Hector bids for Nova Scotia FM frequency

Family-owned Hector Broadcasting Company Ltd. on Tuesday outlined a bid to acquire the 97.9 MHz FM frequency for a new rock music radio station in Nova Scotia’s Pictou County. At day two of a CRTC hearing held in Miramichi, N.B., the company said the proposed rock music station would build on the success of its current contemporary music station 94.1 ECFM FM, which serves the area of New Glasgow. Rock 97.9 would seek to target the Pictou County area’s 18 to 54-year-old male listener demographic, Michael Freeman, Hector’s vice-president and general manager, told commissioners. Ann MacGregor, co-host of Wake Up on Hector’s ECFM 94.1 FM station, said the proposed station would attract male listeners by offering a combination of classic rock from The Guess Who and Neil Young and contemporary East Coast acts like The Trews and Broken Ohms. MacGregor added that Hector has a reputation for supporting local and regional acts, noting that the East Coast Music Awards recognized its 94.1 ECFM station as the “small market station of the year” in 2007 and 2009. “We have no doubt that we can meet our commitment of 40 per cent Canadian content for the broadcast week, and would be pleased to accept this as a condition of licence,” she said. Hector Broadcasting said it would commit to playing a minimum of two per cent content from emerging Canadian artists. The company also proposed to provide 10 hours of news per week, for a total spoken word content commitment of 22.5 hours a week. “Rock 97.9 will target the rock fans of Pictou County,” Douglas Freeman, president and CEO of Hector Broadcasting, said. “This will allow us to provide a softer contemporary music service on East Coast FM, supervising the female demographic in our area.” --- CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Hector is seeking a licence serving New Brunswick communities. Pictou County is in Nova Scotia.

Hector bids for Nova Scotia FM frequency

Brief | January 17, 2012

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