GRANDE PRAIRIE - RADIO STATIONS

(November 15, 2006, by Ken Connors)

After many months of consideration, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced today that a decision was finally reached that approved 3 new radio stations for Grande Prairie. The Commission reviewed 10 applications that were presented at a Public Hearing in Edmonton in June of this year.

Bear Creek Broadcasting Ltd was given a licence to broadcast on 103.3 MHz with the power of 100,000 watts providing a music format of Classic Rock/Classic Hits designed to appeal to the 35 to 54 age group. Most of the music played would be from the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's with 40% Popular Music. It would also broadcast a weekly minimum of 13 hours and 15 minutes of structured spoken word including news. Ken Truhn, who gave up his position as general manager of Big Country XX, will be instrumental in getting this new radio station off the ground.

Vista Radio Ltd, who have a number of radio stations in British Columbia, has also been granted a licence to operate an FM radio station in Grande Prairie on 104.7 MHz and will broadcast a total of 10 hours and 24 minutes each week of spoken word including 6 hours of news. It too will operate with 100,000 watts of power and play Classic Rock music designed to appeal to the 35 to 44 year age bracket. It will play 35% of Popular Music which will mean all three radio stations (including Sun FM) will be quite similar in music format. It will all come down as to has the best mix of music, the best broadcasters and the best management team. It is common that in the first year, the existing radio station/stations will take a thrashing as curiosity will bring the ratings up of the new radio stations. It may take a year or more to determine who comes out on top.

The 3rd radio station to get its licence to broadcast in Grande Prairie is Shine FM a Christian music FM station. It would operate at 96.3 MHz with 100,000 watts of power and offer 92 hours per week of local programming. Allan Hunsperger was the person who presented the application.

With 3 more radio stations in Grande Prairie it will definitely mean there will be more selection for the listeners. The big question is, will competition bring prices down for the advertisers? If history repeats itself in Grande Prairie, "no". In the late 1970's there was hope that with competition and the introduction of another radio station (CJXX) would bring radio advertising prices down. It didn't and many businesses found their costs had doubled just to reach the same amount of people. Many Grande Prairie businesses today could find that to reach the same amount of listeners, their prices will now more than double.

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