CJBE-FM

On March 30th, Radio Anticosti, of Port Menier on the Isle d’Anticosti, was granted a three-year licence by the CRTC to operate a French-language community radio station on 90.1 MHz, with a transmitter power of 10 watts. (The station was eventually launched with an effective radiated power of 6 watts). Initially, the station planned to broadcast 21.5 hours of programming weekly.

The station, which would be owned and controlled by a non-profit organization consisting primarily of members of the community at large, would focus on all aspects of that community, by offering programming which would examine issues affecting all of it members, as well as to special interest groups within the community.

In March, the CRTC advised CJBE-FM that it was in contravention of the Regulations in that it was unable to submit logger tapes for the period March 18th – 24th. The station advised the Commission on October 23rd that a new tape recorder was on order.

On January 4th, CJBE-FM advised the CRTC that their new tape recorder was operational. However, in issuing the station with a short-term two-year licence renewal on May 29th (September 1st 1991 – August 31st 1993), the Commission advised the licensee that its performance would be closely monitored over the term of that licence. The station’s intention to reduce its broadcast week from 21 hours 30 minutes to 14 hours 30 minutes was also approved.

In renewing the station’s licence for a further seven year term September 1st 1993 – August 31st 2000, the CRTC permitted CJBE-FM to broadcast an unlimited amount of advertising time, in accordance with the provisions of Public Notice 1992-38, “Policies for Community and Campus Radio”, which removed limits on advertising for Type A community radio stations.

By Decision 2000-293 on August 4th, the CRTC renewed the licences of CJBE-FM and several other stations from September 1st 2000 to February 28th 2001, to give the Commission time to review the various renewal applications.

On February 19th, the station received a six-year licence renewal to August 31st 2007. The former Promise of Performance filed by the station was no longer a requirement, being replaced by certain conditions of licence that accompanied the renewal. Under the new licence, the station would broadcast a total of 74 ½ hours of programming weekly, of which 14 ½ hours would be produced by the station.

In order to better serve its audience, both in the city of Port-Menier in the winter and in the surrounding areas in the summer, CJBE-FM filed an application with the CRTC for permission to change its frequency from 90.1 to 90.5 MHz, and its average effective radiated power from 6 watts to 88 watts. The transmitter would also be moved to a new and better location.

On June 30th, CJBE-FM received CRTC approval of its applications to change frequency and increase power, as well as to move its transmitter. Later in the year, the station filed an application for the renewal of its licence, which would expire on August 31st 2007.

On May 22nd, CJBE-FM received a seven-year renewal of its licence, from September 1st 2007 through August 31st 2014. As with all community radio station licence renewals at the time, the Commission’s decision was accompanied by what it described as an Encouragement, saying that it considered “….. that community radio stations should be particularly sensitive to employment equity issues in order to reflect fully the communities they serve. It encourages the licensee to consider these issues in its hiring practices and in all other aspects of its management of human resources.”