BIG FM denied radio frequency

By Brian Bowman
SelkirkJournal.com
Friday June 20, 2008

Shut-out from acquiring a broadcast license from the CRTC, BIG FM radio has plans to showcase its product on the Internet beginning next month.

The Selkirk-based community radio station, spearheaded by Interlake Broadcast Group president Ray Walker, announced they will no longer be able to pursue a broadcast license for the community due to a “major flood of signal applications” in the Winnipeg market by major corporations.

In April, the CRTC requested applications for the final two frequencies available in the region – 106.3 FM (as a full power signal) and 104.7 FM (as a lower power signal) – and major broadcast companies in Winnipeg quickly filed for the vacant dial positions.

“There is no possible way for a small community broadcaster to even gain entry into that process,” Walker said. “For BIG FM to even be on the same playing field, we would have needed a couple hundred thousand dollars banked to be involved. There are a lot of big hitters with a lot of money behind them.”

The station has decided to move forward in another direction, though, and plans to enter the broadcast market via the Internet beginning next month. A first date of operation has yet to be finalized, however.

“We’ll begin broadcasting on-line as a full-time 24/7 Internet radio station (with on-line testing beginning this month),” said Walker, who will become the station’s morning man, along with his general manager duties, when the station debuts. “This will give the people of Selkirk their own station, just listening habits will have to change.”
Walker admitted an all-Internet station in Canada is quite unique.

“There are very few that are strictly on the Internet,” Walker said. “It’s a little bit more prevalent in the United States.”
Selkirk has not had a local radio station since QX-104 FM left the city for Winnipeg in 2002.

Walker said Selkirk is one of the largest communities in Western Canada not to have a radio license and is often considered a bedroom community to Winnipeg. But he stressed Selkirk is an entirely different entity and should have its own voice although it has gotten increasingly more difficult to obtain a radio license.

“Winnipeg radio has grown and grown and grown in the last 10 to 20 years and they have been granting more and more licenses.” Walker said, adding it would be much easier to start up a radio station in the northern part of the province. “It is so crowded in southern Manitoba. . .but because we’re sandwiched in the busiest part of southern Manitoba, there are basically two frequencies left and six applicants.”

Meanwhile, Walker said the Interlake Broadcast Group is still looking at ways to provide an “over-the-air” type of broadcast on the public’s radio from its internet signal. He noted there are currently industry insiders attempting to develop a means of capturing an internet audio feed from a device to be attached to an in-car stereo.

If there is enough of a demand, said Walker, the Interlake Broadcast Group, will attempt to stock the device for sale to pickup the station’s signal.

Walker said the local station will broadcast the “ultimate music mix,” while featuring information and talk programming and a large commitment to local sports. BIG FM has broadcast every game of the Selkirk Steelers the past three years and did a handful of Selkirk Fishermen contests last season, including the Western Canadian Junior B Championships held here in April.
As well, on-location broadcasting in the region is planned for special events, and from area businesses and communities.
“I’m still very excited to have the opportunity to broadcast in the community,” Walker said. “It’s an honour and privilege that Selkirk residents have been so accepting of the concept, and as long as we keep the fire burning, the spirit of community radio in Selkirk is alive and well.”

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