CJTW-FM

On May 14, the CRTC awarded four new FM licences for stations to serve the Kitchener-Waterloo region.

Sound of Faith Broadcasting was granted a licence for a new low-power FM  station that would feature Christian music and other religious programming. The station would operate on 94.3 MHz with an effective radiated power of 50 watts.

They had originally planned to operate a Community Developmental station on 91.5 MHz but on CRTC advice, decided to apply for 94.3 MHz and a religious specialty licence.

Prior to this time, Sound of Faith had a presence in the market, with an office at 665 King St. E., Kitchener; and they produced a one hour program each week for airing on CKWR-FM.

CJTW-FM 94.3 began on-air testing with Christmas music on December 18.

CJTW-FM “The Christian Voice of Waterloo Region” officially launched on February 28, and was known as Faith-FM. Studios and offices were at 659 King Street East in Kitchener. The antenna was located on top of the cooling tower, atop Kitchener City Hall.

Sound of Faith had applied to change CJTW’s frequency to 106.7 MHz and increase ERP to 1,585 watts.  The application was turned down by the CRTC on April 20.

On April 10, CJTW was denied a power increase from 50 watts to 141 watts (average) / 250 watts (maximum) and increase in antenna height (at the same location) from 54 to 58 metres. 

On June 30, the CRTC renewed the broadcasting licence for the English-language specialty radio station CJTW-FM Kitchener from 1 July 2010 to 31 August 2013. This short-term licence renewal will enable the Commission to review, at an earlier date, the licensee’s compliance with the Radio Regulations, 1986 and its conditions of licence. In Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2009-786, the Commission stated that the licensee may have failed to comply with section 9(2) of the Radio Regulations, 1986, which relates to the provision of annual returns, for the 2006 through 2008 broadcast years. The Commission also stated that the licensee may have failed to comply with its condition of licence relating to contributions to Canadian talent development for the 2004, 2005 and 2007 broadcast years.

On December 17, the CRTC renewed CJTW’s licence to August 31, 2018. This short-term renewal would allow for an earlier review of the licensee’s compliance with its conditions of licence and with the Radio Regulations, 1986. The Commission found the licensee in non-compliance with section 9(2) of the Regulations relating to the filing of annual returns.

In September, the CRTC approved a new Christian music FM station in Kitchener. Sound of Faith Broadcasting would operate the station at 93.7 MHz with ERP of 420 watts. The new station would replace the existing CJTW-FM, a low-power specialty station which operates at 94.3 MHz. The licence for the new station would expire August 31, 2018.

In January, CJTW began testing on its new frequency of 93.7 MHz.

In February, Dave MacDonald (73) retired as general manager of 93.7 Faith FM Radio. Aside from his time at CJTW-FM, MacDonald was a weather forecaster at CKCO-TV from the late 1960s until 2011. Sound of Faith board vice-chair Fred Campbell was appointed director of operations for Sound of Faith Broadcasting to oversee their stations in Kitchener, London and Woodstock.

On August 8, the licence of CJTW was renewed by the CRTC on a short-term basis to August 31, 2023. During the broadcast week of October 16-22, 2016, the licensee broadcast 14 musical selections that Commission staff determined were hits and therefore fell into content category 2. None of these selections were Canadian. The Commission noted that this was the third consecutive licence term in which the licensee had been in non-compliance. In 2010, CJTW’s short-term renewal was due to its non-compliance with respect to the filing of annual returns and Canadian talent development contributions. A short-term renewal was given in 2013 for non-compliance with respect to the filing of annual returns.