CHET-FM

Chetwynd Communications Society was awarded a Class “A” Community Radio Station licence on September 27. Society directors Leo Sabulsky and Jeff Faye were the two with the dream to launch the station. Sabulksy was also the chief of the Chetwynd fire department.

CHET-FM began broadcasting at 5:00 a.m. on December 5. It was the first Class A Community Radio Station in English Canada. CHET broadcast from a former closet at Chetwynd Secondary School.

On May 15, CHET-FM was granted a low power rebroadcast transmitter at Dawson Creek, some 100 kilometres away from Chetwynd. The transmitter would operate on 94.5 MHz with effective radiated power of 50 watts.

The rebroadcast transmitter went on the air as CHAD-FM. 

On June 13, the CRTC renewed the licence for Chetwynd Communications Society’s CHET-FM Chetwynd, and its transmitter (CHAD-FM Dawson Creek). The Commission determined that it was appropriate for CHET-FM to retain its status as a Type A community radio station. Based on its analysis, the Commission found that the addition of CHET-FM’s transmitter in Dawson Creek has not had any negative financial impact on the incumbent radio station CJDC-AM. The CRTC recognized that the transmitter had increased the diversity of programming available in the Dawson Creek radio market. 

On May 16, Chetwynd Communications Society received CRTC approval to establish low power rebroadcasters for CHET 94.5 in Hudson’s Hope and Tumbler Ridge. The transmitter in Hudson’s Hope would operate on 99.5 with 50 watts. The transmitter in Tumbler Ridge would also operate on 99.5 with 50 watts.

Leo Sabulsky, 67, died on July 10. Sabulsky was chairman of the Chetwynd Communications Society. He obtained the first Class A community radio licence in Canada in 1997 for CHET-FM. Leo went on to spearhead the launch of CHET-TV, and CHAD-FM where he hosted weekly radio show, Leo & Friends.