Corus Québec, until May 2005 Radiomédia, was a
French-language 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 ...
news/talk
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...
radio network
There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many ( simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio ( duplex communication) typ ...
serving most of
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, 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 ...
. The network and most of its affiliates were owned by
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
-based
Corus Entertainment.
Stations
The network had four co-
flagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the f ...
s:
*
CFOM-FM 102.9 in
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
for
Souvenirs Garantis Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 198 ...
programming
*
CHMP-FM
CHMP-FM (98.5 Hertz, MHz) is a French language talk radio, talk radio station serving the Greater Montreal Area and licensed to the off-Island suburb of Longueuil, Quebec, Longueuil. Owned and operated by Cogeco, it broadcasts with an effective r ...
98.5 in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
(officially licensed to
Longueuil
Longueuil () is a city in the province of Quebec, Canada. It is the seat of the Montérégie administrative region and the central city of the urban agglomeration of Longueuil. It sits on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River directly a ...
) for
talk programming
*
CKAC 730 AM in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
for
sports talk
*
CINF 690 AM
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
for
all-news radio
Other stations included:
*
CFEL-FM 102.1 in
Lévis
*
CIME-FM 103.9 in
Saint-Jérôme
*
CJRC-FM 104.7 in
Gatineau
Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region and is part of Canada's N ...
*
CHLT-FM 107.7 in
Sherbrooke
Sherbrooke ( ; ) is a city in southern Quebec, Canada. It is at the confluence of the Saint-François and Magog rivers in the heart of the Estrie administrative region. Sherbrooke is also the name of a territory equivalent to a regional cou ...
*
CHLN-FM 106.9 in
Trois-Rivières
Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of ...
On February 5, 2009, it was announced that these four stations would introduce a
classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 198 ...
music format similar to the one currently used at
CFOM-FM 102.9 in
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
, effective March 28. However, according to the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
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 ...
(CRTC) website, Corus intends to continue to operate those stations under a news/talk format for CRTC regulatory purposes, as the new music programming will air only from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends.
Stations not owned and operated by
Corus Entertainment can also be affiliates, such as
CKRS-FM
CILM-FM is a French-language Canadian radio station located in Saguenay, Quebec. The station carries adult contemporary format as part of the Rythme FM network.
Owned by Cogeco, it broadcasts on 98.3 MHz using a directional antenna with an ...
98.3 in
Saguenay,
CFYX-FM
CFYX-FM is a French-language Canadian radio station located in Rimouski, Quebec.
Owned and operated by Radio Rimouski, part of Groupe Radio Simard, it broadcasts on 93.3 MHz with an effective radiated power of 18,197 watts using an omnidirectio ...
93.3 in
Rimouski
Rimouski ( ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 48,935 (as of 2021). Rimouski is the site of Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), t ...
,
CHNC-FM
CHNC-FM is a French-language Canadian radio station located in New Carlisle, Quebec, Canada.
Owned and operated by Coopérative des travailleurs CHNC, it broadcasts on 107.1 MHz using a directional antenna with an average effective radiated pow ...
107.1 in
New Carlisle and
CFGT-FM
CFGT-FM is a French-language Canadian radio station located in Alma, Quebec.
Owned and operated by Cogeco following its 2018 acquisition of most of the stations formerly owned by RNC Media, it broadcasts on 104.5 MHz with an effective radiated ...
104.5 in
Alma
Alma or ALMA may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film
* ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922
* ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017
* ''Alma'' (play), a 1996 drama by Joshua Sobol about Alma ...
.
CHRC 800 AM in
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
was previously part of the Corus Québec network, but the station was sold in 2008 by Corus to a group of local businessmen; it no longer has any links with Corus. CKRS-FM was sold in November 2010 to a local group, Radio Saguenay; it is unknown if any Corus Québec programming still airs on that station.
Creation of Radiomédia
The Radiomédia network was created to succeed to the now-defunct
Télémédia and
Radiomutuel networks, which merged on September 30, 1994. This merger resulted in six AM stations closing in Quebec on that very same day at 6 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time), and is referred to in Quebec radio circles as "le vendredi noir" ("Black Friday").
The six AM stations closed were :
*
CJMS 1280 AM in Montreal (Radiomutuel)
*
CJRP 1060 AM in Quebec City (Radiomutuel)
*
CKCH
CKCH was a radio station which operated at 970 kHz on the AM band in Hull, Quebec, Canada from 1933 to 1994.
CKCH was also the original call sign of Ottawa radio station CNRO (later known as CBO) from February 27 to July 15, 1924
History
On Ju ...
