CHLR-AM

Rufino Landry on behalf of a company to be incorporated (would be known as Radio-Aboiteaux ltée), was granted a licence to operate a French-language AM station in Moncton. Rufino proposed the use of 1380 kHz with a full-time power of 10,000 watts, but was advised by the CRTC to seek another frequency to provide better coverage to the area. 35% of Moncton’s population was French and the station would serve some 60,000 Francophones. Shareholders in the new company also own CJVA at Caraquet, N. B. A competing application by Edward J. McGrath (English, 1400 kHz, 10,000 watts) was denied on the grounds Moncton could not support two new stations.

CHLR signed on the air on October 31. It wound up using the 1380 kHz frequency after all and poweer was 10,000 watts. Studios and offices were in Assumption Place in downtown Moncton. The building had recently been vacated by CKCW and CFQM-FM.

CHLR was authorized to become an affiliate of the network operated by Télémédia Communications Inc.

Most of CHLR’s staff was laid off in November due to financial difficulties.

From its inception, CHLR had difficulty attracting sufficient audience and revenues to make the undertaking viable. Early this year, Radio-Aboiteaux ltée made a proposal in bankruptcy which was accepted by its creditors and the court. CHLR 1380 left the air on January 2. Ali LeBouthilier, president of the company said they would apply for a new format and hoped to return to the air in three to six months.

Radio-Aboiteaux’s original shareholders, Rufino Landry and Alie LeBouthillier, along with four new investors applied to for a licence to operate a new English-language AM station offering a Contemporary music service to listeners between 12 and 49 years of age. It would broadcast on 1380 kHz with 10,000 watts. At the CRTC hearing, the applicant expressed a “desire to serve the needs of the francophone population in south-eastern New Brunswick” but the Commission was not convinced that its proposed experimental bilingual programming approach “to test audience reaction” would result in the provision of French-language programming responsive to the needs of the community. In arriving at this determination, the Commission took into account Radio-Aboiteaux’s previous unsuccessful attempt to establish a French-language radio service and did not consider that a further period of experimentation was warranted under the circumstances. After assessing all of the information contained in the application and the applicant’s responses at the hearing, the Commission was not convinced that the Contemporary music format or overall programming proposed by Radio-Aboiteaux represented a real alternative to the service already provided by CKCW. Radio-Aboiteaux Ltée’s application was denied.