CHOU ( ar, إذاعة الشرق الأوسط ' ; french: Radio Moyen-Orient ; en, Middle East Radio) is a

multilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

broadcasting 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 ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

at 1450 kHz and retransmitted at 104.5 MHz. The main programming is in

Arabic language Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

and caters for various Arab and Middle Eastern communities in Greater Montreal and vicinity in Arabic including Lebanese, Syrian, Egyptian and Maghrebi dialects. CHOU also runs a two-hour weekly show in Armenian. It is also offered online and on various applications. In 2016, Middle East Radio also launched

CHHU-FM CHHU-FM is a radio station which broadcasts multicultural and multilingual programming at 99.1 MHz in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The station is owned by Radio Moyen-Orient (Middle East Radio) and licensed to Antoine "Tony" Karam (on behalf o ...

(99.1 MHz) in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

, with a multicultural/multilingual programming licence, with most of its programming in the Arabic language in addition to various multilingual programming in 10 different languages.

History

The station started its Arabic programming in 1996. For almost 10 years, and until early 2007, the station used SCMO (Subsidiary Communications Multiplex Operations) service located under the main carrier of

CISM-FM CISM-FM is the official campus radio station of the Université de Montréal. It is run by student volunteers and can be heard in Montreal and its outlying regions at 89.3 FM or by Internet users around the world through online streaming. CISM b ...

. Subscribing listeners would have to buy special receiving devices to be able to tune in to the broadcasts. Radio Moyen-Orient/Middle East Radio received approval to broadcast on 1450 by the CRTC on March 15, 2006,Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2006-82
Ethnic AM radio station in Montréal, ''CRTC'', March 15, 2006 enabling the station to broadcast starting January 18, 2007 on the newly assigned AM channel without any need for acquiring special devices by listeners. This resulted in a big increase in the listenership of the station. The 1450 kHz frequency had been previously used by

CHEF A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

, a station in Granby, approximately east of Montreal. That station had stopped operations in 1996 and the frequency was reallocated to CHOU. Middle East Radio main studios are located on de Meulles Avenue in the

Cartierville Cartierville is a former district in north end Montreal, Quebec, Canada, located in the borough of Ahuntsic-Cartierville. Cartierville is bordered to the north by the Rivière des Prairies, to the south by the borough of Saint-Laurent, to the e ...

region of Montreal. CHOU broadcasts on 1450

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

with a power of 2,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s as a class B station, using an omnidirectional antenna. It was originally authorized to use only 1,000 watts; the power increase was implemented after being authorized in 2008. On October 1, 2013, CHOU submitted an application to the CRTC for a new FM transmitter in St-Léonard, on the east end of Montreal Island, which was to operate at 104.5 MHz with 50 watts. The application was denied by the CRTC on October 7, 2014, as they felt that there were no broadcasting deficiencies of the 1450 AM signal within its immediate broadcast area, in addition to interference concerns with

CKDG-FM CKDG-FM is a radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned and operated by Groupe CHCR Inc., it broadcasts on 105.1 MHz using a directional antenna with an average effective radiated power of 524 watts ( class A). Like most FM statio ...

105.1, and

CBME-FM CBME-FM is an English-language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec. Owned and operated by the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, it broadcasts on 88.5 MHz using a directional antenna with an average effective radia ...

's 104.7 transmitter in

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Notre-Dame-de-Grâce ( en, Our Lady of Grace), also nicknamed NDG, is a residential neighbourhood of Montreal in the city's West End, with a population of 166,520 (2016). An independent municipality until annexed by the City of Montreal in 1910, ...

, on the west side of Montreal. However, on February 26, 2016, the CRTC reversed course and approved the transmitter application. The FM retransmitter with a height of 60 meters, is located near Pie-IX Blvd, and broadcasts mainly cover Eastern Montreal at a low power of 49 watts, but its FM signal reportedly reach parts of Western Montreal, Ahunstic, Ville Saint Laurent and Laval as well, which is a similar coverage as for the AM signal. Unlike other FM stations, the CHOU-1-FM 104.5 FM retransmitting signal is in mono.

