CITE-FM

On July 28, CKAC Ltee (division of Telemedia) received approval to operate a new FM station at Montreal. CKAC had proposed to use a frequency of 93.5 MHz (with effective radiated power of 59,000 watts) but that was awarded to CBM-FM. CKAC was advised to seek a suitable Class C1 frequency. It was a condition of licence that prime service be to Montreal Island. CKAC Ltee owned and operated CKAC-AM 730 in the city.

CITE-FM signed on the air May 20. It operated on the now assigned frequency of 107.3 MHz and had an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts. It had originally applied for the use of 93.5 MHz but was told to seek an alternate channel. The station had a Middle of the Road format. Studios were co-located with CKAC on Ste-Catherine Street. The CCA 25 kw transmitter and Dielectric antenna were atop the Auberge Richelieu on Sherbrooke Street. Telemedia chose this location because it provided excellent coverage of Montreal’s French population. Engineers felt there would have been a few problems had CITE chosen to operate from the main FM-TV antenna farm on Mount Royal. Programming was relayed to the transmitter via telephone line.

CITE-FM’s technical director was Bob Lawson. CKAC-CITE engineer Yves Picard conceived, designed and installed the new facilities for Radio-CITE.

On May 16, Telmed Ltee, CKCV (Quebec) Ltee, CKAC Ltee, CHLT Radio Sherbrooke Ltee, Metro-Media Communications (1977) Ltee and Telemedia Communications Ltee received approval to amalgamate under the name of Telemedia Communications Ltee. a wholly owned subsidiary of Beaudem Ltee. Telemedia would then become the direct licensee of the six AM and three FM stations it already controled in Quebec.

CITE’s request for a change to its promise of performance was denied. The CRTC stated the licensee had deviated substantially from the spirit and letter of the initial POP. A review was to take place within a year – at the licence renewal hearing.

CITE was told by the CRTC to live up to its original promise of performance or its licence would not be renewed. The Commission said the station had not achieved the objectives of the FM policy, had not met the commitments made in its original POP, nor complied with the latest licence renewal of April, 1979. A short-term renewal was given for now.

On August 15, Telemedia Communications Inc. was given approval to decrease CITE’s effective radiated power from 100,000 watts to 44,400 watts and to move the transmitter to the CBC’s Mount Royal tower. 

On January 11, the CRTC renewed CITE-FM’s licence until September 30, 1985.

On March 11, the CRTC approved the application to amend the licence for CITE-FM by decreasing the effective radiated power from 44,400 watts to 42,900 watts. The licensee indicated that the service provided to the Montreal area would not be affected by the change. 

Telemedia Quebec named Liette Champagne vice president of the FM division and general manager of Radio Cite (Montreal).

Studios moved to 1411 Peel Street, Suite 300.

CITE was given permission to operate a transitional digital radio undertaking from Mont Royal, using the EUREKA-147 digital audio broadcasting system. The transmitter would operate on 1452,816 MHz with an effective isotropic radiated power of 11,724 watts.

The corporate name changed from Telemedia Communications Inc. to Telemedia Radio Inc.

The corporate name changed from Telemedia Radio Inc. to Télémédia Radio (Québec) inc.

Astral Media Inc. purchased Telemedia’s stations in Quebec and Atlantic Canada.

On February 23, the CRTC approved the application to amend the licence for CITE-FM in order to delete the condition of licence relating to the provision of annual reports on the diversity of musical selections.

In August, Astral Media rebranded its “Rock Detente” stations as “Rouge FM,” with little change in the Adult Contemporary sound.

Since September 3, Astral’s five radio stations, NRJ Montréal 94.3, 107,3 Rouge fm, CJAD 800 AM, Virgin Radio 96 and CHOM 97 7, had been broadcasting from the same address, thereby making Astral Radio Montreal Canada’s largest private radio broadcasting centre. Over the past year, Astral Radio had made major investments in its Montreal headquarters in order to make state-of-the-art technology an integral part of its infrastructure. The Astral Radio English-language stations (CJAD 800 AM, Virgin Radio 96 and CHOM 97 7) left their studios on Fort Street to join their French-language counterparts (NRJ Montréal 94.3 and 107,3 Rouge fm) at 1717 René-Lévesque Boulevard East. Astral Radio’s five Montreal stations were now united under one roof, sharing cutting-edge technology in their exceptionally modern and attractive new premises. In addition to uniting the strengths of the five stations, this endeavor brought stations, shows and radio personalities together under one roof.

On June 27, 2013, after a previous such application had been denied in 2012, the CRTC approved an application by Astral Media Inc. to sell its pay and specialty television channels, conventional television stations and radio stations to BCE Inc., including CITE-FM.

On December 8, CITE began broadcasting in HD. In addition to the signal of RougeFM 107.3 on HD channel 1, the station also offered CJAD on HD2 and CKGM on HD3.

Bell Media announced in June that it would move almost the entire Énergie 94.3 talent lineup over to sister station Rouge FM 107.3, starting August 14.

CITE changed format in June from Adult Contemporary to CHR but retained the Rouge 107.3 branding.