Applications for Calgary

[jon]

Paul Larsen now has a live streaming demo of his proposed Calgary station (The Wolf, '90s Country) for all to see and hear:
http://wolf953.com/listen/

[CKNF]

I was unable to open any of the pdf files in the Pattison application and was interested in the musical vision they had in mind for Calgary. Is it like the Peak in Vancouver or a more traditional AAA like the Shore? If I was in Calgary, the Pattison application is about the only one of interest to me in this round and I wish them best of luck.

Just noticed that Pattison has billboards around town for '95.3 The Peak' World Class Rock.
This is from their Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/953ThePEAK?sk=info

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!!

Please write the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission telling them in your own words why the CRTC should approve the application by the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group to launch a new "AAA" station in Calgary. A Calgary version of the PEAK will add a distinct new radio voice, highlight new independent Canadian Artists and provide an alternative format to those serving the market today.

The station will feature artists such as Mumford & Sons, Foster The People, Mother Mother, Arcade Fire, Metric, Tegan & Sara, The Black Keys and many more.

Plus, the Pattison Broadcast Group has committed $8,750,000 to Canadian Talent Development, including $4.9 million dollars to an Alberta version of the PEAK Performance Project…a multi faceted concept that will elevate a number of Alberta artists to a NATIONAL stage over a seven year period.

Pattison has also committed:
a/ $1,225,000 to the Save the Music Foundation for funding and support of music programs in elementary & high schools in Alberta.

b/ $350,000 for a PEAK Performance stage at Calgary’s Sled Island Music Festival.

c/ $525,000 for Mega Music Canadian Music giveaway.

d/ $1,750,000 in support of Factor.

[TRENT310]

Clear Sky Radio - 90’s based Country - 95.3 - 54,000 watts

Could someone with some (less than 20 year old) knowledge of Country Music confirm/explain this?

Wasn't the beginning of the 1990s the beginning for "Contemporary Country" music, as opposed to "Traditional Country"?

Here is three sample hours of music from Clear Sky's CRTC application:
http://www.radiowest.ca/pics/clearskymusiccalgary.pdf
Note the number of "current century" releases. Nothing wrong with that as I've heard lots of great shows over the years that are focused on, say, '50s and '60s Blues, that play current material that is written and performed in the same spirit as the '50s and '60s Blues was.

My question to the experts is: Reading that Music List, would you say that this station is trying for a '90s Contemporary Country "sound"?

That playlist looks like a station I'd love to listen to. Of course it always is outside of the Edmonton market and since it's on the low VHF band I won't have a chance of actually being able to listen to it consistently... (having a hard enough time with CKWB but I rigged up another antenna high enough and pointing straight north for that one).
I interpret that as the '90s and newer' Country format which describes what I like. Not '1990 to 1999 inclusive' which is one decade. The playlist would be even more limited than a 50-70s oldies station.
In my opinion the concept is that if you like the 1990s stuff, the 2010s stuff is pretty similar and is something fresh. Their current slogan playing on the internet stream is "Country from the '90s and Now".

The recent releases are to support the emerging artists, which is what I listen to broadcast radio for. Local radio playing the Canadian content had a hand in popularizing artists like Kal Hourd, Steven Lee Olsen, Aaron Pritchett, Aaron Lines, Chad Klinger, Chris Cummings, Corb Lund, Codie Prevost, Crystal Shawanda, Terri Clark, Darren McGinnis, Deric Ruttan, Jessie Farrell, Damian Marshall, Gil Grand, George Canyon, High Valley, Shane Yellowbird, Jake Mathews, Jaydee Bixby and more recently like Kira Isabella (she's on her second single already after debuting this year) and Ryan Laird such as shown on that playlist sample document.
Ok so that's all I can think off the top of my head but if you look them up, what's common with all of those Canadian artists I listed is that they all made their debut sometime between 1990 and today. Paul Brandt became popular in 1996 as well, and it fits the '90s and up' format well. And he would be considered local origin to the listening area. Kinda like how CKDQ loves to promote that eg. 'Drumheller's own Jaydee Bixby'.
I'd love a station that steers towards playing Canadian country artists. Those artists you'd never hear on Sirius-XM (insert my rant here).

The Calgary area has CKMX for the classic country, and CHRB plays a bit of that but with more religious stuff mixed in. I hate Corus radio stations (I haven't been hiding that fact) and CKRY sucks for the exact same reasons that CISN does. It's like they're the exact copy of each other. And CKDQ is local-grade to Calgary of course, the 50kW you can hear anywhere in Alberta. 95.3 would be a great addition, but dang that frequency spacing. It's like 95.5 CKGY Red Deer is sandwiched right in between that and also geographically between Calgary's proposed 95.3 and Edmonton's 95.7. Some days I'm trying to listen to CKGY and every so often I get Christmas music overlapping 'cause that's what CKEA is playing right now. (Do they limit the FM modulation factor (mf/mp) more than usual to reduce the spectral bandwidth on short spaced situations? Without going into the Bessel functions and all that math... what is the normal mf on broadcast band anyway?)

I'm not the expert in station programming/formatting, like I say I'm the guy building the technical infrastructure, not the content running on the equipment, but that's just what I think from the listener perspective. Anyway I'll be watching to see where this one goes, but for now I have another online stream to listen to, ad-free for now, woo!

[Dan Sys]

Just read on the CRTC site that the Calgary decisions will be coming down sometime this week.

