New station approved in Fort Saskatchewan

[Dan Sys]

Golden West got the go ahead today to launch their proposed new Classic Hits/Classic Rock station in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta on 107.9 with 11,000 watts (20,000 watts maximum ERP). With the approval comes a condition of licence preventing them from soliciting advertising in the city of Edmonton.

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2012/2012-9.htm

[jon]

From the CRTC decision: "The licensee shall not solicit advertising in the city of Edmonton as identified by Statistics Canada."

I'm not sure how StatsCan defines Edmonton, but presumably beyond just the City limits. Plus, of course, any advertiser who finds their way to the station will be gladly accepted.

I also note from the decision that 40% CanCon is required.

It will be interesting to see what kind of signal they have around Edmonton.

[pave]

40% Cancon!? Jesus H. Thundering Keerist! To whom in Fort Saskatchewan shall I send the sympathy card?

[jon]

In case I didn't make it clear, the 40% CanCon was part of the original Golden West proposal, which the CRTC made into a condition of license.

As noted in a previous thread, the signal is directional with a Null towards Edmonton. I believe that the Null is "tight enough" that Sherwood Park should get a great signal.

Just noticed another point from the original Golden West proposal: a "community portal" at http://www.fortsaskonline.com (dead right now), a clear attempt to beat fortradio.com, who also applied for a Fort Saskatchewan FM license nearly a year ago.

Nice timing, by the way, to start a new station, since the area around Fort Saskatchewan is well on its way back to the kind of labour shortage, i.e. - lots of jobs, it experienced 5 years ago.

[CKNF]

In case I didn't make it clear, the 40% CanCon was part of the original Golden West proposal, which the CRTC made into a condition of license.

If terrestrial radio is going to survive in this century, these heavy regs needs to go. Plain and simple.

[jon]

In case I didn't make it clear, the 40% CanCon was part of the original Golden West proposal, which the CRTC made into a condition of license.

If terrestrial radio is going to survive in this century, these heavy regs needs to go. Plain and simple.

In case I wasn't clear enough, Golden West stated they would provide 40% CanCon, which is 5% more than required. The CRTC merely held them to their promise by putting it in the license.

[CKNF]

In case I wasn't clear enough, Golden West stated they would provide 40% CanCon, which is 5% more than required. The CRTC merely held them to their promise by putting it in the license.

Yes, I understand that, which is why I quoted it. What I was thinking the reason may have been that they would make such an offer is to make the application more appeasing to the regulators. I highly doubt they (GW) would ever make such an offer if it wasn't for those rules to begin with.

I would think it's tough enough hanging on to listeners without those ridiculous requirements. There's a lot of alternatives these days to terrestrial radio and if the regulators keep up with these practices, eventually nobody will want to invest in terrestrial radio because there won't be any listeners left. You can't regulate what people want.

But, what do I know? I'm just an outsider. I'll keep my thoughts to myself from this point.

[jon]

Sorry, I didn't get what you meant.

Also in the music programming arena, the original proposal included:

• 3% musical selections from emerging artists
• Showcase local artists and events by producing a 30 minute local weekly music program, eg :“Made in Alberta”

[freqfreak2]

Showcase local artists and events by producing a 30 minute local weekly music program, eg :“Made in Alberta”

Oh boy. More Nickelback.

[Dan Sys]

CKNF said:

eventually nobody will want to invest in terrestrial radio because there won't be any listeners left

Then why are new FM licenses coast to coast such a hot entity right now? Terrestrial radio isn't going anywhere my friend.

[freqfreak2]

In the wake of the Fort Saskatchewan decision, two items popped on different fronts both addressing the issue:

CRTC Approves Golden West App For Radio In Fort Sask – But With A Twist

Late last July I submitted an intervention to the CRTC concerning a new radio station in Fort Saskatchewan that Golden West was trying to get approved. My main opposition was the format they were choosing – classic rock – which is a completely inundated and over-populated genre for radio in our not-so-snowy-as-usual metropolis.

Read more here: http://newmusicmichael.com/wordpress/2012/01/crtc-approves-golden-west-app-for-radio-in-fort-sask-but-with-a-twist-yegradio/


EDMONTON RADIO: Who broke the radio star?

The Buggles were wrong. Video did not kill the radio star. The radio star is very much alive, thanks to, well, radio.

Despite the bashing that commercial radio gets for selling crap and pandering to the lowest common denominator, worthy new discoveries are sometimes made ... despite being played to death on the radio. As a record rep says, “Radio still works.”

Let’s hope so. Their jobs may depend on it.

Read more here: http://www.gigcity.ca/2012/01/10/edmonton-radio-who-broke-the-radio-star/

[TRENT310]

CanCon is great. From a listener perspective - specifically mine, not a station manager perspective. Like I've said before in other posts I would be quite happy with a station doing 100%. That's about the only thing I feel the CRTC is good at (being part of Canadian Heritage), of course since I work on the technical side of things I deal only with Industry Canada regularly. I still find it strange that the CRTC considers technical parameters at all. I suppose to determine demographic area.

Null towards Edmonton, but I still listen to CKWB 97.9 often which is supposed to be directional as well. This will be closer to the city.

[jon]

Null towards Edmonton, but I still listen to CKWB 97.9 often which is supposed to be directional as well. This will be closer to the city.

CKWB doesn't really null Edmonton as much as they push more signal East and West as their transmitter site is between Barrhead and Westlock. CKFT will have a pretty tight null towards Edmonton.


Just read where Golden West had one of their folks in the Fort interviewing Sales and Admin people in late June. Haven't heard any other rumblings for a long time now, so obviously things are moving along fairly quickly as some of those folks would be on staff by now (6 weeks later). Gotta believe they'll be testing their transmitter pretty soon, if they aren't already. Doubt I'll be able to hear them given that I am about as far away from Fort Saskatchewan as is possible without leaving the City of Edmonton.