CFDA-FM

An application by Pierre Brisson for a 1,000 watt station was approved. (In 1949, the CBC recommended for approval, an application by La Compagnie de Radio-Diffusion de Thetford Ltee for a 250 watt AM station on 1230 kHz at Victoriaville).

Even though the CBC approved the 1950 application (1380/1000), Radio Victoriaville Ltee was now asking the board to reconsider in favour of two 250 watt transmitters – one at Victoriaville and one at Drummondville – transmitting the same program service. Frequencies were not available. This application was denied. The CBC Board said relay transmitters could be used only under unusual circumstances to fill gaps in an expected coverage area and not to extend the service area. The company is headed by P.H. Plurde, who had the original Victoriaville stand-alone application, approved in February, 1950. The CBC had already approved the transfer of the proposed station from Pierre Brisson to Radio Victoriaville Ltee.

CFDA 1380 signed on the air October 19 with 1,000 watts of power. The official opening was held October 21. Wilfred Mondoux was CFDA’s manager. He had been with CJSO in Sorel. Locally owned and operated, CFDA served Victoriaville and Drummondville. Studios and offices were in the Laurier Theatre.

CFDA became a C.A.B. member.

Roger Gilbert was named acting manager at CFDA.

An application to transfer CFDA to Dr. C.A. Gilbert from Radio Victoriaville Ltee was denied by the regulator.

The CBC Board of Governors deferred the transfer of CFDA pending the outcome of legal proceedings against shareholders. The proposed purchaser was Dr. C.A. Gilbert.

CFDA was owned by Radio Victoriaville Ltee (Dr. C. A. Gilbert 20%, J. A. Brisson 20%, Pierre Brisson 20%, Lionel Kirouac 20% and P. H. Plourde 20%). The station was an independent and had no network affiliation. Dr. C. A. Gilbert was president of the company and Roger Gilbert was CFDA’s manager. 

According to Elliot-Haynes, CFDA reached a total of 52,424 adult listeners every day.

Leo Benoit, former CHLN (Trois-Rivieres) program director, was named general manager of CFDA. He planned to introduce a new program policy which would see new hours of operation – 6:30 a.m. to midnight, effective September 1. 

Studios and offices were moved from the Laurier Theatre to 55 St-Jean-Baptiste.

Lucien Michaud was president of Radio Victoriaville Ltee and manager of CFDA.

On June 15, approval was granted for the sale of Radio Victoriaville Ltee to Radio Megantic Ltee, Nadeau & Freres Ltee, and 9 others.

On March 21, CFDA was given permission to affiliate with Radio-Canada, and to join CKLD Thetford Mines, CKFL Lac Megantic and a proposed new station at Plessisville in a new network (operated by Radio Megantic Ltee) called Radio Apalache.

CFDA was given approval to increase fulltime power to 10,000 watts and to change the location of its antenna site.

On June 8, Radio Victoriaville Ltee was authorized to disaffiliate CFDA from the Radio-Canada network and to join Le Resseau Telemedia. Radio-Canada was given approval in 1978 to operate its own FM transmitter and would maintain a modified affiliation agreement with CFDA until FM receiver ownership was at a sufficient level in the region. 

Major renovations were made to CFDA’s control room. The old Northern Electric console was replaced with a new McCurdy stand-alone.

CFDA’s production studio and the offices went through a major renovation. All of the equipment in the studio was replaced with new items, including a McCurdy 8810A console.

Robert Daneau was CFDA’s general manager. Francois Labee was the owner.

CFDA was now available locally on FM cable – in pseudo stereo.

The station used a Continental 10 kw transmitter.

CFDA was part of the Appalache Network.

CFDA had authority from the CRTC to build an FM station to compliment the AM operation. CFJO-FM was expected to be on the air in the summer. 

CFDA had its licence renewed to August 31, 1996 and was given permission to reduce local programming from 69 hours and 15 minutes a week to 44 hours and 12 minutes.

On September 29, Radio Victoriaville ltée’s application to convert CFDA to the FM band was approved. The new station would operate on 101.9 MHz with an effective radiated power of 1,350 watts.

The move to FM took place. 

On August 19 the CRTC renewed CFDA-FM’s licence until August 31, 2012. 

On August 17, the CRTC administratively renewed the licence of CFDA-FM to August 31, 2013.

On May 19, the CRTC approved the application by Attraction Radio inc. for authority to acquire the shares and change the effective control of Gestion Appalaches, the parent company of Radio Mégantic ltée (CKLD-FM Thetford Mines and its transmitter CJLP-FM Disraeli), Réseau des Appalaches (FM) ltée (CFJO-FM Thetford Mines and its transmitter CFJO-FM-1 Lac Mégantic), and Radio Victoriaville ltée (CFDA-FM Victoriaville). Attraction Radio was owned by Attraction Média inc. (80%) and Ooük Management Inc. (20%) and controlled by Richard Speer. Gestion Appalaches was a corporation owned by François Labbé (90.91%), Annie Labbé (2.82%) and Fiducie familiale F. Labbé (6.27%). Effective control of Gestion Appalaches was exercised by François Labbé. Following the transaction, Gestion Appalaches would be wholly owned by Attraction Radio and controlled by Richard Speer. To ensure compliance with the Common Ownership Policy, the Commission directed Attraction Radio, as a condition of approval, to file a technical change application by August 13, 2015 to reduce to under 5% the population included in the overlapping area of the primary contours of CKYQ-FM Plessisville and CFDA-FM Victoriaville, as well as to shut down the transmitter CKYQ-FM-1 Victoriaville.

In September the CRTC approved CFDA’s application to decrease power from 1,350 to 955 watts (maximum ERP would increase from 1,350 to 1,600 watts). Antenna height would raise from 149.0 to 163.1 metres (EHAAT). The transmitter site would be relocated and the radiation pattern changed from non-directional to directional.

In September, CFDA changed branding from Passion Rock to Plaisir 101.9. The format remained Adult Contemporary. CFDA dropped its partial simulcast of CKLD Thetford Mines to offer 100% local programming.

In August, the CRTC approved the change of effective control of Groupe Attraction Radio. The move transferred majority ownership of the company’s 14 Quebec radio stations to Sylvain Chamberland, the company’s executive VP and CEO. He would hold a 50.25% stake in the new ownership structure. Chamberland was recruited by Attraction’s founder Richard Speer in 2011 to set up the radio division.

In January, Attraction Radio became Arsenal Media Group.