1997
On December 10, the CRTC granted approval of the sale of CFBG-AM radio in Bracebridge Ontario by Telemedia Communications Inc. to Christopher Grossman’s Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. This was Haliburton’s first broadcast acquisition.
1999
On August 31st, the CRTC approved the sale by Pelmorex Radio Inc of its AM stations CHNO and CHYC Sudbury, CKAP Kapuskasing, and CKOY Timmins (plus CKOY’s rebroadcasters CHOH-FM Hearst and CHYK Kapuskasing), to the Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. On the same date, Haliburton received approval to convert the Sudbury and Timmins stations from AM to FM, with licences expiring on August 31st 2005. CKAP Kapuskasing would remain an AM station.
2000
On February 17th, Haliburton received CRTC approval for the acquisition from Quinte Broadcasting Co. Ltd. of AM radio station CJNH Bancroft, ON. At the time, CJNH was only originating 20 hours of local programming a week, with the balance coming from CFBG Bracebridge.
2001
On February 9th, Haliburton received CRTC approval for a new FM station in Timmins, ON, which would operate as CHMT-FM. The station began broadcasting in June.
On February 9, the CRTC also approved the conversion of CKAP-AM Kapuskasing to the FM dial, at 100.9 MHz.
On March 2nd, the CRTC approved the conversion of CJNH Bancroft from AM to FM, with an effective radiated power of 50,000 watts. This would enable the station’s signal to reach Minden and Haliburton. As part of the deal, Haliburton undertook to originate all the station’s programming from Bancroft. CJNH-AM became CHMS-FM in May.
CKAP-FM Kapuskasing began testing September 10. It went on the air early because of a fire at the AM transmitter on September 6. Haliburton had originally received approval to broadcast simultaneously on the AM and FM bands for a period of three months.
On November 9, the sale of CHNO-FM Sudbury by Haliburton to NewCap Inc. was approved.
On November 9th the CRTC approved the sale of CKLP-AM in Parry Sound by Playland Broadcasting Limited to Haliburton.
Standard Broadcasting acquired a 29.9% interest in Haliburton Broadcasting.
2003
On September 19th, the CRTC approved the transfer of control of Haliburton through the transfer of Mr. Christopher Grossman’s voting shares (100% of the total) to his personal holding company, 1572676 Ontario Inc. This would later become Beaumaris Group Inc.
On November 19th, a deal was approved by the CRTC whereby Haliburton would acquire CJWL-FM Iroquois Falls and CHPB-FM Cochrane from Tri-Tel Communications Inc. In applying for approval for this deal, Haliburton emphasized the potential benefits of synergies with its existing ownership of CKAP-FM Kapuskasing and CHMT-FM Timmins.
2004
On March 12th the CRTC approved an application by Haliburton to acquire CKNR-FM Elliot Lake from North Channel Broadcasters Inc.
2005
On August 11, Haliburton was given approval to operate a new FM station at North Bay on 106.3 MHz . The call letters would be CFXN-FM.
On October 13, Haliburton received approval to operate a new FM station at Haliburton. The station, whose call letters would be CFZN-FM, would broadcast on 93.5 MHz. The station would provide a minimum of 45 hours of local programming on weekdays as well as local programming each Saturday and Sunday. Programming would include cottage information updates, local community vignettes, public service announcements and community highlights as well as a daily 30-minute news and information program about Haliburton and the nearby community of Minden called “Haliburton Minden Today” . HBG stated that the new station would also benefit from cottage country programming from its sister stations CHMS-FM Bancroft and CFBG-FM Bracebridge, as well as from CKLP-FM Parry Sound and CKNR-FM Elliot Lake and Manitoulin Island.
CJWL-FM Iroquois Falls became CFIF-FM.
2006
In March, CFZN Haliburton was launched.
CFXN-FM North Bay signed on the air on July 12 at 12:01 a.m., with an adult classic hits format. Studios and offices were located at 118 Main Street East.
2007
The transfer of the ownership and effective control of Bel-Roc Communications Inc. to The Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. was approved. Bel-Roc owned CKNS-FM in Haldimand County, Ontario.
