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Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2021-115

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Reference: Part 1 application posted on 17 December 2020

Ottawa, 23 March 2021

Cogeco Media Inc.
Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d’Or, Quebec

Public record for this application: 2020-0807-8

CHOA-FM Rouyn-Noranda and its transmitter CHOA-FM-1 Val-d’Or – Technical changes

  1. The Commission has the authority, pursuant to section 9(1) of the Broadcasting Act (the Act), to issue licences for such terms not exceeding seven years and subject to such conditions related to the circumstances of the licensee as it deems appropriate for the implementation of the broadcasting policy set out in section 3(1) of the Act, as well as to amend those conditions on application by the licensee.
  2. Pursuant to this authority, the Commission approves the application by Cogeco Media Inc. (Cogeco) to change the authorized contours of CHOA-FM-1 Val-d’Or, Quebec, a rebroadcasting transmitter of the French-language commercial radio programming undertaking CHOA-FM Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, by decreasing the average effective radiated power (ERP) from 67,075 to 50,500 watts and the maximum ERP from 100,000 to 86,400 watts, replacing the existing directional antenna with a new directional antenna, increasing the effective height of the antenna above average terrain from 153.6 to 172.6 meters, and modifying the coordinates of the transmitter site. All other technical parameters will remain unchanged.
  3. The Commission did not receive any interventions in regard to this application.
  4. When a licensee files an application for technical changes, it is generally required to demonstrate a technical or economic need. Cogeco indicated that the antenna used by CHOA-FM-1 on the original transmitter site was obsolete and damaged. Consequently, the station’s transmitter power had to be decreased significantly, which made operating the station difficult. To remedy the situation, the licensee obtained authorization from the Department of Industry (the Department) to temporarily operate at a reduced transmitter power. Further, on 1 October 2020, it relocated CHOA-FM-1’s operating site to Mont-Vidéo, the transmitter site for CHGO-FM Val-d’Or, which is located fewer than 10 kilometres from the original transmitter site. The licensee wishes to normalize operations at the new transmitter site.
  5. The Commission is satisfied that the licensee has demonstrated a technical need for the requested technical changes.
  6. Pursuant to section 22(1) of the Act, this authority will only be effective when the Department notifies the Commission that its technical requirements have been met and that a broadcasting certificate will be issued.
  7. The licensee must implement the technical changes by no later than 23 March 2023. To request an extension, the licensee must submit a written request to the Commission at least 60 days before that date, using the form available on the Commission’s website.
  8. As set out in section 16 of the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the Regulations), all radio station licensees have obligations relating to the broadcast of emergency alert messages received from the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System. In regard to the changes to CHOA-FM-1’s authorized contours resulting from the implementation of the technical changes approved in this decision, the Commission reminds Cogeco that continued compliance with section 16 of the Regulations may require that any alert broadcast decoders (e.g., ENDEC) used for the purposes of broadcasting emergency alert messages on the stationFootnote 1 be reprogrammed to properly account for the new authorized contours.

Secretary General

This decision is to be appended to the licence.

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