Larche Communications was a Canadian media company, which operated four

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

s in the province of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. The company was named for its president, Paul Larche. Based in Midland, the company began in 1997 when it acquired

CICZ-FM CICZ-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 104.1 FM in Midland, Ontario. The station, owned by Bell Media, airs an adult hits format branded as ''Bounce 104.1''. History Midland-Penetang Broadcasting Ltd. opened CKMP 1230 AM on July ...

in Midland. Larche later expanded to Waterloo when it was licensed to open a new station, CIKZ. The company later entered an agreement with

Rogers Media Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties, such as the Citytv and Omni Television terrestrial television stations, Sportsnet, ...

in 2007, selling CIKZ to that company in exchange for

CICX-FM CICX-FM (105.9 MHz) is a radio station in Orillia, Ontario. Owned by Bell Media, it broadcasts a country format branded as '' Pure Country 106''. The studio and office is located in Orillia while its transmitter is located near The Horseshoe Va ...

Orillia Orillia is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is in Simcoe County between Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe. Although it is geographically located within Simcoe County, the city is a single-tier municipality. It is part of the Huronia region of Cent ...

. Larche's application for a new radio station in Sudbury was also approved by the

CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

on July 12, 2007. This station,

CICS-FM CICS-FM is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts at 91.7 FM in Sudbury, Ontario. The station airs a country format, branded as ''Pure Country 91.7''. The studio and offices are located at 699 Frood Road in Sudbury, and the station transmi ...

, officially launched on August 18, 2008. On May 9, 2008, the company was also given CRTC authorization to launch a

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

-formatted station in

Owen Sound Owen Sound ( 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi and Sydenham Rivers on an inlet of Georgian Bay. The primary tourist attract ...

on 92.3 FM. On November 13, 2008, Larche applied for two new FM radio stations, a

hot adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...

station in Orillia and a country music station to serve the Bracebridge/ Gravenhurst area. The CRTC denied both applications from Larche Communications to operate new radio stations in Orillia, Bracebridge and Gravenhurst, however, an application from another company received approval to operate a new FM station in Orillia on June 1, 2009. On August 9, 2017,

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

announced that it would acquire Larche Communications' stations, pending CRTC approval. Bell Media received approval from the CRTC on February 14, 2018.Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2018-57
CICZ-FM Midland, CICX-FM Orillia, CJOS-FM Owen Sound and CICS-FM Sudbury – Acquisition of assets, ''CRTC'', February 14, 2018

Stations

* Midland -

- CJOS-FM * Sudbury -

References

Radio broadcasting companies of Canada Defunct broadcasting companies of Canada Companies based in Ontario Midland, Ontario Mass media companies established in 1997 Mass media companies disestablished in 2018 1997 establishments in Ontario 2018 disestablishments in Ontario Canadian companies established in 1997 Canadian companies disestablished in 2018 {{Canada-media-company-stub