In this week’s issue… New owner for CIND – Star winks out in Buffalo – Alhart sets a record – Towers coming down – Remembering O’Donovan, Becker, Castellani
By SCOTT FYBUSH
Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada
*One of the last independently-owned stations in CANADA‘s biggest market will remain independent – but will “Indie 88” retain its alternative rock format when it’s sold to a new owner?
Rock 95 Ltd., which won the license for CIND (88.1 Toronto) in 2012 after the CRTC revoked the former CKLN on that frequency, has run “Indie 88” for the last decade as a standalone station, competing against Corus’ CFNY (102.1 the Edge) and other major players in town.
Now parent company Central Ontario Broadcasting, which also owns CFJB and CKMB in Barrie to the north, has announced it’s selling CIND to another small regional player, Christopher Grossman’s Local Radio Lab.
That company got its start in 2021 by acquiring three stations in the Toronto exurbs from My Broadcasting – and since then, it’s run the stations (CIMA 92.1 Alliston, CKMO 101.5 Orangeville, CJML 101.3 Milton) very much along the same model My uses, with an AC format accompanying a local news website.
Terms of the CIND deal haven’t been announced yet, but Central Ontario president Doug Bingley says the seller is “thrilled that we are handing off the station to an independent voice with a commitment to continue the legacy of INDIE88 and the development of new emerging artists.”
We know one member of the CIND staff won’t be staying with the new owner – morning host Josie Dye left in late September, headed to Bell’s CHUM-FM (104.5) where she’ll take afternoons to replace Meredith Shaw after Shaw’s move to “Breakfast Television” on CITY-TV.
SPRING IS HERE…
And if you don’t have your Tower Site Calendar, now’s the time!
If you’ve been waiting for the price to come down, it’s now 30 percent off!
This year’s cover is a beauty — the 100,000-watt transmitter of the Voice Of America in Marathon, right in the heart of the Florida Keys. Both the towers and the landscape are gorgeous.
And did you see? Tower Site of the Week is back, featuring this VOA site as it faces an uncertain future.
Other months feature some of our favorite images from years past, including some Canadian stations and several stations celebrating their centennials (buy the calendar to find out which ones!).
We still have a few of our own calendars left – as well as a handful of Radio Historian Calendars – and we are still shipping regularly.
The proceeds from the calendar help sustain the reporting that we do on the broadcast industry here at Fybush Media, so your purchases matter a lot to us here – and if that matters to you, now’s the time to show that support with an order of the Tower Site Calendar. (And we have the Broadcast Historian’s Calendar for 2025, too. Why not order both?)
Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your order now for the new calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too!