Tag Archives: CJSQ

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CRTC approves plan to turn Quebec City’s 92.7 FM into a country station

Fans of country music in Quebec will have reason to celebrate today, though it will be at the expense of fans of classical music in the provincial capital.

On Wednesday, the CRTC approved the sale of CJSQ-FM 92.7 to Arsenal Media, and its proposed licence change from a specialty classical music format to a mainstream format, which Arsenal says it will use to turn the station into a country music station.

Arsenal currently has four country stations under its Hit Country brand — CKGS-FM 105.5 in La Baie, CKYQ-FM 95.7 in Plessisville, CHCT-FM 105.3 in Sainte-Marie and CJIT-FM 106.7 in Lac-Mégantic, plus CRTC approval for a fifth station at 107.9 in Joliette. The Quebec City station will be its largest market for country, though the station’s transmitter is in the mid range at 2,840 watts.

It wasn’t long ago that Quebec was a wasteland for country radio, with a few independent stations and a few time slots on community stations like CKRK in Kahnawake. The biggest reason for this was CRTC regulations that require French-language songs on French-language stations. There just weren’t enough popular francophone country music songs to make that format work.

But Arsenal has decided it can work, and is investing in it. And in an era where even major-market radio stations are being thrown in the trash, that’s worth acknowledging.

The company, which is less than 15 years old, has grown through various acquisitions to become Quebec’s largest radio broadcaster by number of stations. And it isn’t done. It’s also waiting for approval to buy BPM Sports from RNC Media (a CRTC hearing was held in April). And it’s always ready to pounce on other opportunities.

But what’s great for Arsenal and country music sucks for classical music fans in the Capitale-Nationale region. The writing has been on the wall ever since Radio Classique’s sister station in Montreal (CJPX-FM 99.5) was sold to Leclerc in 2020. Even owner Gregory Charles’s love of classical music can only sustain a money-losing station for so long. And so with the $525,000 purchase price, he’s out.

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CHOI climbs back into second (or first, depending how you count) in Quebec City radio ratings

Numeris released radio ratings for diary (read: medium-size) markets recently. You can read the top-line details here, or get some deeper numbers from Bell Media Sales for stations in Quebec.

Among things of note:

  • After a disappointing fourth-place 11.1% share in last fall’s ratings report, CHOI-FM has bounced back into second with a 14.5% share in Quebec City. CJMF-FM (FM93) remains the top-rated radio station in the market. Among adults 25-54, CHOI is number one again, and among adults 18-34, it’s tied with CJEC-FM (WKND).
  • CHOI’s ratings doubled during the noon hour, pushing it into first place, thanks to André Arthur. But that wasn’t enough for him to stay on. As the ratings period ended, Arthur’s contract was terminated.
  • Radio Classique CJSQ-FM Quebec City jumped from a 2.5% share to 5.3%, closer to its average over the past few years.
  • CBC Radio One (CBVE-FM) in Quebec City still has a 0.6% share. It reaches 15,300 listeners a week in the provincial capital, but 36,000 overall through the Quebec Community Network of retransmitters.
  • Ottawa’s CFRA, which was hit hard by the Bell Media cuts last fall and then again in February, saw its share among anglophones drop from 10.9% to 8.1%. The past few years the ratings had been around 9%.
  • CKOF-FM, Cogeco’s talk station in Gatineau, jumped from 6.9% to 9.4%.
  • Regina’s CIZL-FM (Z99), while still the top station in the market, dropped more than four points, from 20.2% to 16.0%.
  • Lethbridge’s CFRV-FM (107.7 The River) lost almost five points from last fall, going from a tie for first to a distant third. CHLB-FM (Country 95.5) is top with 20%, and CJOC-FM (Classic Hits) jumped up four points in second with 16.5%.
  • In Red Deer, CIZZ-FM (Z98.9) dropped from second place to second-last, from 11.7% to 6.7%. This isn’t the first such radical fluctuation for this station in the ratings.
  • Kamloops, B.C., is really tight: Only one percentage point separates the top four stations in the market.

Coverage

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Radio Classique relaunches, hires Bernard Derome as new morning man

The studios and offices of CJPX 99.5 Montreal, at Jean-Drapeau Park

The studios and offices of CJPX 99.5 Montreal, at Jean-Drapeau Park

Radio Classique fait peau neuve. The classical music stations in Montreal and Quebec City have a new owner in Gregory Charles, a new logo, a new website and a new slate of on-air hosts. But as Charles explains, the music is the same and the new group wants to maintain the same passion.

