as you may already know...CBA Moncton is going FM...They got approved today
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2007/db2007-8.htm
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2007/db2007-8.htm
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Another CBC Station goes FM
- Thread starter mimo
- Start date
:-[Well, this effectively makes CBC Radio One totally unavailable to anyone in the Northeastern United States, once CBA/1070 is closed down. It's a shame really. CBC used to be easily available via CBM/Montreal, CBL/Toronto and of course via the monster signal of CBA/Moncton. I don't see any harm in keeping at least CBA/1070 available, in spite of CBA's FM signal being activated. CRTC should at least keep one "Clear Channel" CBC signal available for the Northeastern United States and the Maritimes. CBA's signal is solid and I'm sure some Maritimers would want to be able to receive CBC Radio One well into the United States while they are travelling into the States.
I think the CBC should try to get some kind of waiver with the CRTC to keep the 1070 signal active, after the FM is on the air. There ARE some people on this side of the border who appreciate CBC radio. Thank you.
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts USA
I think the CBC should try to get some kind of waiver with the CRTC to keep the 1070 signal active, after the FM is on the air. There ARE some people on this side of the border who appreciate CBC radio. Thank you.
Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts USA
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chuckydoll
Guest
CBA-1070 gets the OK to move to FM
CBA-1070 is 50 kw-ND but doesn't have a monster signal into the Northeast U.S. You have 5 other 50 kw stations to deal with: 1050 CHUM, 1050 ESPN, KYW-1060, WTIC-1080 and WBAL-1090.
There's also WKOK-1070 in Sunbury PA, which is distant enough from Moncton to run 10 kw-D/1 kw-N.
CRTC policy is very strict: Once you move a station to FM you have 90 days or so to turn the AM signal off. CBC has already done that in Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Thunder Bay, Saint John, Fredericton and Halifax. The Corporation will do so in Moncton as well.
You haven't been reading Northeast Radio Watch lately. AM radio is disappearing in Eastern Canada.
No more AM stations in Prince Edward Island -- the last one went dark around Xmas. No more AM stations in much of Quebec pretty soon.
Peter Q. George (K1XRB) said:
CBA-1070 is 50 kw-ND but doesn't have a monster signal into the Northeast U.S. You have 5 other 50 kw stations to deal with: 1050 CHUM, 1050 ESPN, KYW-1060, WTIC-1080 and WBAL-1090.
There's also WKOK-1070 in Sunbury PA, which is distant enough from Moncton to run 10 kw-D/1 kw-N.
Peter Q. George (K1XRB) said:
CRTC policy is very strict: Once you move a station to FM you have 90 days or so to turn the AM signal off. CBC has already done that in Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Toronto, Thunder Bay, Saint John, Fredericton and Halifax. The Corporation will do so in Moncton as well.
Peter Q. George (K1XRB) said:
You haven't been reading Northeast Radio Watch lately. AM radio is disappearing in Eastern Canada.
No more AM stations in Prince Edward Island -- the last one went dark around Xmas. No more AM stations in much of Quebec pretty soon.
CBC Radio One is available to the entire United States, right at this moment, and has been, for a while now. "CBC Radio One for North America" is broadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio // 137.
I guess they really are pushing Sirius these days, because even the RCI shortwave relays directed at the USA are now in parallel to RCIplus, Sirius // 188.
I guess they really are pushing Sirius these days, because even the RCI shortwave relays directed at the USA are now in parallel to RCIplus, Sirius // 188.
Re: CBA-1070 gets the OK to move to FM
Ah, but the story behind at least one of the Quebec stations going dark relates strictly to a maintainence issue.
The previous owner sold the AM station and then informed the new owner that care and repair is *not* any of thier concern or problem now that the station is in the hands of a new owner.
The new owner gave up. It was an isolated case of extreme high cost repairs desperatley needed.
The station would have stayed on the air if those costs weren't present.
As for the other (non CBC) AM stations vanishing, this was for the better...depending on the format the station chose to go with.
*Most* (if not all) of the(non CBC) AM's that went FM did so because market research showed better revenue in a format that just wouldn't work today on AM.
Simple as that.
chuckydoll said:
Ah, but the story behind at least one of the Quebec stations going dark relates strictly to a maintainence issue.
The previous owner sold the AM station and then informed the new owner that care and repair is *not* any of thier concern or problem now that the station is in the hands of a new owner.
The new owner gave up. It was an isolated case of extreme high cost repairs desperatley needed.
The station would have stayed on the air if those costs weren't present.
As for the other (non CBC) AM stations vanishing, this was for the better...depending on the format the station chose to go with.