Ownership

The station is owned and operated by 9015-2018 Québec inc., an independent company doing business under the name "Radio Moyen Orient du Canada". The broadcaster received approval to broadcast by the CRTC on March 15, 2006, and began broadcasting on January 18, 2007 with an AM signal on 1450 AM. The founder/owner and general manager of the station is Antoine (Tony) Karam.

Expansion to Halifax, Nova Scotia

On September 15, 2015, Middle East Radio's application for its second radio station channel with a multicultural and multilingual programming licence in

was approved by the CRTC. The new station was assigned the call sign

and started broadcasting on 99.1 MHz/FM with a power of 600 watts. The station is owned by Radio Moyen-Orient (in English Middle East Radio) and licensed to Antoine (Tony) Karam (on behalf of a corporation to be incorporated) receiving CRTC approval.Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2015-424
Specialty ethnic FM radio station in Halifax, ''CRTC'', September 15, 2015 CHHU-FM will eventually broadcast programming in ten languages, though its main target audience will be Halifax's

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

-speaking community, as the station will broadcast exclusively in Arabic during the day and in other languages during night hours. CHHU-FM currently has no studio in the Halifax area, though they intend on building one in the future; in the interim, programming originates from a dedicated studio at the

sister station, CHOU.CBC News: "Halifax Arabic-language radio station begins testing signal - Station promises programming in over 10 different languages, but only Arabic during the day", February 26, 2016.
/ref> where there is a studio dedicated to Halifax programming. CHHU-FM began testing on 99.1 MHz on February 26, 2016 and began regular broadcasting in April 2016.

Further planned expansions

The Middle East Radio media group also announced that expansion to Halifax will be part of a larger network that will share on-air content. Antoine (Tony) Karam said that his company was building a bigger network that will expand further to Ottawa and Edmonton where there are sizable Arab Canadian communities.

Format

CHOU has a variety

format Format may refer to: Printing and visual media * Text formatting, the typesetting of text elements * Paper formats, or paper size standards * Newspaper format, the size of the paper page Computing * File format, particular way that informatio ...

which mainly targets the local Arabic community; most of its programming is accordingly done using the various Arabic dialects including: * Lebanese dialect *

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

dialect *

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

dialect * Iraqi dialect *

Maghrebi Arabic Maghrebi Arabic (, Western Arabic; as opposed to Eastern or Mashriqi Arabic) is a vernacular Arabic dialect continuum spoken in the Maghreb region, in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Western Sahara, and Mauritania. It includes Moroccan, Alger ...

dialects from Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The station regularly covers local, artistic and religious events for many

MENA MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia (or a ...

(Middle East and North Africa) communities in Quebec and Canada. CHOU also carries news and discussion programming from ''

Voice of Lebanon Voice of Lebanon (Arabic , French as or VDL) is a private radio station in Lebanon, owned by the Kataeb Party since 1958. In December 2010, two rival Lebanese radio stations using the same name ran at the same time,

'' and

Monte Carlo Doualiya Monte Carlo Doualiya (MCD), formerly known as RMC Moyen-Orient ( en, Radio Monte Carlo Middle East), is a French public radio service that broadcasts across the Arab world. It was founded in 1972 and, like Radio France Internationale (RFI) is par ...

. CHOU also runs a two-hour weekly show in

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...

References

External links

Official Group Radio Moyen-Orient website

CHOU history
- Canadian Communications Foundation * {{Montreal Radio Arab-Canadian culture Armenian-Canadian culture Middle Eastern-Canadian culture in Quebec

HOU Hou or HOU may refer to: * -hou, a place-name element * Hou (surname) * Hou (currency) (Chinese: ), a unit of currency in Greater China * Hou (Odder Municipality), a town in Denmark * Hou (title) (Chinese: ), a title in ancient China * Denglong (m ...

Arabic-language radio stations Radio stations established in 1996 1996 establishments in Quebec