It appears Bell Media has found a buyer for three of the AM stations it announced it wanted to divest itself of during a June reorganization that saw the company shutter six other AMs and lay off six per cent of its workforce.
CINA Radio Group founder and CEO Neeti P. Ray is making a play to buy CHAM and CKOC Hamilton and CKWW Windsor, pending CRTC approval.
The proposed sale, which would see Ray acquire the assets of the stations for $445,000, is one of three matters set to come before the commission at a Feb. 8 hearing in Gatineau.
CHAM-AM Hamilton is currently branded as Funny 820, CKOC-AM Hamilton as BNN Bloomberg Radio 1150, and CKWW-AM Windsor as oldies station, Motor City Favourites. Ray’s application says he plans operate the stations on the same terms and conditions that currently apply to ensure continuity. Ray already operates South Asian news, talk and music station, CINA 1650 AM Mississauga, FLOW 98.7 (CKFG-FM) Toronto, and multi-ethnic stations CINA-FM Windsor and CKIN-FM Montréal.
“For the Applicant, this transaction is an opportunity to increase his company’s radio presence in Windsor, and establish a presence for the first time in Hamilton,” states Ray’s application. “The key benefit of this transaction for listeners is straightforward: if this Application is approved, the Stations will continue to operate.”
The CRTC will also hear an application by Harvest Ministries Sudbury to acquire the assets of the English-language low-power commercial specialty (Religious music) FM radio station 102.1 CFCJ-FM Cochrane from Cochrane Christian Radio, in addition to an application by Comité Radio Huronne-Wyandot for a broadcasting licence to operate an Indigenous (Type B Native) FM radio station in Wendake, Que. at 100.3 MHz (channel 262A) with an average effective radiated power (ERP) of 239 watts, broadcasting in French and Indigenous languages, including Wendat, Innu and Atikamekw.
The deadline for interventions is Dec. 18.
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