Upcoming CRTC hearing to address sale of Roundhouse Radio, G98.7, among other licences

The CRTC has given notice that it will hold an upcoming hearing to determine a number of pending licence renewals and the proposed sales of defunct Vancouver station Roundhouse Radio (CIRH-FM) to Durham Radio and Toronto’s G98.7 (CKFG-FM) to multicultural broadcaster Neeti P. Ray.

Roundhouse Radio has been off the air since May 2018. While a deal was on the table to sell the station to South Fraser Broadcasting, that fell through over the winter. Last month, the commission granted Pushor Family Holdings of Kelowna a short term licence renewal through August of this year to give them time to secure a new buyer.

CIRH-FM would be Durham’s eighth radio station and its only property outside of Ontario. According to CRTC documents, the proposed purchase price for the CIRH-FM shares and shareholder loans would be either $701,000 (if the applications are approved on terms and conditions acceptable to the purchaser) or $551,000 (if the applications are denied or approved on terms and/or conditions that are not acceptable to the purchaser).

Durham wants to amend the station’s conditions of licence, namely related to the requirement to devote more than 50% of its broadcast week to spoken word programming. Instead, it wants to commit to playing a minimum of 50% category 3 (Special Interest Music), while lowering the amount of Canadian content it airs from 50 to 40%.

Also being considered at the May 27 hearing will be Intercity Broadcasting Network’s proposed sale of G98.7 (CKFG-FM).

Neeti P. Ray – who owns CINA-FM Windsor and CINA 1650 AM Mississauga, among other multicultural stations – was the successful bidder for the station, which is under court-appointed receivership. The proposed purchase price is $6,232,235, which includes the value of leases assumed by the purchaser. Ray has indicated his commitment to continue offering programming catering to the GTA’s Caribbean and African community.

The commission will also hear an application from Local Radio Lab Inc. (LRL) to acquire the assets of CIMA-FM Alliston, CJML-FM Milton and CKMO-FM Orangeville, ON from My Broadcasting Corporation (MBC); an application by Native Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Inc. to renew the broadcasting licence for the low-power English- and Indigenous-language specialty (religious) radio station CJTL-FM Pickle Lake, ON; an application from Radio Ntetemuk inc. for a broadcasting licence to operate an Indigenous (Type B Native) FM radio station in Pessamit (Betsiamites), Quebec; an application by Muskoday Community Radio Corporation for a broadcasting licence to operate a low-power Indigenous (Type B Native) radio station in Muskoday, SK; and an application by Abram Zacharias, on behalf of a not-for-profit corporation to be incorporated, for a broadcasting licence to operate a low-power ethnic commercial FM radio station in La Crête, AB.

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