Local radio stations get new owner
Of the 45 radio stations Bell is divesting itself of across the country, five in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick will be taken over by the Maritime Broadcasting System, pending regulatory approval.
MBS, headquartered in Halifax and Kentville, will purchase CKTO-FM and CKTY-FM in Truro, CIKXFM in Grand Falls, N.B., CJCJ-FM in Woodstock, N.B. and CKBC-FM in Bathurst, N.B.
When the dust settles, MBS will be operating 29 radio stations.
Mike Mitchell, the company’s VP of Programming, said it makes sense to purchase the five stations for one reason: geography.
“We get to continue to do what we do, and do really well, and that’s program radio stations in the Maritimes,” Mitchell said. “Obviously, with the addition of Truro, Bathurst, Woodstock and Grand Falls, we can continue ... to broadcast and create radio – we don’t do TV, we don’t do cellphones or anything else, and we do it well in the Maritimes.”
Mitchell said as a program director, he doesn’t handle the balance sheet, so he can’t say why stations that Bell was willing to let go would be economically attractive to MBS.
“Profitable is profitable and maybe it’s just what’s profitable enough. The potential acquisition of these radio stations, with CRTC approval, it’s very attractive and very positive for us,” said Mitchell, adding that any discussions on employment at the new stations “would be pure speculation on my part.”
“I’ve been asked the question, will there be layoffs, and there’s nothing to say there won’t be staffing levels that could increase. We don’t know at this stage of the game, the important part of that is to remember that current staff’s years of service will (carry over) with the purchase. So, if an employee of one of these radio stations has been with the company for 20 years, or 15 years, or whatever the case may be, that will continue with us with this purchase.”
Mitchell, who has close to 40 years of experience in private radio, said it’s much like any other business, with ebbs and flows, but that the keys to success for MBS include centralization, strategic planning and superior hiring practices.
“The advantage that we have is we’re a true radio company. That allows us to focus our energy and our resources and our finances on the one thing we do,” said Mitchell, pointing to technology as the component of the business that has changed the most during his career. “One of our radio stations in Charlottetown, CFCY, turns 100 years old this year. I was doing some research and when they first started playing music on CFCY there was no mechanism for playing records on the air. They had to use the microphone and the speaker to amplify the music they were playing.”
Other regional ripples from the Bell announcement include the cessation of noontime and weekend CTV newscasts and the closure and rebranding stores operating under The Source banner.