format before moving its multi-lingual format to 1320.) And yes, the 1190 AM application is for yet another ethnic format.
I have nothing against radio that targets those communities, but if this is what the CRTC is thinking, really, how many ethnic stations can one area sustain? It seems the Commission made up its mind a long time ago that any widespread mainstream music format is verboten here (especially since Rogers, Bell and Corus would spend all their political capital to get it scuttled.)
So my guess is that any new station in the GTA that might be licenced – including anything new in Brampton – is almost sure to be non-English. We’ll see if they’re willing to consider a 12th ethnic format in this market in the coming week.