Too expensive to fix transmitter site
LONDON and GATINEAU – Bell Media will soon shut down London’s CKSL AM, currently operating as comedy station Funny 1410.
The company has turned in the station license to the CRTC because of the costs required to bring its decaying transmitter site up to code outweigh any benefits. “A technical review of the transmitter site was recently completed both by Bell Media and contractors, which has resulted in the determination that the AM array poses an unacceptable risk from a health and safety perspective. The five towers are experiencing serious structural degradation and also require repairs to the aviation safety lighting system. In addition, the building which houses the transmitter has shifted off its foundation (as have several of the individual tower sheds),” reads its application to the Commission.
The company estimated it would take more than $3 million to rebuild the site and since the station consistently ranks last in the ratings in the 10-station London market, one which has seen overall radio revenues drop 4% since 2013, “even with a significant investment in programming, this trend is unlikely to be reversed,” reads the Bell application.
The station remains on the air for now and a Bell spokesman said the company has not yet decided when the station will be shut down for good – and also that this will not affect its other two “Funny” branded stations, 820 AM in Hamilton and 1060 in Calgary.
CKSL AM is thought to be the first station to go all-comedy in Canada when it made the switch away from an oldies format in 2012 – when still owned by Astral Media.
As Cartt.ca has reported before, the commercial AM radio industry in Canada is in a state of continual decline. According to CRTC data, the country lost 10 English-language AM stations from 2011 to 2015, and an average of about 2% of total revenue annually.
