The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has approved the sale of a Winnipeg AM radio station, but not a Calgary station that was to have been included in the same transaction.
Akash Broadcasting had proposed to purchase CFRW/1290 (Winnipeg) and CKMX/1060 (Calgary) from Bell Media along with CKMX’s shortwave relay station, CFVP (6030 KHz). CFRW and CKMX were among six AM stations Bell took off the air in 2023.
In a decision released Oct. 16, the CRTC approved the sale of CFRW but denied the sale of CKMX.
“The Commission finds that the Winnipeg transaction is the best proposal under the circumstances and will help ensure that the station serves the community of Winnipeg with local programming. Given the different context of the Calgary market, the Commission finds that the applicant did not demonstrate that the Calgary transaction is the best proposal under the circumstances,” the CRTC wrote.
Akash, headed by Herkiranjeet Kaur Mann, owns radio stations in Surrey, B.C., and Edmonton, Alberta, that run multicultural formats.
The purchase price for CFRW itself is $325,000 but the CRTC valued the total transaction at $1,047,250 when real property is considered, while acknowledging that a “significant portion” of the land being purchased would not be used for broadcasting.
The buyer has said it will not revive CFRW’s previous All-Comedy format but has not determined what format it will carry. The station’s current license is limited to no more than 15% of third-language programming per week and Akash has not proposed to raise that limit. (Third languages are those other than English, French, or Indigenous languages spoken in Canada.)
Akash has committed to broadcasting at least 42 hours of local programming per week. The CRTC said it also “expects” that CFRW will resume broadcasting local news.
If music is played, CFRW’s current license essentially requires an Oldies or Nostalgia format, mandating 90% pop music released before 1981 and 30% Canadian musical selections.
CFRW is authorized to transmit with 10kW, using different directional patterns day and night. It has been licensed since 1963 and is one of three remaining AM radio licenses in Winnipeg.
As for CKMX, the CRTC explained that the proposed sale comes amid a call for new station applications in the Calgary market and that Akash also applied for a station during that call. It wrote, “the ongoing Calgary Call will be an opportunity for operators of diverse backgrounds, including Akash, to present their plans to serve the Calgary community, which reduces the potential benefit of reviving a station that has been off the air, like CKMX.”