*Most* (if not all) of the(non CBC) AM's that went FM did so because market research showed better revenue in a format that just wouldn't work today on AM.
Simple as that.
Re: CBA-1070 gets the OK to move to FM
1050 and 1090 will be problems only on the very cheapest of radios. Most consumers own radios that will have no problems splitting 1070 from 1060 and 1080 as well, unless you live in Philadelphia or Hartford or their close-in suburbs. Unless these stations start running IBOC at night.
In several recent cases, the CRTC has granted FM relayers to CBC stations with the understanding the associated AM will NOT go dark. A bunch of them were granted on the Prairies last summer, but 990/Winnipeg, 540/Watrous, and the other big AMs out there are not going away.
Now, that's not what's happening in Moncton's case, but if the CBC had asked to leave 1070 on the air I strongly suspect it would have been granted.
All that said, the CBC is operated with Canadians' tax dollars & for the benefit of Canadians, so I suppose the CBC sees little point in spending money just to maintain coverage in the U.S.. Especially as the nighttime AM audience dwindles in both countries due to increasing interference from a variety of sources.
chuckydoll said:
1050 and 1090 will be problems only on the very cheapest of radios. Most consumers own radios that will have no problems splitting 1070 from 1060 and 1080 as well, unless you live in Philadelphia or Hartford or their close-in suburbs. Unless these stations start running IBOC at night.
In several recent cases, the CRTC has granted FM relayers to CBC stations with the understanding the associated AM will NOT go dark. A bunch of them were granted on the Prairies last summer, but 990/Winnipeg, 540/Watrous, and the other big AMs out there are not going away.
Now, that's not what's happening in Moncton's case, but if the CBC had asked to leave 1070 on the air I strongly suspect it would have been granted.
All that said, the CBC is operated with Canadians' tax dollars & for the benefit of Canadians, so I suppose the CBC sees little point in spending money just to maintain coverage in the U.S.. Especially as the nighttime AM audience dwindles in both countries due to increasing interference from a variety of sources.
CBC should have kept all of its AM signals throughout the country, with FM booster signals in the big cities as has been done out west. Moving a clear channel AM signal to FM has forced the CBC to start up multiple FM relays in areas that got the former AM signal but cannot get the new FM signal. In the case of CBL 740, repeaters for the new CBLA 99.1 had to be installed at Paris, Crystal Beach, Shelburne, and Owen Sound. The CBL signal was extremely widely available, and even before it switched to FM, it had FM relays in cities where the signal did reach well in the surrounding rural areas but was impaired in the city itself, including London, Peterborough, Orillia, and Midland. The nature of CBC Radio's programming is something that one would expect to find on AM.
Now, that's not to say that CBC shouldn't have stations on FM. That's what the Stereo Network was for. It should never have turned into the classical music ghetto that it turned into as CBC Radio Two. It should have been a mainstream network similar to the AM network, but with more mainstream music and localized programming.
AM can be successful - CFRA in Ottawa, for example.
Now, that's not to say that CBC shouldn't have stations on FM. That's what the Stereo Network was for. It should never have turned into the classical music ghetto that it turned into as CBC Radio Two. It should have been a mainstream network similar to the AM network, but with more mainstream music and localized programming.
AM can be successful - CFRA in Ottawa, for example.
Notice these issues were not even addressed by the CRTC in its analysis.
It's still illegal for stations like CFRA to go FM though.
You're using examples of stations that have no choice but to be AM or nothing, based on current CRTC regulation.
Yeziknoradio said:
Then I am seriously confused...how is it that the corus group of talk stations in quebec are going fm..including CJRC 1150...just down the dial from CFRA. ¿Could you explain that? I know about the oldies format not being allowed on FM..but news/talk..this is new to me. CFRA is still very successfull, despite being on AM. CJRC is successful in the francophone community..being number 3 out of 7 french stations...and despite being the ONLY AM french station in Ottawa..not counting the 2 montreal stations that throw very strong signals into Ottawa
Yeziknoradio said:
There sure isn't a policy against commerical news/talk stations on FM; three new ones went on-air in the Maritimes last year, and there's a French-language commercial FM talk outlet in Montreal. As another reply mentioned, CJRC-1150 has just received a permit to move their French talk format to FM.
I suppose it's *possible* there's a policy against moving existing news-talk stations from AM to FM if they're English, but I'd be very surprised.
There is a limit (as I understand it) to how many stations a given owner can have on the same band; maybe CFRA's owners already have as many Ottawa FMs as they're allowed, but if CFRA were sold to someone else it could move to FM?
that's an interesting point...as CFRA is owned by CHUM..which has 4 stations in Ottawa, 2 AM and 2 FM..with CFRA and Majik 100 (spelling intentional, as it's how they spell it) being the 2 major moneymakers....CFRA is usually a top 2 or 3 station in the market and I don't see how CHUM would ever consider letting go of a big money maker like that.