The station’s schedule is posted, but contained a mysterious omission of 6-9am Monday to Thursday. Today we learn through the Journal de Montréal that Charles is putting a big-name hire into that slot: Former Radio-Canada anchor Bernard Derome. He starts on Monday, and will be joined by collaborators who will offer local news updates (the station had promised three minutes of national and international news and one minute of local news each hour during the morning show).

Derome seems to be a pretty good fit for the station, and a great get. Perhaps the most surprising thing about this hire is that the retired 71-year-old would be willing to get up four days a week and be in a studio for 6am.

radioclassiqueOther hosts on the schedule are mainly people who were at the station before:

Plus Charles himself, hosting from noon to 1pm weekdays, repeating at 5am.

Names we no longer see include Raymond Desmarteau, Chantal Lavoie, Julie Bélanger, Karen Hader and the Coalliers — Jean-Pierre, Marc-André and Claude-Michel. (Claude-Michel Coallier is still on the ad sales team.)

UPDATE: La Presse stories on Derome and other changes at Radio Classique.

UPDATE (Jan. 24, 2016): Derome, Charles and Hervieux were interviewed on Tout le monde en parle, in part about Radio Classique.

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Gregory Charles looks to add classic jazz to Radio Classique, simulcast more, host his own show

The studios and offices of CJPX 99.5 Montreal, at Jean-Drapeau Park

The studios and offices of CJPX 99.5 Montreal, at Jean-Drapeau Park

Almost half a year after the announcement that a company owned by musician Gregory Charles has agreed to buy Radio Classique stations CJPX-FM 99.5 Montreal and CJSQ-FM 92.7 Quebec City, the CRTC has published the application for a transfer of ownership, and we have some details about the sale and his plans for the stations.

The application confirms a purchase price of $10.5 million for the two stations — $6.78 million for CJPX and $3.72 million for CJSQ. The purchase is $7 million in cash and $3.5 million in shares in the new company that must be repurchased by the buyer within four years. There’s also a consulting contract of $8,750 a month ($420,000 total over four years) for existing ownership so long as they still have those shares. The purchase is an acquisition of assets rather than a purchase of the companies that own the stations. There’s also a non-competition clause that lasts three years preventing the current owners from owning or managing a broadcasting or online radio station, or soliciting clients.

The new owner will be Média ClassiQ inc., controlled 100% by Gregory Charles. The stations are currently owned 90% by Jean-Pierre Coallier and 10% by Pierre Barbeau.

If CRTC approval is not acquired by Dec. 31, either party can terminate the agreement, with the buyer paying a $100,000 penalty to the seller.

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| Radio

Gregory Charles agrees to buy Radio Classique from JP Coallier

The studios and offices of CJPX 99.5 Montreal, at Jean-Drapeau Park

The studios and offices of CJPX 99.5 Montreal, at Jean-Drapeau Park

Radio Classique, which operates classical music stations in Montreal (CJPX-FM 99.5) and Quebec City (CJSQ-FM 92.7), is being sold to Groupe Musique Greg, the company owned by Quebec personality Gregory Charles.

The acquisition price is unknown (the Journal de Montréal says it’s more than $10 million), but should be made public when the CRTC publishes the application to change the ownership of the stations. (The sale can’t be final until the commission approves it.) Legally, the two stations are owned by separate companies, Radio Classique Montréal Inc. and Radio Classique Québec Inc., both of whom are controlled 90% by Jean-Pierre Coallier and 10% by Pierre Barbeau.

Radio Classique launched in Montreal in 1998, and the Quebec station in 2007. I’d been hearing rumours for a few years now that Coallier, who turned 77 last month, was looking to find a new owner for the stations. Charles heard those rumours too, and told Les Affaires that’s why he initiated talks for a purchase. This transaction would keep one of Montreal’s few independent commercial radio stations in independent (and artistic) hands.

It’s unclear what Charles and his company plan to do with the stations (he wouldn’t tell the Journal if he plans to become an on-air personality at the station), but they are unlikely to change formats, at least in the near term. Charles says he acquired the stations because of their niche format, which the major broadcasters won’t touch. Getting rid of classical music and replacing it with Katy Perry would be disastrous for its reputation, and it would likely lose more listeners than it gained.

The stations operate as specialty-format stations, and CRTC approval would be needed before they could convert to pop, rock, dance or country music formats. CJSQ has a specific condition of licence limiting 90% of its content to “concert” music, defined as classical music, opera, operetta and musical theatre.

The latest ratings information from Numeris shows CJPX-FM in Montreal had a 2.7% share among francophones and a 1.8% share among anglophones, while CJSQ-FM in Quebec City had a 4.6% share total.