Castanet buys Kelowna's Juice FM from Vista

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Castanet buys Kelowna's Juice FM from Vista

Postby radiofan » Thu Jun 29, 2017 1:02 pm

Castanet buys Juice FM
Wayne Moore - Jun 29, 2017 / 8:45 am


Castanet has struck a deal with Vista Radio to buy Kelowna’s Juice FM 103.9.

The CRTC announced today the proposal is now set down for a hearing in Ottawa on Sept. 7.

Approval is expected sometime in October.

The founder of Castanet Nick Frost said, “When this opportunity came up, we thought it was the right thing to do for two key reasons: to broaden our reach when viewers aren’t online, and to bring an entirely different local radio service to the city."

Castanet’s general manager Chris Kearney, said the FM station will broadcast from the heart of the newsroom in our new Lawrence Avenue studios.

“We have exciting plans to combine online, radio, & TV on Kelowna’s Homepage," said Kearney.

"Castanet has lots of great content that will now be heard on the airwaves too.”

Depending on CRTC timing, it’s possible that “Castanet FM” will be on-air in the late fall.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/2 ... s-Juice-FM
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Re: Castanet buys Kelowna's Juice FM from Vista

Postby sparky » Thu Jun 29, 2017 5:13 pm

An absolutely brilliant move on the part of Nick Frost and the folks at Castanet.

In the early 1980's while working at CHIM, Nick Frost saw the gaping hole in the marketplace for an adult oriented FM station. He applied for and was granted the license for CILK FM. CILK was an Okanagan success story from day one. Through his 20 years of ownership, CILK evolved into a hugely successful A/C station. Nick was an early believer in the internet and he became the first internet provider in the area starting a company that evolved into what is now Castanet.

The marriage of Castanet's news gathering and now a radio station to further build the brand will be a ratings winner for this challenged signal.

The Okanagan Valley has been deprived of a radio source for in depth local news coverage since the demise of CKIQ in Kelowna, CJIB in Vernon and CKOR in Penticton.

Vista has had no luck with this signal since they signed it on. It's one of the few markets where they have several competitors and the company just isn't in the business of spending money to make money.

Looking forward to Castanet FM in the coming months.
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Re: Castanet buys Kelowna's Juice FM from Vista

Postby jon » Thu Jun 29, 2017 5:46 pm

CILK-FM was sold to Standard Broadcasting for $9,250,000 on December 20, 2006. Facebook's Canadian Radio News is reporting that CJUI-FM is being bought for $1,266,790.

What a difference a decade makes, though it may have as much to do with the fact that CILK-FM was very successful at the time of its sale; CJUI-FM not so much.
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Re: Castanet buys Kelowna's Juice FM from Vista

Postby skyvalleyradio » Fri Jun 30, 2017 3:46 pm

great news! Nick Frost is a savvy, seasoned Kelowna operator that will give the biggie radio corpse some serious competition by providing an indie LOCAL station based on the always-informative, always-entertaining Castanet website. A full service station would hit the spot & integrate nicely with the online features. It'll be nice to actually get a road & weather report off the radio while on regular road trips to the west Kootenays, instead of the need to stop & fire up the laptop using public wifi. Good luck to Nick & his team at CJUI :rockon:
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Re: Castanet buys Kelowna's Juice FM from Vista

Postby sparky » Fri Jun 30, 2017 4:26 pm

If you read the documents associated with this sale, you'd have noticed Nick's application was witnessed by Paul Larsen.

Today, on his FB page, Paul has shared his involvement with Castanet.

Paul Larsen in Kelowna, British Columbia.
1 hr ·

With Castanet.net's proposed purchase of 103.9 Juice FM Kelowna now public, I'm excited to announce I'll be joining Castanet as Director of Broadcast. Looking forward to learning more about local digital media from their incredible team and assisting in the creation of Castanet FM pending CRTC approval. No change at my company Clear Sky Radio where I remain President and co-owner. This new opportunity simply allows me to expand my consulting work with an exceptional company in the community where I reside. Should be fun!


Great addition to the Castanet team! If memory serves me right, Paul's proposal for a Country FM was one of the applicants for a license in Kelowna a number of years ago.

Nice to see some actual radio people involved in this venture.
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Re: Castanet buys Kelowna's Juice FM from Vista

Postby Howaboutthat » Fri Jun 30, 2017 6:01 pm

Makes sense for Larsen as I understand he lives in Kelowna. I also understand the purchase price was just 625 or 650K.
Pretty cheap, but not surprising as the station has been bleeding money for years.
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