CJBC-FM

The CBC’s application for a French-language FM station at Toronto was withdrawn pending technical negotiations with the United States. Had the station made it to air, it would have broadcast with an effective radiated power of 38,000 watts on a frequency of 89.5 MHz. In 1987, the frequency was put in to use by CIUT-FM.

On February 10, the CRTC approved the application for a licence for an FM radio station at Toronto on the frequency 90.3 MHz (channel 212B), with an effective radiated power of 3,500 watts to rebroadcast the programs of the CBC French-language FM radio network. The licence would expire on September 30, 1990.

CBC / Radio-Canada brought the French CBC stereo network to Toronto for the first time on November 3. That’s when CJBC-FM stereo officially opened on 90.3 MHz. Effective radiated power was 3,500 watts. The transmitter was on the CN Tower at 301 Front Street West. Antenna height was 430.8 metres. CJBC-FM would give Torontonians even more choice in classical music.

The CBC Toronto operations moved to the new Canadian Broadcasting Centre at 250 Front Street West.

The Radio-Canada FM stereo network became known as La Chaîne culturelle on September 1.

On May 26, CJBC-FM was granted a licence for a transitional digital radio undertaking. The transmitter was installed on the CN Tower and employed the EUREKA-147 digital audio broadcasting system. CJBC-FM operated on 1461.536 MHz with effective isotropic radiated power of 5084 watts.

CJBC-FM was granted an increase in effective radiated power, from 3,500 to 5,730 watts. The CBC also proposed to decrease the height of its antenna, by relocating its antenna from the CN Tower to First Canadian Place, where CJBC-FM would share the antenna used by co-owned CBLA-FM. The CBC stated that these changes would reduce operating costs.

CJBC-FM was given approval on April 30 to add transmitters at Paris and Windsor. The Windsor transmitter would operate on a frequency of 107.9 MHz with an effective radiated power of 3,360 watts while the Paris repeater would broadcast on 89.9 MHz with ERP of 7,140 watts.

CJBC-FM-2 (Paris) signed on the air on March 19.

La chaîne culturelle was renamed Espace musique in September.

On May 9, the CBC received approval for the addition of a CJBC-FM transmitter at Windsor. The new transmitter would operate at 103.9 MHz with an average effective radiated power of 1,450 watts. Antenna height would be 74.2 metres. CJBC-FM had received two extensions to get the Windsor transmitter on the air. This application offers different technical specifications than the 2002 proposal.

CJBC-FM-1 signed on the air in June. The transmitter site is located in downtown Windsor. CJBC-FM-1 and CJBC-FM-2 receive Radio-Canada’s Espace musique network service via satellite. 

On May 12 the CRTC renewed CJBC-FM’s licence. The renewal included the following transmitters: CJBC-DR-2 Toronto, CJBC-FM-1 Windsor and CJBC-FM-2 Paris.

On August 9, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence of CJBC-DR-2, CJBC-FM (and its transmitters) to August 31, 2011.

In 2010, the CBC had the licenses for its Montreal digital radio transmitters revoked. On January 21, 2011, the CRTC revoked the licenses for the rest of the CBC’s digital radio transmitters across the country – at the Corporation’s request. The revocations included CBLA-DR-1, CBL-DR-1, CJBC-DR-1 and CJBC-DR-2 Toronto. There had been a total lack of interest in digital radio by all parties involved.

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

On February 22, the CRTC administratively renewed the licences for CJBC-FM Toronto and its transmitters to August 31, 2013.

On May 28, the CRTC renewed the licence of CJBC-FM Toronto and its transmitters CJBC-FM-1 Windsor and CJBC-FM-2 Paris, 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.

The CRTC approved an amendment to the licence for CJBC-FM Toronto to modify the technical parameters of rebroadcasting transmitter CJBC-FM-2 Paris in order to change its antenna’s polarity to circular, to decrease the average ERP to 5,554 watts (maximum ERP to 14,823 watts), and to increase the effective height of antenna above average terrain to 249 metres.

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.

Late in the year, CJBC-FM received approval to broadcast in HD via CJBC-FM-HD with ERP of 130 watts (250 watts Max.).

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.