I to0k a trip out west this Christmas...and got to hear one of the CBC relays in Calgary on FM...the signal is CRAP...plain and simple...At my Parents house, it was weak, very staticy, and you couldn't walk around the house listening to it without dropouts (granted they live on the south edge of the city), I live in Central Ottawa, and have problems with our radio 1's fm signal at times, with drop outs and multipath, I wish they had kept the 910 Frequency, I think I would have a lot less signal problems with it when I'm on a bus in downtown Ottawa. We have a major street that absolutely KILLS FM signals...but AM does just fine.
I to0k a trip out west this Christmas...and got to hear one of the CBC relays in Calgary on FM...the signal is CRAP...plain and simple...At my Parents house, it was weak, very staticy, and you couldn't walk around the house listening to it without dropouts (granted they live on the south edge of the city), I live in Central Ottawa, and have problems with our radio 1's fm signal at times, with drop outs and multipath, I wish they had kept the 910 Frequency, I think I would have a lot less signal problems with it when I'm on a bus in downtown Ottawa. We have a major street that absolutely KILLS FM signals...but AM does just fine.
The current rule is two AM and two FM. True.
I can tell you right now, if it were ok to just up and move any old AM station to fm, 680 news would move to 92.5 in Toronto, and 680 would become an "Omni radio".
That's not going to happen...
I can tell you right now, if it were ok to just up and move any old AM station to fm, 680 news would move to 92.5 in Toronto, and 680 would become an "Omni radio".
That's not going to happen...
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chuckydoll
Guest
Memo to MJ: GROW UP!
Go back and read the CRTC decision, M.J. CBC applied to move CBA-1070 to FM because CBA is the only AM station remaining in Moncton and was losing listeners to FM.
Moncton is a bilingual region in a bilingual province. All the French stations in Moncton are now on FM, including the 2 local outlets of Radio-Canada.
Remember the ice storm of 1998? It crippled Hydro-Quebec (provincial electric company) and kept AM stations in Quebec off the air for weeks. CBC had already received CRTC approval to move CBM-940 to FM. In order to get CBM back on the air the Corporation put the new FM signal on ahead of schedule. Under your logic CBC should not have been allowed to move CBM to FM until the Hydro-Quebec system was restored.
To Canadians "clear channel" is a U.S. broadcasting company.
M.J. said:
Go back and read the CRTC decision, M.J. CBC applied to move CBA-1070 to FM because CBA is the only AM station remaining in Moncton and was losing listeners to FM.
Moncton is a bilingual region in a bilingual province. All the French stations in Moncton are now on FM, including the 2 local outlets of Radio-Canada.
M.J. said:
Remember the ice storm of 1998? It crippled Hydro-Quebec (provincial electric company) and kept AM stations in Quebec off the air for weeks. CBC had already received CRTC approval to move CBM-940 to FM. In order to get CBM back on the air the Corporation put the new FM signal on ahead of schedule. Under your logic CBC should not have been allowed to move CBM to FM until the Hydro-Quebec system was restored.
To Canadians "clear channel" is a U.S. broadcasting company.
C
chuckydoll
Guest
Last chance to hear CBC on AM 1070
If you haven't logged CBA-1070 you better do it now.
According to this week's NERW, CBC will turn off the AM 1070 transmitter for the last time on Monday, April 7 at 8:30 AM ADT (7:30 AM EDT).
If you haven't logged CBA-1070 you better do it now.
According to this week's NERW, CBC will turn off the AM 1070 transmitter for the last time on Monday, April 7 at 8:30 AM ADT (7:30 AM EDT).
Looks like the CRTC isn't going to allow all CBC stations to abandon AM, based on today's decision. CBC wanted to shut down CBU and replace it with an FM station, but the CRTC decided the AM coverage was too good compared to what FM could do in a mountainous area, even with an additional translator. Instead it looks like Vancouver will get one of those nested FM transmitters, although covering a larger area.
Also AM radio is by no means suffering in Vancouver, as CKNW and CBU itself are doing well in the ratings. This isn't the Maritimes we're talking about.
Also AM radio is by no means suffering in Vancouver, as CKNW and CBU itself are doing well in the ratings. This isn't the Maritimes we're talking about.
M.J. said:
Not sure about CBU, but It's difficult to strengthen your point when CKNW, regardless of how it does in the ratings, is in the same hands as sister station Traffic 790...one station may make money, but the other is pouring rain on the parade.
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