Pelmorex Radio Network
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The Pelmorex Radio Network was a system of Canadian radio stations in Northern Ontario, owned and operated by Pelmorex.
Pelmorex acquired the stations from Mid-Canada Radio in 1990.
[edit] Stations
| Community | Call Sign | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| Blind River | CJNR | AM 730 |
| Elliot Lake | CKNR | AM 1340 |
| Espanola | CKNS | AM 930 |
| Hearst | CHOH | AM 1340, FM after 1996 |
| Kapuskasing | CKAP | AM 580 |
| Kapuskasing | CHYK | AM 1230 |
| North Bay | CHUR | AM 840, FM 100.5 after 1997 |
| Pembroke | CHVR | AM 580, FM 96.7 after 1996 |
| Sault Ste. Marie | CKCY | AM 920, ceased broadcasting in 1992 |
| Sault Ste. Marie | CJQM | FM 104.3 |
| Sudbury | CHNO | AM 550 |
| Sudbury | CFBR | AM 900 |
| Sudbury | CJMX | FM 105.3 |
| Timmins | CKOY | AM 900 |
| Wawa | CJWA | AM 900, defunct after 1996 (subsequently relaunched by new owners) |
[edit] History
Pelmorex became controversial as one of the first radio broadcast groups in Canada to centralize its operations as a cost-saving measure. Almost all local programming on the stations was discontinued, with only local morning shows remaining. This process began slowly in 1991 with a mid-day program after a satellite uplink was installed at its (then) radio HQ at the CHNO studios in Sudbury. By 1994, most of the stations' programming was voice-tracked from a facility in Mississauga and the stations were reduced to storefronts with just a few staff members.
The controversy came to a head in 1995, when Environment Canada issued a severe weather warning in Sudbury during the Heat Wave of 1995 Derecho Series. The warning, issued barely ten minutes after the stations had switched to the central programming feed, was never broadcast on any of Pelmorex's three stations in the city. Pelmorex, ironically, also owned Canada's Weather Network.
Pelmorex subsequently sold CKNR, CJNR and CKNS to North Channel Broadcasting in 1996.
In 1998, after a change in CRTC ownership rules, Pelmorex sold CHUR in North Bay, CHVR in Pembroke, CJMX in Sudbury and CJQM in Sault Ste. Marie to Telemedia. (Telemedia had previously been limited to one station on each of the AM and FM bands in each market; with the change, it could acquire two in one band and one in the other, so it added second FMs to its existing AM/FM combos in each city.)
The next year, Pelmorex sold the remaining stations to Haliburton Broadcasting Group.
