CJMF-FM

Michel Noel (on behalf of a company to be incorporated) was authorized on February 16 to operate a new FM station at Quebec City. The new station would broadcast on a frequency of 93.3 MHz with an effective radiated power of 70,800 watts. The applicant originally proposed to use an ERP of 60,000 watts. Noel’s proposal was described as well-balanced and realistic, providing a varied and distinct quality service. Music would be 80% French vocals, with 45% Canadian content. News would have a strong local emphasis and an hour weekly would be made available to community groups. While denying three other applications (Telemedia, Pierre Lavasseur and Leopold Fournier), the CRTC said Quebec City could support another FM station and that it would call for new applications in the near future.
 
On September 15, CJMF 93.3 signed on the air as “Harmonie FM” (easy-listening FM) with a middle of the road format.

On January 8, CJMF received approval to move its transmitter and antenna to a new location and to decrease effective radiated power from 70,000 watts to 48,000 watts. Note: CJMF was originally granted an ERP of 70,800 watts.

On February 29, the CRTC refused to renew CJMF’s licence because the station was not in compliance with its promise of performance. CJMF had been operating with a Progressive Rock format rather than the Middle of the Road / Easy Listening format that was proposed in its 1979 Promise of Performance. CJMF was ordered to leave the air by March 31, the date its existing licence was to expire. The Commission issued a call for applications for a new FM station at Quebec City.

In late March, the Federal Court of Appeal rejected CJMF’s appeal of the CRTC decision.

The station left the air on March 31, complying with the CRTC’s earlier decision. The station did not want to hurt its chances for getting a new licence. The Commission had set a hearing for July and CJMF fully intended to re-apply for a licence.

On August 16, CJMF-FM Ltée under a new ownership structure was awarded a licence for a new FM station. Six other applications were denied (including two existing stations that proposed changes to their Promise of Performance). The station would operate as in the past, on 93.3 MHz with an effective radiated power of 48,000 watts. CJMF would broadcast a progressive rock format. 

A running battle between CJMF-FM and CHOI-FM, accusing each other of non-compliance with their Promise of Performance, resulted in both stations being called to CRTC hearings, with failure to provide logger tapes being a major concern. 

Cogeco Inc. purchased CJMF-FM Ltée from Michel Noël (37.7%), Jean-Marc Carpentier (23.8%), Martin Brandl (23.8%) and Claude Thibodeau (14.7%).

The corporate name changed from CJMF-FM Ltée to Cogeco Radio-Télévision Inc.

CJMF was given approval to decrease effective radiated power from 48,000 to 32,960 watts.  

On May 28, the CRTC renewed the licence of CJMF-FM until August 31, 2016.

On July 30, the CRTC found that comments broadcast during the 26 January 2009 episode of the program Bouchard en parle, while unpleasant, did not breach the objectives of the Broadcasting Act or the Radio Regulations, 1986. On 18 February 2009, the Commission received a complaint from Françoise David concerning the 26 January 2009 broadcast of the program Bouchard en parle on CJMF-FM Québec, owned by Cogeco Diffusion inc. Because the licensee was a member of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, the Commission referred the complaint to the CBSC for a decision. The Commission also sent the CBSC nineteen other complaints it received relating to the same episode. On 3 March 2009, the CBSC informed the complainant that it would not deal with her complaint because there was a possibility of legal action, which was incompatible with the established CBSC process. However, the CBSC still reviewed the other nineteen complaints. Following the CBSC’s decision, the Commission informed the complainant on 3 April 2009 that it would deal with her complaint. However, in order to avoid influencing the industry self-regulation process, the Commission stated that it would not render its decision on the merits of Ms. David’s complaint until the CBSC had rendered its decision on the other complaints. In October 2009, the CBSC Secretariat rendered its decision, dismissing the other nineteen complaints. The Commission then deemed it appropriate to ask the complainant for her comments on the CBSC decision. In a letter dated 16 December 2009, Ms. David restated the elements of her complaint. On 28 January 2010, the complainant confirmed with the Commission that she had not begun any legal action against CJMF-FM or the host over the comments aired during the program. The full decision can be viewed on the CRTC website: Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2010-534. 

On December 17, the CRTC approved the transfer of a number of commercial radio stations from Corus Entertainment to Cogeco Inc. Cogeco already owned CJMF-FM and CJEC-FM in Quebec City. With the purchase of the Corus stations, the Quebec cluster would now include CFOM-FM and CFEL-FM.

The CRTC approved an intra-corporate reorganisation, including the transfer of the shares of Cogeco Diffusion inc. from Cogeco inc. to Cogeco Diffusion Acquisitions inc. and of the shares of CFEL inc. and Radio Sherbrooke inc. from CDAI to CDI. Cogeco Diffusion inc. was the licensee of CJMF-FM Québec, CJEB-FM Trois-Rivières, and CFGE-FM Sherbrooke and its broadcasting transmitter CFGE-FM-1 Magog. CFEL inc. was the licensee of CFEL-FM Québec. Radio Sherbrooke inc. was the licensee of CJTS-FM Sherbrooke, at the time of this approval.

On August 22, the CRTC approved the application by Cogeco Diffusion Inc. to amend the licence for CJMF-FM to be authorized to operate the station in a specialized format devoted to spoken word programming. 

CJMF changed format from Talk (days) / Classic Rock (nights) to all Talk.

In November, Henri Audet, founder of Cogeco cable died at age 94. Trained as an engineer, Audet left a job at the CBC to launch a TV station in Trois-Riviéres. He sold his house and raised $100,000 from friends and other investors as seed money. From that single television station the company became Canada’s fourth-largest cable company and one of Quebec’s largest media companies. Audet served as president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters from 1961 to 1964, and was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1984. Control of Cogeco Inc. and its direct and indirect subsidiaries was held by Gestion Audem Inc., a holding company whose shares were held entirely by the members of the family of Henri Audet.