Slaight Communications is a Canadian

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

broadcasting company. The company was formed as Slaight Broadcasting in 1971, when owner J. Allan Slaight acquired CFGM in Richmond Hill. Slaight later also acquired CFOX in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and

CHOK CHOK (1070 AM) is a Canadian radio station, licensed to Sarnia, Ontario and owned by Blackburn Radio. The station broadcasts a country format with local news, talk and sports. CHOK also has an FM translator, CHOK-1-FM, broadcasting at 103.9&nb ...

Sarnia Sarnia is a city in Lambton County, Ontario, Canada. It had a 2021 population of 72,047, and is the largest city on Lake Huron. Sarnia is located on the eastern bank of the junction between the Upper and Lower Great Lakes where Lake Huron fl ...

, and launched CILQ in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. The company later sold off all of its original assets, and continued to operate its radio holdings through the Standard Broadcasting division after Slaight bought out that company in 1985. As Standard, it remained the largest privately owned multimedia company in Canada until it sold its radio and TV broadcasting assets to

Astral Media Astral Media Inc. was a Canadian media conglomerate. It was Canada's largest radio broadcaster, with 84 radio stations in eight provinces. Astral was also a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, with 23 specialty channels ...

in 2007. Today, all of Standard Radio stations are either owned by

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 ...

or Stingray Radio. The company continues to operate holdings in non-traditional broadcast platforms such as

satellite radio Satellite radio is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)'s ITU Radio Regulations (RR) as a ''broadcasting-satellite service''. The satellite's signals are broadcast nationwide, across a much wider geographical area than ter ...

and

Internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

. Slaight also continues to hold minority investments in three other small radio station groups.

Standard Broadcasting

Standard Broadcasting was founded as Standard Radio Manufacturing in 1925 by

Edward S. Rogers, Sr. Edward Samuel Rogers Sr. (June 21, 1900 – May 6, 1939) was a Canadian inventor and pioneer in the radio industry who founded the Rogers Vacuum Tube Company and the CFRB radio station in Toronto, Ontario. His only child, Edward S. Rogers Jr. ...

, but soon became known as

Rogers Vacuum Tube Company Rogers Vacuum Tube Company (formally named Radio Manufacturing Corporation Limited) was founded as the Standard Radio Manufacturing Corporation in 1925 by Edward Rogers (1900–1939) to sell Rogers "Batteryless" radios using vacuum tube technology. ...

and later became the Rogers Majestic Corporation Limited.Canadian Communications Foundation – Fondation Des Communications Canadiennes
Rogers launched what would become

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 ...

CFRB CFRB (1010 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is owned by Bell Media and carries a News/Talk radio format. Its studios and offices are in the Entertainment District at 250 Richmond Street West. CFRB is a clea ...

in 1927 in order to demonstrate a batteryless

alternating current Alternating current (AC) is an electric current which periodically reverses direction and changes its magnitude continuously with time in contrast to direct current (DC) which flows only in one direction. Alternating current is the form in whic ...

radio receiver In radio communications, a radio receiver, also known as a receiver, a wireless, or simply a radio, is an electronic device that receives radio waves and converts the information carried by them to a usable form. It is used with an antenna. Th ...

he had invented. In 1929 Standard Radio Manufacturing Corporation was renamed as Rogers Majestic Corporation Limited The broadcasting division of the company was renamed Standard Radio Limited in 1941 when the Rogers family sold off the assets of Rogers Majestic two years after the death of Edward Rogers. The Rogers family would later re-enter the broadcasting business in 1960 in a form of Aldred-Rogers Broadcasting, the company founded by Edward's son, Ted Rogers, which later became

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of mobile phone operator, wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet access, Intern ...

. In 1945, Standard Radio was purchased by Argus Corporation and in 1966 Standard Radio Limited was renamed Standard Broadcasting. Argus was acquired by

Conrad Black Conrad Moffat Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour (born 25 August 1944), is a Canadian-born British former newspaper publisher, businessman, and writer. His father was businessman George Montegu Black II, who had significant holdings in Canadi ...

and his brother in 1978. Argus subsequently sold Standard to Slaight in 1985 and merged into Slaight Broadcasting.

