Milestone Radio, Inc. was a radio broadcasting company headquartered 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 anch ...

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 ...

, Canada. They were the first broadcasting company in Canada that was owned and operated by

Black Canadians Black Canadians (also known as Caribbean-Canadians or Afro-Canadians) are people of full or partial sub-Saharan African descent who are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. The majority of Black Canadians are of Caribbean origin, though ...

. The company's president was Denham Jolly.

Company history

The company was founded in 1988 by five prominent individuals in Toronto's black community. After two attempts to obtain a license, which saw the group controversially passed over in favour of existing radio services, the group finally received a license from the CRTC in 2000 to launch the country's first R&B/ hip-hop outlet, CFXJ-FM - branded as "Flow 93.5", which signed on the air in 2001.

Slaight Communications Slaight Communications is a Canadian radio 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 and CHOK in S ...

was a minority investor in the company; this ownership stake was not part of the company's 2007 sale of its 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 2003, the company teamed up with

CHUM Limited CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CHU ...

to obtain a license for a

Rhythmic Top 40 The Rhythmic chart (also called Rhythmic Airplay, and previously named Rhythmic Songs, Rhythmic Top 40 and CHR/Rhythmic) is an airplay chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. The chart tracks and measures the airplay of songs played on ...

station in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

. That station,

CHBN-FM CHBN-FM is a Top 40/CHR radio station based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The station, which is owned by Rogers Sports & Media, operates at 91.7 MHz with an ERP of 100 kW. CHBN's studios are located on Gateway Boulevard in Edmonton, while ...

, made its debut on February 17, 2005. CHBN-FM has since moved to mainstream top 40 since December 2005, and CHUM's stake in the station was transferred to

CTVglobemedia 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 ...

when that company acquired CHUM Limited in 2007. CHUM Radio, a division of CTVglobemedia (now

Bell Media Radio Bell Media Radio, G.P. (formerly CHUM Radio), operating as iHeartRadio Canada, is the radio broadcasting and music events subsidiary of Canadian media conglomerate Bell Media. The company has its origins in CHUM Limited, which was acquired by ...

) had acquired CFXJ which was approved by the CRTC on December 23, 2010. and was finalized in February 2011, ending Milestone's foray into radio ownership."CTV takes over Flow 93.5 FM"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...

'', February 2, 2011. That same year, CKFG-FM - on-air as "G98.7", founded by

Fitzroy Gordon Fitzroy Anthony Gordon (March 19, 1954 – April 30, 2019) was a Jamaican-Canadian broadcaster, radio host and DJ, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was most notable as the founder of G98.7, Canada's second radio station geared specificall ...

, was launched that October. Two years later, CFXJ was resold to Newcap Radio as Bell Media acquired the assets of Astral Media. The station, now owned by

Stingray Radio 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 ...

, was rebranded to "93.5 Today Radio" in February 2022, whilist CKFG was relaunched as "Flow 98.7" by new owners CINA Radio Group, who acquired the station in 2021.

References

{{Reflist Slaight Communications Radio broadcasting companies of Canada Black Canadian culture in Toronto Defunct broadcasting companies of Canada Mass media companies established in 1988 Mass media companies disestablished in 2011 1988 establishments in Ontario 2011 disestablishments in Ontario Black Canadian organizations