In June, CKNS-FM “Mix 92.9” became CKJN-FM “Jayne FM 92.9”. The format changed from Hot Adult Contemporary to a Female Oriented Soft Adult Contemporary sound.
On August 31 at midnight, CKJN-FM became “92.9 Moose FM”. The format was Light Rock AC, similar to that used at other Haliburton “Moose” stations across Ontario. CKJN-FM also increased power.
On November 7, the CRTC approved the sale of Muskoka-Parry Sound Broadcasting Ltd., owners of CFBK-FM Huntsville, to Haliburton.
2008
On July 28, Newcap Inc. announced that it had a tentative deal to acquire 12 stations in Ontario from Haliburton. The company’s application to acquire the Haliburton stations was announced by the CRTC on November 13, 2008, but was subsequently withdrawn in January 2009. At the time, Newcap Inc. CEO Rob Steele indicated that in light of the credit market crisis, the company did not feel that it was the right time to increase its debt load.
On October 31, the CRTC approved an application by LE5 Communications Inc. to acquire CHYC-FM Sudbury and CHYK-FM Timmins as well as its transmitters CHYX-FM Kapuskasing and CHYK-FM-3 Hearst, from Haliburton. LE5 was a corporation owned and controlled by Paul Lefebvre.
2009
On June 1, the CRTC approved the application by Haliburton-owned Muskoka-Parry Sound Broadcasting Ltd. to increase CFBK-FM’s effective radiated power from 5,000 watts to 43,400 watts and to decrease the effective height of the antenna above average terrain to 147 metres. The changes would improve the signal to the west into the Almaguin Highlands in order to enhance service to a cluster of 27 very small communities. The changes would also greatly improve the reception and signal in areas that had limited or impeded signal due to very challenging terrain in the service area.
2010
On August 12th, Haliburton’s application was approved for them to acquire the assets of radio station CJJM-FM, Espanola ON, from JOCO Communications Inc.
On August 30th, the CRTC approved Bel-Roc Communications Inc and Muskoka-Parry Sound Broadcasting Limited continuing to operate as Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc.
2011
On January 12th, Haliburton received CRTC approval for a new FM radio station to be located at Barry’s Bay, Ontario. The new station’s call letters would be CHBY-FM. As of March 7th 2012, the station had not yet been launched.
On February 21st, the CRTC approved the acquisition by Haliburton of the assets of CJCS-AM and CHGK-FM Stratford from Raedio Inc., and of the assets of CFSF-FM Sturgeon Falls from JOCO Communications Inc.
Later in the year, on April 21st, Haliburton received CRTC approval for yet another Ontario station, an FM operation to be located in Kemptville, Ontario. On June 8, the CRTC approved an application by Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. for authority to acquire from Niagara Radio Group Inc. the assets of CFLZ-FM Niagara Falls and CKEY-FM Fort Erie and its transmitter CKEY-FM-1 St. Catharine’s. The Commission directed Haliburton to fulfill the shortfalls in CFLZ-FM’s and CKEY-FM’s Canadian content and talent development contributions for previous broadcast years up to and including the 2009-2010 broadcast year by 31 August 2011. Haliburton was controlled by Christopher Grossman through his ownership and control of Beaumaris Group Inc., Haliburton’s controlling shareholder. In accordance with the revised approach to non-compliance by radio stations, the Commission considered that a short-term licence period for CFLZ-FM and CKEY-FM would be appropriate. This short-term licence period would enable the Commission to review the licensee’s compliance with the Regulations and its conditions of licence. Accordingly, the licences would expire August 31, 2015, which coincided with the expiry date of the existing licences.
On November 9th, the CRTC announced that at a hearing in Calgary on February 6th 2012, it would hear an application by Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. for authority to acquire from Rick Sargent the assets of the English-language commercial FM radio programming undertakings CJFB-FM Bolton, Ontario, and CFGM-FM Caledon, Ontario.
The applicant also requested new broadcasting licences to continue the operation of the undertakings under the same terms and conditions as those in effect under the then current licences.
