Cogeco to take three stations to full time news/talk

By Steve Faguy

MONTREAL - When Cogeco Diffusion purchased three regional music radio stations from Corus Quebec in 2011, they were "moribund," vice-president Richard Lachance told journalists on Wednesday. In one case, with a two per cent market share, "the photocopier reached more people," he joked. So the broadcaster is reinventing those three stations (which were part of a larger, $80 million 10-station purchase announced in spring 2010), changing their format from music/talk to news/talk and hoping to replicate the huge ratings success the company has seen with talk radio in Montreal. The three stations - CKOY-FM 107.7 in Sherbrooke, CKOF-FM 104.7 in...