CKRH-FM

On April 12, the CRTC approved in part the application by Coopérative Radio-Halifax-Métro limitée to operate a French-language Type A community FM radio station in Halifax. Within 90 days of the date of this decision, the applicant was required to submit an amendment to its application proposing the use of a frequency other than 89.7 MHz that was acceptable to both the Commission and the Department of Industry. The applicant proposed to operate the station at 89.7 MHz (channel 209B1) with an effective radiated power of 1,925 watts. The licence would expire August 31, 2012. The Coopérative would broadcast 126 hours of programming during each broadcast week, including a minimum of 80 hours of locally produced programming. It would also air programming originating with the Réseau francophone d’Amérique (RFA). Music programming would consist mainly of a mix of several styles, such as traditional, folk, blues, jazz and popular music to reflect as closely as possible the expectations of the Francophone and Francophile population in the Halifax region. The applicant stated that it would provide ongoing professional training to the station’s volunteers. On September 6, the CRTC approved the application by Coopérative Radio-Halifax-Métro limitée to operate its new FM station at 98.5 MHz (channel 253B1) with an effective radiated power of 2,350 watts. The applicant had originally proposed to broadcast on 89.7 MHz with ERP of 1,925 watts.

CKRH-FM Radio-Halifax-Métro began broadcasting in October. Studios and offices were located at 5527 Cogswell Street in Halifax.

On August 8, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence for CKRH-FM until August 31, 2013.

At the start of the year, French-language CKRH was facing funding issues. It owed $60,000 to the Canada Revenue Agency and launched a Go fund me campaign to raise $20,000 to help cover operating costs for the next year.

CKRH changed its branding from Radio Halifax to Oui 98.5. At this time it was announced that the station was financially successful again. Earlier in the year, CKRH owed Revenue Canada $60,000.

On August 22, the CRTC approved an application by Coopérative Radio-Halifax-Métro limitée to amend the licence for French-language community station CKRH-FM, to reduce from 15 to 5% the minimum level of spoken word content that must be broadcast each broadcast week, for a period of two years. This amendment would give the licensee time to implement a recovery plan for the station, while providing a minimum amount of spoken word content to the official language minority community in Halifax. The licensee stated that it was in a precarious situation, with a total debt of nearly $100,000. It indicated that since November 2015, the board of directors had been working with a consultant from the Conseil de développement économique de la Nouvelle-Écosse as part of a provincial project to support Francophone media.

On July 9, the CRTC gave CKRH a short-term licence renewal to August 31, 2024 due to issues of non-compliance.