The Commission noted that the then current licensee, Rick Sargent, might have failed to comply with section 9(2) of the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the Regulations), which pertained to the filing of annual returns. Additionally, the licensee might have failed to comply with section 15 of the Regulations, which pertained to basic annual Canadian content development (CCD) contributions. The Commission said that it would examine these instances of apparent non-compliance in rendering its decision and noted that the applicant had committed to pay any arrears in CCD contributions amassed by Rick Sargent.
On November 10th, Haliburton received CRTC approval for a new English-language FM station in Prescott, Ontario. The station would operate at 107.9 MHz, ERP 1000 watts (max 4200 watts).
2012
On February 27th, the new Haliburton station CKVV-FM Kemptville, ON, was launched.
On March 14th, the CRTC approved the application by Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. for authority to acquire from Rick Sargent the assets of the English-language commercial radio stations CJFB-FM Bolton and CFGM-FM Caledon, Ontario, and for broadcasting licences to continue the operation of those stations.
On July 10th, 2012, the CRTC announced that it would hold a hearing commencing on 10 September 10th 2012 at 9:00 a.m. at the Palais de congrès de Montréal, 1001 place Jean-Paul-Riopelle, Montréal, Quebec, to consider, inter alia, an application by Vista Radio Ltd., for authority to acquire the assets of all of the Ontario radio broadcasting undertakings owned by Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc.
The applicant was also requesting new broadcasting licences to continue the operations of the undertakings under the same terms and conditions as those that were in effect under the then current licences.
In making the announcement, the Commission noted that an application for a change of effective control had been approved in a Decision Letter on 5 July 2012. Following the closing of the transaction, Vista Radio would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Westerkirk Capital Inc. (Westerkirk), a corporation wholly owned by SEB Investments Corp. which in turn would be owned by Thomson Investments Limited (85% voting interest) and Brydson Group Inc. (15% voting interest). Vista Radio would then be controlled by Westerkirk and the Thomson family.
The Commission also noted that, for some of its stations, the current licensee appeared to be in non-compliance with section 15 of the Radio Regulations, 1986 as well as its conditions of licence.
On October 19th, the CRTC announced that it had approved the application by Vista Radio Ltd. for authority to acquire from Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. (Haliburton) the assets of Haliburton’s Ontario AM and FM radio stations located in Bancroft, Barry’s Bay, Bolton, Bracebridge, Caledon, Cochrane, Elliot Lake, Espanola, Fort Erie, Haldimand, Haliburton, Hearst, Huntsville, Iroquois Falls, Kapuskasing, Kemptville, Niagara Falls, North Bay, Parry Sound, Prescott, St. Catharines, Stratford, Sturgeon Falls and Timmins.
Haliburton Broadcasting Group Inc. Radio Stations
(Click on the call letters to view individual station histories)
| Station | Freq. | Location |
|---|---|---|
| CFGM-FM | 103.7 | Caledon, ON |
| CFBG-FM | 101.9 | Bracebridge, ON |
| CFBK-FM | 105.5 | Huntsville, ON |
| CFIF-FM | 101.1 | Iroquois Falls, ON |
| CFLZ-FM | 101.1 | Niagara Falls/Fort Erie, ON |
| CFSF-FM | 99.3 | Sturgeon Falls, ON |
| CFXN-FM | 106.3 | North Bay, ON |
| CFZN-FM | 95.3 | Haliburton, ON |
| CHGK-FM | 107.7 | Stratford, ON |
| CHMS-FM | 97.7 | Bancroft, ON |
| CHMT-FM | 93.1 | Timmins, ON |
| CHNO-FM | 103.9 | Sudbury, ON |
| CHPB-FM | 98.1 | Cochrane, ON |
| CHTG-FM | 92.9 | Caledonia, ON |
| CJCS-FM | 107.1 | Stratford, ON |
| CJED-FM | 105.1 | Niagara Falls, ON |
| CJFB-FM | Power | Bolton, ON |
| CKAP-FM | 100.9 | Kapuskasing, ON |
| CKLP-FM | 103.3 | Parry Sound, ON |
| CKNR-FM | 94.1 | Elliot Lake, ON |
| CKVV-FM | 97.5 | Kemptville, ON |