[Dan Sys]

I'm sticking with my earlier predictions. I have a feeling 4 stations will be granted:

Jim Pattison Broadcast Group - Triple A - 95.3 - 100,000 watts
Multicultural Broadcasting Corporation (Red FM) - Ethnic - 106.7 - 8,000 watts
Corus Entertainment - News-Talk - 106.9 - 1,000 watts (nested repeater for CHQR 770)
Punjabi World Network - Ethnic - 1670AM - 5,000 watts (days)/1,000 watts (nights)

Of course the Red FM folks will have to find a frequency other than 106.7 if Corus is awarded the QR nested repeater on 106.9. As mentioned earlier they did state in their application that 1480 AM would be acceptable if a suitable FM frequency cannot be found.

Anyone else care to take a guess?

[merlin]

My guess is that Harvard and Rawlco will get new station's in Calgary !! I think to that Harvard will do anything to take CKCE over leaving only one new main stream station {RAWLCO} in Calgary anything else will kill Rawlco's station already in Calgary ??? What then again what do I know.

[andysradio]

A nested repeater for a commercial AM station. This will open the flood gates!

[Aaron]

Rawlco would be a lot better off buying CKCE than trying to start from scratch at this point. If they get a license, it won't get used.

[albertaboy4life]

I think Paul Larsen's group has a better than 50/50 shot with 95.3 the Wolf given their community service efforts in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat and the nature of the Calgary marketplace - this should be a city capable of supporting two Country FM stations.

Personally I would like to see Pattison get a licence for their proposed Triple A so long as it doesn't sound like Newcap's FUEL the last time new stations were licenced in Calgary.

There's room for both with one taking 95.3 and the other 100.3 on the assumption that they can get Golden West to agree to the use of a new joint tower to allow 100.3 to be used. Pattison would have the funds necessary to pay for such a tower at no expense to Golden West. Don't know how well financed Larsen's group is to be able to fund a station launch and a major engineering and construction project.

[merlin]

A little birdie told me that Golden-West would love to have 100.9 with 100.3 on a big TV tower west of Calgary and put 106.1 on their old site east of Calgary where 100.9 is now. I was told that in that case 100.9 would be more suited for Airdrie and 106.1 would be more suited for Okotoks and southern Aberta. The only kicker is both 100.9 and 106.1 would have their 3mV/m coverage over Calgary and every broadcaster in Calgary would hate it. I hope I never gave anyone a headache.

[45 RPM]

I'd think any chamce Larsen's group had at application time has now been tossed out the window with the dishwater after the sales of Edmonton's HOT 107 and The Shore in Vancouver.
Major market licenses obviously don't belong in the hands of amateurs and hobbyists. Look at that one in suburban Vancouver, will it ever get on the air? To make a stand alone work
in a major market, I'm sure they'd end up selling off the shoestring operations in Lethbridge and Medicine Hat.

The Pattison group gets my vote. The Peak in Vancouver has grown consistantly and has been successful financially. I'm sure Pattison will also be a player for a second Calgary stick
when the Astral/Bell dealings begin. The Pattison folks have enough $ behind them that you won't see them whining to the CRTC two years down the road that they just can't make it
happen and the station has to be sold to one of the big boys.

I quite honestly don't see QR getting a nested repeater on FM. If that happened, the floodgates would be opened. I've never had a problem picking them up anywhere in Calgary. All
the CRTC has to do is look at the BBM numbers. The station is #1 or #2, it's not like it's on life support. I don't think the signal is really that much of a problem.

As for anybody else, I can see an ethnic or two getting the nod.

[Dan Sys]

There have been several nested repeaters for commercial AM stations granted over the past few years, we just haven't seen one in a major market yet.

Off the top of my head I can think of CKYL 610/94.9 Peace River, CKDO 1580/107.7 Oshawa, CFCO 630/92.9 Chatham, CHOK 1070/103.9 Sarnia, CKRW 610/96.1 Whitehorse, and an outstanding application by Blackburn for a CKNX 920 repeater on 104.3 in Wingham. Then there's that unique situation in Southern Saskatchewan where CJME 980 Regina has three Class C 100KW repeaters in Gravelbourg, Swift Current, and Warmley (not considered as nested repeaters however).

As for opening up the floodgates....the FM band is pretty well full in most major Canadian markets. It would be virtually impossible for a station such as CKNW 980 to find an FM frequency in Vancouver for a nested repeater (as much as they'd love to). Current regulations wouldn't allow them to kill CFOX or CFMI and replace it with a CKNW simulcast either.

I'll probably be eating crow with this "nested repeater" prediction towards the end of the week anyways.

[CKNF]

Major market licenses obviously don't belong in the hands of amateurs and hobbyists. Look at that one in suburban Vancouver, will it ever get on the air?

Sadly, there is much truth to that statement....because that's how any application from an independent will be scrutinized in the future.

[pave]

While I accept the premise presented by 45RPM, it also invites the question: Does this mean that Rogers, Astral, Corus et al are all Pro...?

[andysradio]

As for opening up the floodgates....the FM band is pretty well full in most major Canadian markets. It would be virtually impossible for a station such as CKNW 980 to find an FM frequency.

Agreed Dan but what is happening in the states is that these long established AM stations have begun to take over their FM counterparts moving [or simulcasting] their news/talk programming on FM.