New Winnipeg FM Station Signs On, AM to Leave Air

Evanov Communications has begun testing new full-power FM station CKJS-FM/92.7 (Winnipeg), which will take over the multilingual format that has run on CKJS/810 for decades.

The station says testing of the new FM station began on Sept. 21. Once testing is considered to be complete, the AM station will remain on the air for three months before going silent permanently.

The new CKJS-FM transmits with 35kW at 154m (class B) from a newly-constructed tower south of Winnipeg.

“There will be no over-the-air change as the station will continue to direct programming to at least 19 cultural groups in at least 16 different languages, chief among them the Winnipeggers of Filipino, South Asian and European descent,” the station said.

The FM station will be Evanov’s third in Winnipeg, operating alongside “Hot 100.5” (CFJL-FM) and “Energy 106” (CHWE-FM). Though Canada’s ownership cap is two FM’s per market, Ethnic stations do not count towards the cap.

The AM station, founded in 1974, uses 10kW day and night.

The FM station came about by the process of converting an AM license to FM, a practice that does not exist in the U.S. It is Winnipeg’s fourth AM-to-FM conversion in the past several decades following 580, 630, and 1050 also having fallen silent.

The move will leave only three local AM stations in Winnipeg: Corus’ CJOB/680, CBC Radio One station CBW/990 (which has an FM repeater), and Bell’s CFRW/1290.