Pattison Media has announced its intention to acquire Kelowna’s 103.9 The Lake (CKOV-FM), pending CRTC approval. 103.9 The Lake is a passion project of former Clear Sky Radio network owner Paul Larsen, who stepped in to buy the station – an early casualty of the pandemic – formerly branded as Soft 103.9 under the ownership of Castanet Media founder Nick Frost. Larsen soft-launched 103.9 The Lake in March 2021 with a Gold-based Soft AC format aimed at appealing to the Kelowna market which counts half its residents as over age 45. Pattison Media will take advantage of allowances made in the CRTC’s most recent radio review to own an additional station in a single market, saying the acquisition will strengthen its position in the highly-competitive Kelowna market and further capitalize on synergies with current stations, The Lizard (CKLZ-FM), Beach Radio (CKQQ-FM), and news portal, Kelowna10. Read more here.
The CRTC has approved an application by radio veteran James Scott Clements for a broadcasting licence to operate Lunenburg, Nova Scotia’s first commercial FM radio station. The station will operate at 107.9 MHz (channel 300B1) on the dial, with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 6,500 watts. The applicant is proposing to broadcast 126 hours of local programming per broadcast week, of which five hours and 39 minutes would be devoted to spoken word programming and one hour and 20 minutes to news. The station will air a Rock format, spanning the 1970s to present, with the majority of airplay post-1990 selections, targeting adults 25-54, skewing slightly towards male listeners. Clements is the former owner of national country music database Trax Report and Principle Projects Label Services. He’s previously held programming, management and production roles with Rawlco and Harvard Broadcasting in Saskatchewan, Corus Entertainment in Hamilton, and MBS Radio and Acadia Broadcasting in the Maritimes. Read more here.
Corus Radio employees participated in two separate radiothons, surpassing fundraising goals for both FoodShare and Cornwall Community Hospital, raising $40,761 and $157,685, respectively. The 640 Toronto Radiothon for Foodshare was the first radiothon hosted by the station in a decade. With an original fundraising goal of $25,000 – enough to launch five new community markets in low-income areas – the team got to work. By 3:45 p.m., 640 had passed their goal, setting a new one of $35,000 – only to pass it again at 5 p.m. The team hit $40,000 with only 30 seconds remaining in the day. Listeners came down to visit hosts Kelly Cutrara and John Oakley, who were on-location at Burnhamthorpe Collegiate Institute, as well as host and philanthropist Joan Kelley Walker, who did live hits from the community market. 104.5 Fresh Radio (CFLG-FM) and Boom 101.9 (CJSS-FM) also took part in Corus Caring Hearts Radiothon in support of the Cornwall Community Hospital, raising $157,685 and over $2 million since 2006. Hosts Dan Allaire, Darryl Adams, Victoria Arsenault, Trip VanDorsselaer, Cairo McDonnel and Mr. D all reported live on-air as the day went on.
LISTEN: Sue Haas, NLogic’s new President & COO, is on the latest Sound Off Podcast. Haas was at Blue Ant Media for over 12 years, managing sales operations as VP, Digital Media and later SVP. In this episode, she talks about the strategies behind multi-platform content distribution, which content should go on which platform and why, and the new technologies being introduced in the creative world.
