News release

October 4, 2001

CRTC adds four new radio
stations to Ottawa’s dial

OTTAWA-HULL — Listeners in the National Capital Region will have four new radio stations to choose from, following the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's (CRTC) decisions issued today. The decisions grant radio licences for an ethnic station, an aboriginal station, an English-language dance station and a French-language classical musical station.

The Commission believes these new licences will provide local competition, diversity and new points of view to a dynamic radio industry. As well, they will reflect the radio market in the Ottawa-Hull area, which is home to more than a million people of both official languages and various ethnicities.

The stations will offer the following:

English dance station: Newcap Inc.’s "The Planet" will offer a blend of dance music, European pop, urban, world beat rhythms and Latin music. It will operate on 89.9 FM.

Aboriginal radio station: Aboriginal Voices Radio (AVR), a not-for-profit radio station, will provide listeners native musical and spoken word programming oriented to people’s interests in aboriginal issues and music. It will operate on 95.7 FM.

Ethnic radio station: Radio 1540 will offer programming to 37 different cultural groups in at least 20 different languages. It will focus on local news and events as well as providing talk, music, and information. This radio station will operate on 97.9 FM.

French classical music station: This station, to be operated by Radio Nord, will offer popular classical concert music geared to a broad segment of listeners, including younger audiences. The licensee will also offer local programming, including regional news. As a condition of licence, Radio Nord will establish a scholarship program to support the local and regional classical music scene. Radio Nord will be in a position to begin operations when it receives approval for an alternate frequency other than the one for which it originally applied.

The CRTC considered several factors when reviewing and granting these four radio licences. These factors included the technical and financial feasibility of the proposed station, the quality of the application, the impact of new entrants in the market, the competitive state of the market, the diversity of editorial voices, as well as diversity of style and format. The Commission made its decision after conducting a public hearing, which began on May 22, 2001 to hear from the applicants and interested parties.

Copies of the CRTC decisions can be found at www.crtc.gc.ca .

Reference documents: Public Notice CRTC 2001-105,
Decisions CRTC 2001-625, 2001-626, 2001-627, 2001-628 and 2001-629

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Media Inquiries:
   Denis Carmel, Tel: (819) 997-9403, eMail: denis.carmel@crtc.gc.ca

General Inquiries:
   Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N2
   Tel: (819) 997-0313, TDD: (819) 994-0423, Fax: (819) 994-0218
   Toll-free # 1-877-249-CRTC (2782), eMail: info@crtc.gc.ca
   TDD - Toll-free # 1-877-909-2782

Copies of today’s documents are available through our Internet site (http://www.crtc.gc.ca) or by contacting the public examination room of any CRTC office. These documents are available in alternative format upon request.

Date Modified: 2001-10-05

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