Chiude la radio di Marconi, la più vecchia del Canada

Ormai prossime a un irreversibile tramonto, oggi le stazioni a onde medie canadesi abbandonano a frotte la storica gamma di frequenze. Eppure non è una semplice stazione di musica leggera in onde medie ma un vero pezzo di storia della radio quello che ha chiuso i battenti il 29 gennaio a Montreal insieme a Info690, la consorella informativa anche lei appartenente al gruppo Corus Entertainment. Attraverso i suoi diversi passaggi di proprietà e sigle identificative AM940 CINW era la prima stazione radiofonica commerciale del Canada, aperta nel 1919 con la sigla XWA, Experimental Wireless Apparatus, dalla Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada, sussidiaria della Marconi britannica, che aveva acquisito i brevetti dell'inventore della radiofonia Reginald Fessenden. Un anno dopo, nel 1920, la stazione acquisirà il nuovo "call", CFCF. Il DXer scozzese Paul Crankshow ha immortalato il momento del definitivo sign-off alla mezzanotte UTC di sabato, quando alle 00.02 CINW spegne il nastro registrato che nelle ore precedenti aveva annunciato la chiusura.

Il gruppo Corus nel comunicato stampa spiega, attraverso il vicepresidente Mario Cecchini (è sua la voce che potete ascoltare nel nastro), che le due stazioni, su 690 e 940 kHz hanno accumulato troppe perdite finanziarie. Per Info690 il danno è "limitato" a un gruppo di giornalisti e a un tecnico che non riavranno il loro lavoro, il resto passerà tutto su FM. Per i Greatest Hits di CINW non c'è stato niente da fare, le perdite sono troppo consistenti per tenere in piedi una radio vecchia di 91 anni. Anche se il gruppo Facebook che raccoglie le firme per la riapertura delle due stazioni vanta già oltre trecento iscritti è difficile pensare che qualcuno si faccia carico delle licenze rimesse al regolatore canadese anche se c'è chi ipotizza (leggete il blog di Steve Faguy, collaboratore del quotidiano Gazette citato più in basso, mentre cliccando sull'immagine di apertura arrivate a una pagina di Radio Canada con il servizio del telegiornale) una possibilità del genere.

Fin des opérations à Info690 AM Montréal et au AM940 Montreal's Greatest Hits

MONTRÉAL, le 29 janv. /CNW Telbec/ - Corus Entertainment a annoncé aujourd'hui qu'elle mettra fin aux opérations de ces stations AM Info690 Montréal et AM940 Montreal's Greatest Hits, le 29 janvier, à 19 h.
Indépendamment du dévouement et de la qualité du travail réalisé par les employés, les stations Info690 et AM940 connaissent des pertes financières importantes. Dans le contexte économique actuel, et malgré le fait que Corus Québec et ses employés aient investi temps et énergie pour relancer ces antennes, il est clair que les stations Info690 et AM940 ne sont pas viables.
Cette décision affectera dix postes dont huit liés aux activités d'Info690 : trois postes de journaliste, deux postes de reporter à la circulation et trois postes aux opérations. Au AM940 Montreal's Greatest Hits, un poste d'animation et un poste de technicien seront touchés.
Il est important de souligner que la salle des nouvelles d'Info690 Montréal, connue sous le nom de Corus Nouvelles, poursuivra ses activités au sein du 98,5 FM Montréal. Comme d'habitude, Corus Nouvelles continuera d'alimenter, en contenu nouvelle, l'ensemble du réseau Corus Québec et ses clients. La majorité des postes de journaliste, cinq des huit postes et trois des cinq postes de reporter à la circulation, seront maintenus.
"Nous avons investi beaucoup dans le développement de formats et de contenus pour relancer, à tous les niveaux, ces deux antennes. Mais après des années d'efforts, nous constatons que les résultats ne sont pas au rendez-vous. Nous tenons à remercier les employés qui sont touchés par cette décision pour leur excellent travail. Nous remercions également les annonceurs et les auditeurs d'Info690 Montréal et du AM940 Montreal's Greatest Hits pour leur fidélité", de déclarer Mario Cecchini, vice-président Corus Québec.
Les licences d'exploitation de ces deux stations AM seront retournées au CRTC. Rappelons que Corus Québec emploie 466 personnes au Québec.

À propos de Corus Québec

Partie intégrante de Corus Entertainment inc., Corus Québec est le plus important radiodiffuseur privé de contenu et d'information au Québec. Il rejoint au-delà de 4,5 millions d'auditeurs par semaine et exploite les stations 96,9 CKOI Montréal, 102,1 CKOI Québec, 104,5 CKOI Estrie, 98,5 FM Montréal, CKAC Sports Montréal, 92,5 The Q Montréal, 103,9 CIME FM Laurentides ainsi que le réseau Souvenirs Garantis avec les stations 102,9 FM Québec, 107,7 FM Estrie, 98,3 FM Saguenay, 104,7 FM Outaouais et 106,9 FM Mauricie. Les sites Web représentés par Corus Québec joignent chaque mois plus de 525 000 internautes francophones et 3 millions d'internautes anglophones au Canada, selon comScore Media Metrix.

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Corus pulls plug on radio stations

AM940, the first broadcaster in Canada, and AM Info690 weren't making money

BY MIKE KING, JASON MAGDER CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT, THE GAZETTE JANUARY 30, 2010


Canada's first radio station fell silent last night, as Canadian media and entertainment empire Corus Entertainment Inc. pulled the plug on two Montreal AM radio stations.
AM Info690 Montréal and AM940 Montreal's Greatest Hits went off the air at 7 p.m. - both deemed unprofitable, particularly in the current economic climate. AM940 is a direct descendent of Canada's first radio station, CFCF, originally at the 600 dial on the AM band. In 1919, the Canadian Marconi Co. launched XWA (Experimental Wireless Apparatus) in Montreal and it became the first commercial broadcast radio station in Canada. The name was switched to CFCF in November 1920.
The stations were pulled off at 7:02 p.m., cutting off a recording that had been running since all programming stopped about 10 a.m. The recordings, which were made by the general managers of the respective stations, thanked listeners, and advertisers, and explained it was a difficult decision to close the stations. "We put tremendous effort into trying to find the right format and content to grow our audience base and operate profitably, but after years of effort, it is clear these AM stations are not viable," Mario Cecchini, vice-president of subsidiary Corus Québec, said in a prepared statement. "We would like to thank the employees affected by this decision for their hard work," he added. "We would also like to acknowledge the support of listeners and advertising clients of Info690 Montréal and AM940 Montreal's Greatest Hits."
Brian Kenemy, a former vice-president of Corus Québec's English radio holdings, said in an interview that he thinks Corus "did its best to hang on as long as they could looking for affordable formats." But with most money directed toward FM programming, Kenemy suggested that the public company found it too difficult to continue supporting the struggling stations.
Bourget MNA Maka Kotto, Parti Québécois culture and communications critic, argued the closing of Info690 "is not good news, because it sounds the death knell of another Francophone newsroom in Montreal and further undermines the media in Quebec."
The decision to cease operations affects eight jobs at Info690 - three journalists, two traffic reporters and three operations positions - but five of those positions are to be retained. The Info690 Montréal newsroom, known as CorusNouvelles, will continue its activities as part of 98.5 FM Montréal. Cecchini said CorusNouvelles will continue to invest in providing news content to the entire Corus Québec network of a dozen stations that reaches 4.5 million listeners weekly.
Two jobs, an on-air host and a technician, are affected at AM940 - which switched from all news to all music in 2008. The operating licences for the closed stations will be returned to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.