Hundreds of people file comments supporting Cabin Radio’s FM bid

The CRTC invited comment on applicants for a new FM licence in Yellowknife. Some 400 responses came in, almost all of them supporting Cabin Radio.

The window to comment closed at 6pm MT on Monday. At that point, the CRTC had published 395 comments – or interventions, in the regulator’s terminology.

There are two applicants. One is Cabin Radio, owned by five Yellowknife residents, which has operated as an internet radio station and online newsroom for the past seven years.

The other is BC-based Vista Radio, which operates 100.1 True North FM in Yellowknife alongside dozens of other stations across Canada.

You can read the interventions on the CRTC’s website.

Cabin Radio’s application is shown under the company’s formal title, 506992 NWT Ltd, as it was known prior to deciding on Cabin Radio as a name.

In an intervention of its own filed on Monday, Vista Radio said Cabin Radio had “failed to provide evidence that the Yellowknife radio market has the capacity to support their proposed new station.”

Vista Radio also said Cabin Radio had “failed to demonstrate that the approval of their application will not lead to a reduction in the quality of service to the local community.”

Cabin Radio did not intervene regarding Vista Radio’s application.

February public hearing

The next step is a public hearing on February 11, 2025 at Yellowknife’s Explorer Hotel. Anyone is welcome to watch the hearing in person, while more than a dozen people filing interventions simultaneously told the CRTC they wish to speak at the hearing.

Cabin Radio and Vista Radio will each present at the hearing.

Vista Radio has argued there is no room for a second commercial FM station in Yellowknife, which has a population of 20,000 people.

The company used its application for a second licence to expand on that argument and told the CRTC that if a second licence is awarded, giving it to Vista would do the least economic damage in a market that it believes cannot sustain two stations.

Cabin Radio has argued that the market can support two stations and has been doing so for seven years, since Cabin Radio is firmly established within the local economy. (Many people filing comments made the same argument. Others said they wanted Cabin Radio on FM for ease of listening while driving, and many said they wanted to access Cabin Radio’s news coverage on their radio. You can view the full Cabin Radio application here.)

The CRTC will ultimately have to choose between Cabin Radio and Vista Radio or select another option, such as not issuing any new licence at all – or issuing a new licence to both.

Cabin Radio applied for an FM licence in 2019.

The CRTC said no in 2023, asserting that Yellowknife was not large enough for two commercial stations, but reversed course a year later and launched a new licensing process.