OTTAWA – Edmonton listeners will soon have a pair of new radio stations after the CRTC approved applications for an ethnic commercial AM radio station and a French-language station in that market.
After considering 10 applications at a hearing last September, the Commission said Friday that the application by 1811258 Alberta best meets the needs of Edmonton residents for a new ethnic station. The station has pledged to offer a mix of spoken word and music programming targeting the South Asian community, as well as other ethnic communities. Specifically, the station will broadcast 126 hours of local ethnic programming each broadcast week directed to at least nine distinct ethnic groups in at least 17 different languages.
“1811258 Alberta proposed a quality application, including a sound business plan that drew on its experience providing brokered ethnic programming on CKJR Wetaskiwin”, reads the decision. “The Commission considers that this proposal would have limited impact on existing stations in the market, including the ethnic service CKER-FM. Further, awarding a licence to 1811258 Alberta would repatriate revenues from an out-of-market station (CKJR) that is providing programming to the Edmonton market.”
The new station will operate at 580 kHz (class B) with a daytime and nighttime transmitter power of 10,000 watts, and its broadcasting licence will expire on August 31, 2023.
In the same decision, the CRTC also approved an application by Société Radio Communautaire du Grand Edmonton Society for a broadcasting licence to operate a French-language community FM radio station in Edmonton.
Operating at 97.9 MHz, that station has committed to broadcast 126 hours of programming each broadcast week, including at least 92.5 hours of local programming produced by and for the French-language official language minority community in the city. The remaining programming will originate from Réseau francophone d'Amérique and Radio France International.
