Sunday, February 9, 2025
February 9, 2025

Radio society submits licence application

Salt Spring Island may have been without a radio station for the past three and a half years, but a non-profit society working to re-establish the service hopes the silence will be broken in the not-too-distant future.

The Gulf Islands Community Radio Society recently submitted its application for a licence to the Canadian Radio Telecommunications Commission.

“It’s very exciting,” said GICRS president Damian Inwood. “We’ve really passed a milestone now, after three years of hard work to get the application in to the CRTC.”

Inwood said it could take a year for the licence to be approved, and society members may have to attend a hearing in Ottawa as part of the process. Some existing stations on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland have the right to object if they feel a Salt Spring-based station could interfere with their signals.

The group has submitted a request for call letters CHIR, with the IR representing “Islands Radio,” and it will be pronounced “cheer.” As the society’s name implies, they would like to include the other Gulf Islands in their coverage.

“We are going to use the same two frequencies [as the previous station]: 107.9 and 102.1. They are available and we thought people are used to using those wavelengths on their radios.”

Transmitter locations on Mount Belcher and Mount Bruce are also the same as the previous CFSI station, which operated as a commercial venture under two different owners from 2009 to 2015 until its licence was revoked by the CRTC, but Inwood said better equipment would be used.

“Now we start some of the heavy lifting, which is raising capital funds. We need $85,000, mainly for the transmitting equipment.”

Current islandsradio.ca programming sees Scott Merrick host a morning show from 7 to 9 a.m. Monday to Friday, which is also repeated in the evening. Music is otherwise heard on the site.

The group is inviting anyone interested in doing a program, either online now or through the station when it gets going, to send proposals to Inwood at president@gicrs.ca.

For more on this story, see the Jan. 16, 2019 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

Sign up for our newsletter and stay informed

Receive news headlines every week with our free email newsletter.

Other stories you might like

Repair Cafe at Meaden Hall Feb. 8

SUBMITTED BY TRANSITION SALT SPRING Transition Salt Spring is gearing up for another year of community empowerment and environmental stewardship with the return of the...

LCC shaves budget to 10% hike

Salt Spring’s Local Community Commission (LCC) members have brought an initial 13.2 per cent 2025 requisition increase for Capital Regional District (CRD) services down...

NSSWD sets new hookup policy

On Monday, March 31, staff at the North Salt Spring Waterworks District (NSSWD) will open their doors and do something they haven’t done for...

Gymnastics program explodes in popularity

With more than 350 kids, it’s the largest indoor rec program on the island –– and with a raft of coaches with familiar names...

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here