Whiteoaks owns CJYE-AM(Joy Radio), which runs Christian music & talk, and CJMR/1320, a multilingual station licensed to Mississauga. (It should be noted that Wikipedia's pages for the stations notes that they're owned by Trafalgar Broadcasting; Joy Radio's page confirms this.)
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Bell Media sells some Niagara region stations
- Thread starter ckg279
- Start date
Of course, they blamed the government...
The link above MIGHT be of interest. (WARNING: Yeah, there is some swearing in the article, starting in the first paragraph, but it does talk about Bell...and the guy who penned it worked in Toronto radio for quite a while.)
The link above MIGHT be of interest. (WARNING: Yeah, there is some swearing in the article, starting in the first paragraph, but it does talk about Bell...and the guy who penned it worked in Toronto radio for quite a while.)
There's no guarantee that the (smaller) companies that are purchasing the radio stations which Bell spun off will wave a magic wand and make them immediately profitable, or pleasant places at which to work. Here's hoping ... but there are no guarantees.
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In essence, that's what Les Moonves said about CBS Radio.
It's what Bob Iger said about linear TV, and why he wants to sell ABC.
Excellent. Thanks for posting this
I might be a little late here, but for me, this is very exciting news. I grew up listening to CHTZ (97.7 HTZ FM) in Mississauga and have had the misfortune of witnessing what is still one of my favorite radio stations (and others) devolve in to pretty much a skeleton-staffed storefront over the past ten years. I'm confident that new buyer for the Bell Media Niagara cluster has what it takes to re-invigorate the stations and create something truly special and incredible out of HTZ-FM.
I'm not so sure. Here's how Whiteoaks describes themselves:
I think they're going to have to move out of the Bell building in St. Catherines. So that's an immediate expense.
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It looks like Whiteoaks plans to continue the formats on the stations it bought and for them to be more strongly associated with their community. Hopefully, their deal with Bell doesn't leave them with the same debt burden that Bell had. From the wording of the Bell announcement it seems that their divestiture is going to be at a significant discount for business that's "no longer viable." Meanwhile, read the Whiteoaks announcement here:
www.linkedin.com
Whiteoaks Communications Group on LinkedIn: Whiteoaks Communications Group to Acquire Four Radio Stations from Bellâ¦
Whiteoaks Communications Group to Acquire Four Radio Stations from Bell Media in Ontario February 9th, 2024, Oakville -- We are excited to announce Whiteoaks…
www.linkedin.com
It's an interesting announcement. My first thought when I read about the company was that they would move their religious format from AM to one of the new FMs. The most likely target was the active rock station. But I guess they'll continue status quo with the devil's music for a while. The first order of business will be to move out of the Bell building. The most interesting part to me was the establishment of a separate company to operate the new acquisitions. Not sure why that is, but may have to do with Canadian laws. It'll make bookkeeping easier. It'll be interesting to see if they hire local talent, or simply make a deal with a content provider.
Isn't Bell exiting the St Catharines/Niagara market entirely? It looks like the three radio stations are the only businesses in that building, a historically protected mansion built in the 1800's.
I assumed the terms of sale included the studios and all the assets, not just the licenses.
Maybe they could move the Hamilton station in with the other three? That would be strange since Hamilton is a separate, larger city and technically its own market. They are close enough to hear each other's signals but I don't know if the CRTC would even allow CKLH to be run out of St Catharines (or Toronto).
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I haven't seen any specifics about what the buyers will get. Who owns the building? That's likely the most valuable thing.
If you read the history of the building at that link above, it was owned by the founder of the original AM radio station in the 1930s. I assume each time the radio stations were sold since then, the transaction has included the building with the studions in it. The radio stations are the only businesses using that building so it would seem silly for it to be sold to someone else. Not impossible of course, but doubtful that's the case.
You're making a lot of assumptions. Have you seen a purchase price? That would tell a lot. All of the articles I've read say the only things sold were the radio stations, not the buildings they were in. That building is likely worth more than the three stations inside. The amount of money they paid will also say a lot about how much they'll invest in operations.
No, I haven't. Have you? It seems like Bell just wanted to unload half their radio stations as effortlessly as possible. I doubt they wanted the added hassle of trying to sell a protected heritage property separately. If they did it would certainly be big news in the region, considering its history.
For all we both know, they could be just giving it all away. But I don't see deep pockets in Whiteoak.
I should add, as quietly as possible too. Nice feat, selling 45 stations to 7 companies entirely under the radar of the public, the media and industry watchers until the announcement. Putting that house up for sale separately could have risked blowing their cover.
It seems likely that Bell has already written down the value of the radio stations, including the properties, and just wants out of the business. When you tell everybody that it's not a viable business it's hard to ask for serious money for the stations and facilities. It sounds to me like they're essentially going to write off the station sales anyway.
It's all very interesting.
Bell's way of doing things might be why something is not viable.
Another business might do things differently and survive just fine.
It will be interesting to see what White Oaks actually does.
How well does 610 CKTB pick up in Buffalo?
I don't see them targeting Buffalo, but maybe they will pick up some American talk shows anyway to fill a void
now that CKTB will no longer be a CFRB (NT 1010) repeater anymore (where previously possible)
Bell's way of doing things might be why something is not viable.
Another business might do things differently and survive just fine.
It will be interesting to see what White Oaks actually does.
How well does 610 CKTB pick up in Buffalo?
I don't see them targeting Buffalo, but maybe they will pick up some American talk shows anyway to fill a void
now that CKTB will no longer be a CFRB (NT 1010) repeater anymore (where previously possible)
The CRTC might frown on that, although they could allow it on a very limited basis.