Acadia Broadcasting Ltd.

CFBO changed call letters to CHSJ when Howard P. Robinson, J.D. McKenna, T.F. Drummie, and L.W. Bewick acquired the station.

Kenneth C. Irving purchased Saint John Publishing Company Ltd. which owned CHSJ Radio and the Telegraph-Journal and Evening Times-Globe newspaper. The company was renamed New Brunswick Publishing Co. Ltd. later in the year. Irving was a young entrepreneur having established Irving Oil Ltd. in 1924, when he was 25 years of age.

CHSJ-FM signed on the air in Saint John but was gone by 1954 as there was little interest in FM radio at the time.

On July 5, CRTC permission was given for the transfer of shares in New Brunswick Publishing Co. Ltd. from K. C. Irving Ltd. (798 common shares) to Arthur L. Irving (399) and James K. Irving (399). New Brunswick Publishing, a holding company, owned New Brunswick Broadcasting Co. Ltd.

On September 5, New Brunswick Broadcasting signed CIHF-TV on the air. MITV (Maritime Independent Television) was the region’s only over the air independent television station.

In September, the CRTC gave the okay for New Brunswick Broadcasting Co. Ltd., controlled indirectly by the Irving family of Saint John, N.B., to acquire CKBW and its rebroadcast transmitters from Acadia Broadcasting Co. Ltd. Acadia was controlled by James A. MacLeod of Bridgewater (54.37%) who was involved with the station since its launch in 1947. Robert Lowe and Robert MacLaren owned 22.8% each. MacLaren, involved with CKBW for 37 years, would remain as station manager and continue to hold a seat on the Board of Directors. MacLeod and Lowe planned to retire. The CRTC was satisfied other Irving media did not penetrate the CKBW market.

On August 29, CHSJ-TV ceased to exist. It became CBAT, owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. New Brunswick had been the only province not served by a CBC owned and operated English language TV station. After losing an average of $5 million dollars per year since sign-on, CIHF-TV was sold to CanWest Global Communications Corp. on the same date.

CHSJ-AM became CHSJ-FM on January 7.

On August 24, New Brunswick Broadcasting Co. Ltd. was awarded two new FM licences – on for Saint John and the other for St. Stephen.

CKBW made the move from AM to FM.

On January 1, New Brunswick Broadcasting Co. Ltd. and Acadia Broadcasting Co. Ltd. were amalgamated and continued under the name Acadia Broadcasting Ltd.

On June 8, the CRTC approved a corporate reorganization resulting in the transfer of the ownership and effective control of Acadia Broadcasting Limited, licensee of CHSJ-FM and CHWV-FM Saint John (NB), CHTD-FM St. Stephen (NB), and CKBW-FM Bridgewater (NS), from Brunswick News Inc., a corporation indirectly owned and controlled by J.K. Irving, A.L. Irving and John E. Irving, to 618042 N.B. Inc., a corporation indirectly owned and controlled by John E. Irving.

The transfer of the ownership and effective control of Fawcett Broadcasting Limited to Northwoods Broadcasting Limited was approved by the CRTC. Northwoods was a corporation owned and controlled by John E. Irving (Acadia). Acadia took ownership of the Fawcett stations on May 2. 

On October 23, Northwoods Broadcasting Limited received CRTC approval to acquire the assets of CFOB-FM Fort Frances, CJRL-FM Kenora, CKDR-FM Dryden, CKDR-2-FM Sioux Lookout and its transmitters CKDR-1 Ignace, CKDR-3 Hudson and CKDR-6 Atikokan as well as CKDR-5-FM Red Lake and its transmitter CKDR-4 Ear Falls, Ontario, from Fawcett Broadcasting Limited. Fawcett was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Northwoods. This transaction would be completed through the wind-up of the assets of Fawcett into Northwoods. The Commission noted that this transaction would not change the effective control of the undertakings, which would continue to be exercised by John E. Irving.

On April 24, the CRTC approved the application by Acadia Broadcasting Limited for a broadcasting licence to operate an English-language commercial FM radio station in Bridgewater, N.S. Acadia was controlled by Ocean Capital Investments NB Limited, a corporation controlled by John E. Irving. Acadia also owned CKBW in Bridgewater.

On December 2, the CRTC approved an application by Northwoods Broadcasting Limited for authority to acquire from Newcap Inc. the assets of radio stations CKTG-FM and CJUK-FM Thunder Bay.

Northwoods Broadcasting Limited amalgamated with its mother company Acadia Broadcasting on February 3. 

The CRTC approved the change in the effective control of Acadia Broadcasting Limited from John E. Irving to a joint control exercised by John K.F. Irving and Anne C.I. Oxley, following the death of John E. Irving in 2010.

Bridgewater`s CJHK-FM went on the air July 26.

It was announced in the fall that Radio CJLS Ltd. would be sold to Acadia Broadcasting. CJLS Owner/partners Ray Zinck and Chris Perry planned to retire. They purchased the station in 1998 but both had been with the station since the early 1970’s.

In the spring, the CRTC approved the application by Acadia Broadcasting to acquire CJLS from Chris Perry and Ray Zinck.

In August, Jim MacMullin retired after 15 years as President of Acadia Broadcasting and 43 years in the business. He started out with Acadia in 2001 as General Manager for CHSJ/CHWV Saint John; CHTD St. Stephen; and CKBW Bridgewater.

In May, The Tide (CHTD St. Stephen) was rebranded to 98.1 Charlotte FM “Your County Connection” and transitioned from a country format to Adult Contemporary, playing hits from today and yesterday.

In August, CJUK-FM Thunder Bay changed format from Hot Adult Contemporary (Magic 99.9) to Classic Hits (The Bay).

In the spring, CKBW Bridgewater changed format from Hot Adult Contemporary to Classic Hits.

In the summer, Acadia entered into an agreement to acquire Halifax stations CKHZ-FM and CKHY-FM from Evanov Radio Group-owned HFX Broadcasting Inc., subject to CRTC approval.

In December, the CRTC announced it would hold a hearing on February 25, 2021 to consider an application for the ownership change of CKHZ-FM and CKHY-FM Halifax from Evanov Radio Group to Acadia Broadcasting.