CJPE-FM, 99.3 County FM, Prince Edward County (Picton)
Prince Edward County Radio Corporation
| Station | Year | Freq. | Power | Owner/Info |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CJPE-FM | 2014 | 99.3 | 3,000 | Prince Edward County Radio Corporation |
2014
On January 21, the CRTC approved the application by Prince Edward County Radio Corporation for a licence to operate an English-language community FM station in Prince Edward County. The station would operate at 99.3 MHz (channel 257A) with an average effective radiated power of 1,688 watts (maximum ERP of 3,000 watts with an effective height of antenna above average terrain of 71 metres).
The station would offer musical programming drawn from a variety of genres and include selections from the generally underserved categories of Jazz and Blues, Folk, and World beat and International (Reggae). The applicant committed to providing 120 hours of local station-produced programming each broadcast week, which would include 5 hours of French-language programming. It would also broadcast at least 2 hours of newscasts each broadcast week, of which 1 hour and 30 minutes would consist of pure news.
Spoken word programming offered by the station would consist of local and regional news, weather forecasts, sports coverage, community announcements, interviews, as well as specialty program segments such as Public Affairs (local politics and local issues), Comedy Hour (local and international comedians), County Drama (a focus on theatre) and Behind the Barn.
99.3 County FM (CJPE) began raising money in the spring while also promoting local businesses. The online fundraising campaign involved incentives plus – for $993 – entering County FM’s history as being the person who pushed the button to officially launch the station.
CJPE-FM began testing in October with the official launch set for October 15.
99.3 County FM launched October 15 with a free concert at the Regent Theatre in Picton and then a countdown to 9:93 p.m.
2019
On April 12, radio and music industry veteran Bobby Gale was killed in a highway accident. He was 62. During his radio career, Gale worked at CJOM Windsor, WWWW Detroit, CHIQ Winnipeg, CHOM Montreal and CILQ Toronto. For the past 15 years, Gale was host of Sunday Glide on County FM.
Mark Campbell, 59, died on May 18. Campbell was a donor, board member and volunteer announcer at County FM.
The story continues elsewhere…
Effective September 1st 2019, we will only be adding new material to these station histories in exceptional circumstances. Our intent to chronicle the early days of these radio and television stations has been achieved, and many new sources and technologies, from the CRTC website to Wikipedia, and others, are now regularly providing new information in these areas.