970 AM in Gatineau (Télémédia)
*
CJRS 1510 AM in Sherbrooke (Radiomutuel)
*
CJTR 1140 AM in Trois-Rivières (Radiomutuel)
*
CJMT 1420 AM in Chicoutimi (Télémédia)
In each case, the station with the best signal remained open and the other one was closed. While in most markets the station that remained open was also both the oldest and the more successful according to recent
BBM ratings, this was not the case everywhere—CJTR in Trois-Rivières had recently surpassed CHLN in ratings for the first time in many years, and CKCH in Gatineau (opened in 1933) had much more of a history than CJRC, which opened only in 1968.
The Radiomédia network, along with CKAC in Montreal and CHRC in Quebec City, were now owned in equal shares by
Telemedia and
Radiomutuel. Telemedia retained full ownership of CHLT in Sherbrooke and CHLN in Trois-Rivières, while Radiomutuel retained full ownership of CJRC in Gatineau and CKRS in Saguenay. Both companies continued to compete against each other on the
FM dial, with Telemedia still owning the
RockDétente network and Radiomutuel owning the
Énergie
Énergie is a Canadian radio network of French-language mainstream rock outlets broadcasting throughout the province of Quebec and portions of eastern Ontario, in Eastern Canada. They offer a personality-driven mix of francophone and anglophone ...
network, this while both FM networks were now getting their news services from the Radiomédia newsrooms.
Change to Corus Québec
After
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 channel ...
(successor to Radiomutuel) bought all Telemedia Quebec radio properties in 2001, it was forced by the
Competition Bureau to sell their AM stations due to concentration of ownership concerns. After two failed attempts (see article on
CKAC for more details), a deal with
Corus Entertainment was finally approved in early 2005 and took effect in May of that year.
Corus Entertainment, which already owned
all-news station
CINF (Info 690) in Montreal, promptly renamed Radiomédia as Corus Québec, and simultaneously dismantled the local CKAC newsroom, even though that newsroom was much more respected by listeners than the one from Info 690. News bulletins on the Corus Québec network were now provided by CorusNouvelles, which consists of the old Radiomédia team outside of Montreal combined with the Info 690 team in Montreal. Production of CorusNouvelles would shift to
CHMP-FM
CHMP-FM (98.5 Hertz, MHz) is a French language talk radio, talk radio station serving the Greater Montreal Area and licensed to the off-Island suburb of Longueuil, Quebec, Longueuil. Owned and operated by Cogeco, it broadcasts with an effective r ...
in January 2010, following the closure of CINF and its English-language sister station,
CINW
CINW was the final call sign used by an English language AM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, which, along with French-language sister station CINF, ceased operations at 7:00 p.m. ET on January 29, 2010. Owned and operated by Corus Que ...
940 AM.
Sale to Cogeco
On April 30, 2010, it was announced that all Corus Québec stations, with the exception of CKRS, will be sold to
Cogeco
Cogeco Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications and media company. Its corporate offices are located at 1 Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec. The company is structured into three strategic business units (SBU); Cogeco Connexion, Breezeline ...
for $80 million, pending
CRTC approval. Corus's reason for the sale is that their Quebec radio stations are less profitable than their stations in other parts of Canada. However, Cogeco must either apply with the CRTC for an exemption from the common ownership policy, or sell off some of these (or their own) stations as they will be over the maximum allowable number of stations in Montreal, Quebec City, and Sherbrooke.
On June 25, it was reported that Corus has agreed to sell CKRS to Radio Saguenay, a local business group; the sale of that station was approved by the CRTC in November 2010.
The sale of the Corus Québec stations to Cogeco has been approved by the CRTC on December 17, 2010, on the condition that Cogeco-owned
CJEC-FM and Corus-owned
CFEL-FM and CKOY-FM (since re-called
CJTS-FM) be sold to another party by December 2011. On November 9, 2011, it was announced that Cogeco would sell CFEL-FM and CJEC-FM to Leclerc Communication Inc., a company owned by Quebec City businessman Jacques Leclerc, owner of
Laura Secord Chocolates and Biscuits Leclerc. CJTS-FM would cease operations on December 6, 2011, when Cogeco was unable to find a buyer for the station by the deadline.
The CorusNouvelles news service will also be converted to a new division, Cogeco Nouvelles, with CHMP-FM being the flagship.
On January 13, 2011, competing broadcaster
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 channel ...
announced that they will seek legal action to stop the sale of these stations to Cogeco, citing the fact that it would own more stations than Astral in the Montreal market, making the competition unfair. Cogeco chief executive Louis Audet said that he expects the transaction to close by February 1, and that the case filed by Astral is "without merit and the company will vigorously challenge them with a view to having them dismissed by the court."
See also
*
Quoi de Neuf
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corus Quebec
Defunct Canadian radio networks
Radio stations in Quebec
Former Corus Entertainment subsidiaries
French-language radio in Canada
Radio stations established in 1994
Radio stations disestablished in 2011