CFCH-FM

Although Chase had a small weekly newspaper, local Lions Club member Ron Fairhurst, lamented that it wasn’t possible to advertise events in a timely manner.  The idea of a community radio station was put forth to local dignitaries, and application for a station was put in motion. 

On October 6 the CRTC approved application by Chase and District Lions Community Club for an English-language developmental community FM station.  It was to operate at 103.5 MHz with an effective radiated power of 4.7 watts.  The new station was licensed to broadcast a minimum of 30 hours of station-produced programming per week including community and sporting events, news, bulletins, and musical programming featuring primarily Canadian selections.  Broadcast time was to be made available to local artists, including those engaged in local theatrical productions.  The station was to devote a minimum of 10 hours of programming in Aboriginal languages and 6 hours in French each week, with staff and students from the local high school, members of the First Nations and other volunteers from the community involved in production.   

Industry Canada gave authority to power up the transmitter on January 10.  After several weeks of testing, regular twelve hours a day, seven days a week broadcasting began.  The studio was set up in the Chase Recreation Centre Society Arena and a recording studio and administrative offices were located in downtown Chase. 

On January 27 the CRTC announced that it would hear application by Chase and District Community Radio Society to acquire the assets of CFCH-FM from Chase and District Lions Community Club.  On May 10, the Commission announced approval of the application.

On August 1 the CRTC approved an application to upgrade the status of CFCH-FM from developmental community to low power type B Community. The application stated it would broadcast 84 hours of programming weekly, 100% of which would be locally produced and include spoken word programming that reflected community interests. The upgrade included a power increase to 19.7 watts. 

Chase and District Community Radio Society requested the revocation of its broadcasting licence for the English-language, low-power Type B community radio programming undertaking CFCH-FM. The CRTC revoked the licence on October 14. (CFCH left the air August 31.)