CHCT-FM

On October 28, the CRTC approved the application by 10679313 Canada Inc. (subsidiary of Arsenal Media) for a broadcasting licence to operate a French-language commercial FM radio station in Sainte-Marie. The licence would expire 31 August 2026. The applicant operated many stations in Quebec, with CHEQ-FM (O101.5) being the only existing local station in Sainte-Marie. The new station would operate at 105.3 MHz with an average effective radiated power of 1,159 watts (maximum ERP of 4,500 watts with an effective height of antenna above average terrain of 89.3 meters). The station would broadcast 126 hours of local programming in each broadcast week. However, the applicant could devote a certain number of hours to programming originating from other stations it owned. The station would offer a country and folk musical format targeting adults 35 years and older, thereby increasing the musical diversity offered to listeners from Sainte-Marie, and would repatriate some of the listenership from out-of-market stations, including those from Québec City. It would broadcast 3 hours of news in each broadcast week, of which 2 hours would be devoted to local and regional news, 40 minutes to national news and 20 minutes to international news. In regard to news and spoken word programming, in addition to the news, the applicant would offer weather, traffic and road condition reports, sports results from previous day, as well as alerts and warnings as needed. The station would also devote a 30-minute program every day from Monday to Friday showcasing emerging country artists.

On October 9 at 8:00 a.m., CHCT-FM signed on the air as Arsenal’s third “Hit Country” station. The other two were in Center-du-Québec and in Saguenay.