CBAX-FM

On May 7, the CRTC approved the application by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for a broadcasting licence to carry on a French-language FM radio programming undertaking at Halifax with transmitters at Charlottetown and St. John’s. The new station would broadcast programming originating from the CBC’s French radio network, La Chaîne culturelle as well as a minimum of 20 minutes of local programming per week. The station and transmitters will operate in accordance with the following technical parameters: Halifax – 91.5 MHz (218 C1) – 77,500 watts (effective radiated power), Charlottetown – 88.9 Mhz (205 C) – 32,850 watts, and St. John’s – 101.9 Mhz (270 C) – 90,200 watts.

CBAX-FM Halifax signed on the air. The rebroadcast transmitters had not yet commenced operation.

On July 4, the CRTC approved the CBC’s application for an extension of the time limit to commence the operation of the new transmitters of CBAX-FM Halifax.

On September 1, the CRTC approved an application by the CBC to amend the licence for CBAX-FM Halifax, in order to operate a transmitter in Yarmouth. The licensee proposed to add an FM transmitter in Yarmouth to broadcast the programming of CBAX-FM Halifax in order to serve the population of Yarmouth. The new transmitter would operate at 106.1 MHz (channel 291B) with an average effective radiated power of 20,500 watts.

On March 5, the CRTC renewed the licence of CBAX-FM Halifax and its transmitters – CBAX-FM-1 Charlottetown, CBAX-FM-2 St. John’s and CBAX-FM-3 Yarmouth, to August 31, 2009.

On May 12, the CRTC renewed the licence of CBAX-FM and its transmitters at Charlottetown, St. John’s and Yarmouth, to August 31, 2010.

On August 9, the CRTC renewed the licence of CBAX-FM and its transmitters to August 31, 2011.

On August 25, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence of CBAX-FM and its transmitters to March 1, 2013.

On February 22, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence of CBAX-FM and its transmitters to August 31, 2013. On May 28, the CRTC renewed the licence of CBAX-FM Halifax and its transmitters CBAX-FM-1 Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, CBAX-FM-2 St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador and CBAX-FM-3 Yarmouth, for a five year term, to August 31, 2018. The Commission considered that it was appropriate to impose conditions of licence on Espace Musique that: permit the broadcast of a maximum of four minutes of national paid advertising, as currently defined by the Commission, in any clock hour; and limit the number of times that programming can be interrupted for advertising to no more than twice per clock hour. The broadcast of advertising by Espace Musique was for a three-year trial period from September 1, 2013 until August 31, 2016.

On December 5, the CRTC gave approval to the CBC to introduce advertising on the Radio 2 and Espace Musique networks. Advertising would be limited to four minutes every hour. The CBC would need to seek permission to continue airing commercials on the two networks after three years.

In June, the CRTC approved a decrease in ERP for CBAX-FM-1 Charlottetown – from 32,850 to 30,000 watts (Max. ERP would remain 88,000 watts). Antenna height would be lowered.

On August 31, the CRTC denied the CBC’s application to continue commercial advertising on Radio 2 and ICI Musique beyond the initial three-year licence amendment. The CRTC found that CBC had failed to maintain satisfactory investment in radio and failed to meet ad revenue projections.

On July 8, the CBC received CRTC approval to increase ERP for CBAX-FM-3 Yarmouth from 54,500 to 83,879 watts. EHAAT would be raised from 139.5 to 186,2 metres. The changes would permit the CBC to combine its ICI Radio-Canada Première, Radio One, and ICI Musique services on a single antenna to optimize operating costs.