RadioActive wrote:

It's been a while since Bell sold off three of its radio stations in St. Catharines and another FM in Hamilton. Some here have posted questions wondering when Golden Horseshoe Broadcasting would officially get its hands on the stations it bought and on Thursday, the CRTC finally answered that question. 

It approved the transfer of the four outlets to the new owner and now the only question is when will they officially take control and when will we hear any changes in programming or personnel?

Golden Horseshoe owns CJYE, the old CHWO, under control of the Caine family. How much did they fork over for the privilege? 

"The purchase price for the assets of the stations is $22,500,000. Golden Horseshoe proposed a value of the transaction of $23,036,750, which includes the purchase price and the total value of the leases payable over five years."

So what's next for the stations? Apparently, not that much. 

"Golden Horseshoe stated that it does not plan to make major changes to CKTB, CHTZ-FM, and CHRE-FM St. Catharines as well as CKLH-FM Hamilton’s operation or spoken word programming. However, it does intend to increase CKTB St. Catharines’s local programming from 82 to 102 hours a week, while maintaining current levels on the other stations."

There were only two interventions, one of them interesting - the complainant insisted the Hamilton FM frequency should have been given over to the CBC, which does not have a local station in the Steel City. The CRTC declined the argument. 

CRTC Decision

There are two more fascinating tangents to this takeover that I never knew of. Apparently, there is a German language station that piggybacks on CKLH-FM's signal (called SCMO) and has been there for a while. But the new owners don't want to continue the service so they have been relieved of their responsibility to provide it and it will be turned off. 

But here's the real surprise, at least to me. CKTB still had a clause in its licence that prevents it from playing music older than 1956. This harkens back to its days as an oldie station. Have to admit, I don't ever remember them playing oldies, but the provision has been around for decades.

From the CRTC Decision:

"CKTB is subject to another condition of service that could be unnecessary. As Newstalk CKTB previously operated under an Oldies music format, it continues to be subject to the condition of service regarding music composed before 1956....

However, Golden Horseshoe also indicated that it does not intend to broadcast music on Newstalk CKTB, which would include pre-1956 music, given its news-talk radio format. In light of this, the Commission finds this condition of service to be unrelated and that it would not be appropriate to impose it in respect of CKTB."

That condition has now been removed. Who knew it was there in the first place?

Watch out for Fedoruk making a comeback? 🤔

So will the branding names on the stations change? They are still keeping the formats the same right?

haydenmatthews14 wrote:

So will the branding names on the stations change? They are still keeping the formats the same right?

The CRTC release indicates there are no plans to change anything at any of the stations, with the exception of CKTB, which will increase local programming. 

As paterson1 notes, since some of their shows are shared with CFRB and Bell, and if they lose access to them, they'll need something to replace them. 

haydenmatthews14 wrote:

So will the branding names on the stations change? They are still keeping the formats the same right?

Me thinks that brandings like Bounce, Move etc are Bell properties. Therefore the stations will likely have to change names. Same with Zoomers' newly acquired station in Owen Sound.
They may also have to divorce themselves from iHeart.

Forward Power wrote:

andysradio wrote:

Me thinks that brandings like Bounce, Move etc are Bell properties. Therefore the stations will likely have to change names. Same with Zoomers' newly acquired station in Owen Sound.
They may also have to divorce themselves from iHeart.

At the same time, they may be able to license the brands from Bell, at least in the interim, kind of like how Corus uses Stingray's "Boom" brand in Ottawa and Cornwall but on a more "permanent" basis.

'Boom' is actually Bell's brand.

Last edited by RadioAaron (December 20, 2024 10:20 am)

I guess the only real question left now is when the new owner assumes control.

I recall Neeti Ray waiting months to finally start programming and making changes to CKOC, CHAM and CKWW which - in the case of the former two - ran canned Bell programming. He finally changed the formats in mid-August. despite the ownership officially being transferred over in late June.

So it may be a awhile until we see any sign of change, especially at CKTB. 

More Bell station sales have been officially approved out east, as a company that should never have been in broadcasting continues to prove it.

CKTO-FM and CKTY-FM Truro, CKBC-FM Bathurst, CJCJ-FM Woodstock, and CIKX-FM Grand Falls and its transmitter CIKX-FM-1 Plaster Rock – Change in ownership and effective control 

The conditions relating to pre-1956 music didn't prohibit them from playing such recordings; rather, they allowed for a lower level of Canadian content for periods consisting of either entirely pre-1956 music, or of at least 90% pre-1956 music. They were consistent with what can be found at the CRTC's ​Canadian content requirements for music on Canadian radio:

Popular older music – condition of licence
Two conditions of licence will allow commercial radio stations to broadcast less than 35% Canadian content required for popular music. Broadcasters can apply for these conditions.

• Pre-1956 music: in program periods where all of the popular music broadcast is composed before 1956, at least 2% each week must be Canadian; in periods where 90% or more of popular music consists of selections composed before 1956, at least 10% must be Canadian
• Oldies music: in any broadcast week where at least 90% of the popular music aired consists of selections released before January 1 1981, at least 30% must be Canadian, both on a weekly basis and between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday