CFAJ-AM

On April 20, the CRTC approved an application by Sivanesarajah Kandiah (OBCI) to operate an English-language commercial AM radio station in St. Catharines, operating on 1220 kHz with a day and night power of 10,000 watts. The company would be owned by 85% by Sivanesarajah Kandiah and 15% by David J. Dancy, and controlled by Kandiah. Dancy had strong ties to the area, having previously been involved with the former CJRN-AM Niagara Falls and its FM station in that city and one in Fort Erie. The station would offer a music format consisting of classic hits from the 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s and would broadcast 126 hours of locally produced programming eachbroadcast week, including two hours of news, weather and sports. In addition to local, regional, national and some international news, the station would offer community-focused programming, such as weather and traffic reports, community billboards and talk shows promoting local events from charities and not-for-profit groups, for a total of 10 hours and 25 minutes of spoken word programming each week. The licence would expire on August 31, 2022. Note that 1220 kHz was previously used by the former CHSC-AM.

In October, the CRTC granted an ownership change for the yet to launch station. Sivanesarajah Kandiah and David J. Dancy relinquished 100% control to Manu Datta and Ripudaman Singh Dhillon (Radio Dhun). The new owners planned to stick with the planned format of Classic Hits.

In March, the station was given a CRTC extension until April 20, 2020 to get the station on the air.

In early February, CFAJ began on-air testing with 1,000 watts and one tower. Work was continuing to get the rest of the antenna array built.

In the spring, the CRTC granted a six-month extension to October 20 for Radio Dhun to launch CFAJ. Radio Dhun said transmission equipment had been installed and testing was underway.