CANADIAN RADIO NEWS –Jon Pearkins
jon@pearkins.com
All times are Eastern Daylight Saving Time (EDT).
880 MB Brandon CKLQ Off the air forever, verified at 0745 on September 1st but noted still on the air at 0840 on August 31st. At the station’s request, the AM license expired at 0100 September 1st, to avoid the at least $325,000 in upgrades to the transmitter site required to renew the AM broadcasting certificate.
990 NL Corner Brook CBY The CBC has applied to the CRTC to move this station to FM. A Public Hearing will be held on October 30th to consider the matter. The transmitter site’s “advanced age and timeworn condition” is the sole justification provided.
+If the CRTC approves CBY abandoning AM, the CBC could sight the decision as a precedent in yet another attempt to win approval to shut down CBU-690 Vancouver BC. In the past, the CRTC has required CBU-AM to remain on the air to provide coverage for remote areas out of range of CBU’s many FM repeaters. On the other hand, the CBC French language CHFA-680 Edmonton AB was allowed to move to
FM, eliminating coverage to many rural areas. If CBU-AM is silenced, next to go silent could be CBX-740 Edmonton AB, CBR-1010 Calgary AB, CBK-540 Watrous SK, CBW-990 Winnipeg MB and CJBC-860 Toronto ON. It has been over three decades since the CBC stated its goal of eliminating all AM broadcasting.
1440 AB Wetaskiwin CKJR — When All Sports CFRN-1260 Edmonton AB went off the air, the on-air Sports staff split into two, with one moving to CKJR, where they were responsible for selling their own commercials, using the revenue to pay for the airtime and their own salaries. CFRN’s morning show hosts moved on-line instead but are now expanding to FM on September 3rd from 0800-1100. Their new home, CKEA-FM (Cruz FM), will continue their mainstream rock format for the rest of their broadcast week. Given CHED-880s heavy emphasis on Sports, including play-by-play broadcast rights, weekday mornings will now be a three-way fight for Edmonton Sports fans, though CHED’s morning Sports strength has been diminished since the retirement of Sports Director Bryan Hall in 2023 at just shy of 90 years old!
Tips from Shawn Axelrod and Marty Forbes.
IRCA DX Monitor Sept 6, published Sept 1 via WOR iog (2025-09-01)