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Vancouver gets new radio station with Roundhouse Radio

August 6th, 2014 · 5 Comments

This is kinda cool

The Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced today that it has approved the broadcasting licensing of 0971197 B.C. Ltd., Roundhouse Radio to operate a low power, speciality FM radio station in the City of Vancouver on 98.3 FM.

Roundhouse Radio’s key objective is to be actively involved in the City and to serve the needs of citizens who live, work and play in Vancouver. Roundhouse Radio’s difference is to provide a spotlight on an active citizenry with more storytelling, discussion and context. Roundhouse Radio will help with community clean-ups, festivals, kids, talk about food from around the world, live music & arts, news and features focused on the City and its neighbourhoods.

“We can learn from the quietest voices” says Shelley Zavitz, Operations Manager and Program Director.  “Roundhouse Radio is designed to offer everyone a seat at the table. All we need is a place to gather, discuss and learn from each other.”

Don Shafer, President & CEO says “We love the promise that Roundhouse Radio holds. It is perfectly suited to all that our team has learned and hold true about media, our love for radio, the web and the important work that we can do to serve the needs of our community.”

One of the founding shareholders, Rick Pushor says “on behalf of our owners’ group and our families we are very proud of our application. We look forward to playing an integral role in media and making a difference in Vancouver.” 

 Roundhouse Radio 98.3 FM is a privately owned company of British Columbians who aspire to create a world-class broadcasting platform on the air, online and on the street – focused on the City and people of Vancouver.

For further information about Roundhouse Radio visit us on Facebook, Twitter, or www.roundhouseradio.com

Categories: Uncategorized

5 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Kevin Dale McKeown // Aug 6, 2014 at 12:57 pm

    Frances … I think you got this one wrong. I don’t find any connection between this privately funded consortium and the City owned Roundhouse Community Centre. A very unfortunate piece of confusing branding (maybe deliberate?) on the part of the radio station owners.

  • 2 Frances Bula // Aug 6, 2014 at 1:03 pm

    @Kevin. You are so right. I did jump to a conclusion there — perhaps because I had just finished putting up a different post about community centres. I’ve changed the headline now and thanks for pointing this out.

  • 3 Threadkiller // Aug 6, 2014 at 5:17 pm

    Don Shafer has a long history in commercial rock radio in Vancouver, so I’m a bit skeptical about all the professed altruism on display here. In any case, Vancouver has had an excellent listener-sponsored, community radio station ever since 1975: Vancouver Co-Op Radio, 100.5 FM. So I’m really unclear just what kind of niche these new guys are trying to carve out.

  • 4 Bill Lee // Aug 13, 2014 at 11:03 am

    And the CRTC denied many applications for stations in Vancouver and issued a show-cause for cross-border East Indian language stations in the Vancouver area.

    But this free ride might be in danger after a CRTC decision last week about a proposed radio station 3,600 kilometres away.
    “Time to examine the issue”

    The decision, published last Wednesday, awards licences for two new radio stations in Vancouver and Surrey, B.C. It was a very competitive process that drew 13 applications for new stations or transmitters in the market, mainly at 107.7 FM. The winners were an urban-focused spoken-word station in downtown Vancouver called Roundhouse Radio at 98.3 FM, and an adult-contemporary music station serving Surrey at 107.7 owned by South Fraser Broadcasting.

    But there were also applications for three stations at 600 AM. Two were for ethnic stations serving the South Asian community, and the other a business news station run by Channel Zero.

    The commission found these applications, as well as applications for 91.5 FM, weren’t “the best use of these frequencies” considering the scarcity of available frequencies in the Vancouver area.

    But there was something else. One of the ethnic station applications was by Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting Inc., a company that runs an ethnic AM station in northwest Washington state that targets the Vancouver market. The company proposed at the hearing to accept a condition of licence to shut down the U.S. station once the Canadian one could begin operations. But opponents objected to this, suggesting that the company was making an end-run around the CRTC’s licensing process and would be rewarded for setting up a station that is not licensed in Canada.

    The CRTC denied the application, and said in its decision that this denial “will also provide the Commission with time to examine the issue of broadcasting services transmitted from locations outside Canada and which appear to serve Canadian markets.

    …. Three companies called to hearing
    On Aug. 13, a week after the Vancouver decision, the CRTC issued a notice of hearing, calling three B.C. companies to appear to explain their operations of Washington-based transmitters targeting Vancouver.

    http://blog.fagstein.com/2014/08/13/crtc-cross-border-stations/#more-15776

  • 5 Don Shafer // Aug 18, 2014 at 7:26 am

    I was delighted to see a few comments about the recent CRTC decision.

    Regarding “Roundhouse Radio” I thought we transparent in our application by stating, “like the roundhouse in Yaletown, we want to be a radio station where the community can come together.”

    Almost every city in the world has a roundhouse and most have been converted to community centers or museums. It’s a well used term and hopefully we will live up to our vision which is ” a commercial radio station with a community focus”.

    With our “Specialty License” that requires more than 50% talk and spoken word, 50% Canadian Content music and a large percentage of Category 3 music (jazz, blues etc) I promise it won’t sound like a rock station from my/our past. Nor should it sound like CITR so admittedly we have a challenging and exhilarating time ahead inventing a new and different kind of radio

    On a personal note, all of us are committed to making a difference on air, on line and on the street. I hope the work we do in the community and the showcases we provide to groups, community organizations and individuals who share their stories is what we will get known for.

    Roundhouse Radio is a work in progress. It will evolve as more people join our team and bring new ideas and creativity to it. I hope you will give us a chance and continue providing feedback and ideas.

    Thanks very much.

    DS