Merged operations

As Standard, the company under Slaight operated 82 radio stations in English Canada and two television stations in northern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. It also owned a significant minority interest in the radio station operators

Milestone Radio Milestone Radio, Inc. was a radio broadcasting company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They were the first broadcasting company in Canada that was owned and operated by Black Canadians. The company's president was Denham Jolly. Company ...

Haliburton Broadcasting Group The Haliburton Broadcasting Group was a Canadian group of FM radio stations, located primarily in smaller markets in Ontario. The company was purchased by Vista Broadcast Group in 2012.3937844 Canada Inc. in Canada, and

Martz Communications Group Martz Communications Group is an American radio broadcasting company, which operates three radio stations in the St. Lawrence River area of New York and one in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company, which also operates under the names Radio Power a ...

in the US. The company also operated divisions in

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

videotape Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassett ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

distribution, retail marketing and audio and video post-production, and was the primary shareholder in the

provider

Sirius Canada Sirius Canada was a Canadian company, a partnership between Slaight Communications, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Sirius Satellite Radio, which was one of three services licensed by the CRTC on June 16, 2005 to introduce satellite ra ...

. In 2006, the company announced an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

via an

income trust An income trust is an investment that may hold equities, debt instruments, royalty interests or real properties. They are especially useful for financial requirements of institutional investors such as pension funds, and for investors such as retir ...

; these plans were later cancelled due to "market conditions". On February 23, 2007,

announced that it had signed a letter of intent and had entered into exclusive negotiations regarding the acquisition of "substantially all of the assets" of Standard. A formal agreement was later announced, with the proposed transaction being 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 September 28, 2007. Astral would eventually be taken over by

on July 5, 2013. Astral did not acquire Standard's Internet and satellite radio assets, nor its minority interests in various other radio stations. The transaction was finalized on October 29, 2007, and Standard changed its name to Slaight Communications the following day.

Current assets

After selling its Standard Radio assets to

in October 2007, Slaight Communications remained the owner and operator of

portal Iceberg Radio, which was subsequently also sold to Astral in a separate transaction. The company is still a partner, along with Canadian Satellite Radio Holdings,

Sirius XM Radio Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

and the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

, in

Sirius XM Canada Sirius XM Canada Holdings Inc. (commonly referred to as Sirius XM Canada) is a Canadian radio broadcasting company, which operates as a Canadian affiliate of Sirius XM Radio. The company received approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Te ...

. The company also retained its minority shares in the Haliburton,

Milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

and

Martz Martz may refer to: People *Martz (surname), notable people with the surname *Martz Schmidt (1922–1998), Spanish comics writer and artist Places *Martz (crater), an impact crater on Mars *Martz Observatory, an organization devoted to the a ...

radio groups, although all three groups have since sold off many or all of their assets as well. Standard's minority share in 3937844 Canada was also not transferred to Astral, but was wholly acquired by its majority owner,

Newcap Broadcasting Stingray Radio (formerly Newcap Radio) is a Canadian radio broadcasting conglomerate owned by Stingray Group. It owns and operates 101 radio stations in Canada—making it the second-largest radio conglomerate in Canada behind Bell Media. It also ...

, in a separate transaction which also took place in 2007. In 2010, the company invested in Mediazoic, a webcasting software project."Mediazoic attracts investment from Slaight Communications"
''TechVibes'', July 22, 2010. Slaight Communications owns a 7.19% stake in Fight Holdings, a minority partner in

Anthem Sports & Entertainment Anthem Sports & Entertainment (formerly Anthem Media Group) is a Canadian multinational media company based in Toronto, Ontario and founded by Leonard Asper. Its assets include combat sports and sports entertainment properties (including the MMA ...

References

{{reflist Juno Award winners Companies based in Toronto 1925 establishments in Ontario Privately held companies of Canada