Media in Ottawa–Gatineau

The following media outlets are located in Canada's National Capital Region, serving the cities of Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec. The two cities, which are adjacent and each receive virtually all television and radio stations operating in either city, are considered a single media market.

Most of the region's FM and TV stations, regardless of which community they are officially licensed to, transmit from Camp Fortune in the Gatineau Hills. Other TV stations transmit from a tower located in Manotick, in the rural south portion of Ottawa. Ryan Tower, the former transmitter tower at Camp Fortune, was taken down on November 4, 2012 and its services and some antenna elements were transferred to a new, nearby tower.[1]

In addition to the market's local media services, Ottawa is also home to several national media operations, including CPAC (Canada's national legislature broadcaster), the digital political newspaper iPolitics, and the parliamentary bureau staff of all of Canada's major newsgathering organizations in television, radio and print. The city is also home to the legal headquarters of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, although operational headquarters for English- and French-language services are located in Toronto and Montreal, respectively.

Radio

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AM stations

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Frequency Call sign Branding Format Owner Notes
AM 580 CFRA 580 CFRA news/talk Bell Media Radio Also available on FM 100.3 via HD Radio
AM 1200 CFGO TSN 1200 Ottawa sports Bell Media Radio Also available on FM 100.3 via HD Radio
AM 1670 CJEU Radio Oxygène 1670AM
Radio-Enfant-Ado
children's radio Fondation Radio-Enfant French (Gatineau)

FM stations

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Frequency Call sign Branding Format Owner Notes
FM 88.5 CILV-FM Live 88.5 modern rock Stingray Group
FM 89.1 CHUO-FM CHUO FM 89.1 campus radio University of Ottawa
FM 89.9 CIHT-FM Hot 89.9 contemporary hit radio Stingray Group
FM 90.7 CBOF-FM Ici Radio-Canada Première news/talk Canadian Broadcasting Corporation French
FM 91.5 CBO-FM CBC Radio One news/talk Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
FM 92.3 CJET-FM Santa Radio Christmas music Rogers Media licensed to Smiths Falls
FM 92.7 CJVN-FM Christian radio Fiston Kalambay French (Ottawa)
FM 93.1 CKCU-FM CKCU FM 93.1 campus radio Carleton University
FM 93.9 CKKL-FM Pure Country 94 country music Bell Media Radio
FM 94.5 CJFO-FM Unique FM community radio Radio de la communauté francophone d'Ottawa French (Ottawa)
FM 94.9 CIMF-FM Rouge FM soft adult contemporary Bell Media Radio French (Gatineau)
FM 95.7 CFPO-FM Elmnt FM adult contemporary Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
FM 96.5 CFTX-FM BPM Sports 96.5 Gatineau sports radio RNC Media French (Gatineau)
FM 97.1 CHLX-FM Wow 97.1 adult contemporary RNC Media French (Gatineau)
FM 97.5 CKVV-FM Moose FM adult hits Vista Broadcast Group licensed to Kemptville
FM 97.9 CJLL-FM CHIN Ottawa multilingual community CHIN Radio/TV International
FM 98.5 CJWL-FM Lite 98.5 Soft AC/pop standards Evanov Communications
FM 99.1 CHRI-FM CHRI 99.1 Christian music Christian Hit Radio
FM 99.7 CJOT-FM boom 99.7 Classic Hits Corus Entertainment
FM 100.3 CJMJ-FM Move 100 adult contemporary Bell Media Radio
FM 101.1 CKBY-FM Country 101.1 country music Rogers Media licensed to Smiths Falls
FM 101.7 CIDG-FM Rebel 101.7 active rock Torres Media
FM 102.5 CBOX-FM Ici Musique public music Canadian Broadcasting Corporation French
FM 103.3 CBOQ-FM CBC Music public music Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
FM 104.1 CKTF-FM Énergie contemporary hit radio Bell Media Radio French (Gatineau)
FM 104.7 CKOF-FM 104,7 FM Talk radio Cogeco French (Gatineau)
FM 105.3 CISS-FM Kiss FM hot adult contemporary Rogers Media
FM 106.1 CHEZ-FM Chez 106 mainstream rock Rogers Media
FM 106.9 CKQB-FM Jump FM contemporary hit radio Corus Entertainment
FM 107.9 CKDJ-FM CKDJ FM 107.9 campus radio Algonquin College

Weatheradio

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Frequency Call sign Branding Format Owner Notes
162.550 MHz VBE 719 Weatheradio Canada weather alerts Meteorological Service of Canada

Shortwave (SW)

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Frequency Call sign Branding Format Owner Notes
3330 kHz
7850 kHz 1
14670 kHz
CHU time signal National Research Council of Canada shortwave radio station.
1On January 1, 2009, CHU moved its signal from 7335 kHz to 7850 kHz.

Other radio stations

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The following radio stations that can also be heard in the National Capital Region:

Defunct radio stations

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AM

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  • 540 AM CJSB, a Ottawa-based radio station that launched in 1982 until it left the air in 1994. The station relaunched on FM at 106.9 MHz as CKQB-FM.
  • 970 AM CKCH, ceased operations in 1994.
  • 1310 AM CIWW, a Rogers owned CityNews Radio station that shutdown on October 26, 2023. [8]
  • 1350 AM CIRA-5, a Gatineau-based French language rebroadcaster of CIRA-FM Montreal ceased operations in early 2015.
  • 1350 AM CHFO, a Gatineau-based French language community radio station from 2018 until it left the air in 2019.
  • 1630 AM CHYW, a low-power tourist information radio station that operated from the Macdonald-Cartier International Airport from 2001 [9] but its uncertain when the station left the air. In 2005, 2012 and 2017, applications were submitted to the CRTC to operate new radio stations on 1630 kHz to serve Ottawa and Gatineau. Those applications were either denied or withdrawn. [10] [11] [12]

FM

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  • Mix FM, was an unlicensed radio station in the Ottawa area that operated on various frequencies, mostly 91.9 FM in 2009, until it was shut down in 2010.
  • 96.5 CFDT-FM (east side) and 99.9 CFDT-FM-1 (west side), very low-power tourist information radio stations that served motorists along Highway 417. It is uncertain when or if these stations were ever in operation.[13][14][15]
  • 96.5 FM was also used in 2002 for a special event radio programming at 96.5 MHz in Gatineau with the call sign CIRC.[16]
  • CIIO-FM, operated over various frequencies on 104.7 FM,[17] [18] 99.7 FM[19] and 97.5, a tourist information station owned by Instant Information Services has been off the air since 2011.[20] Instant Information Services also operated CIIF-FM 97.5, also a former french-language tourist information station in Ottawa.
  • 95.7 FM CKAV-FM-9, the local outlet of the Aboriginal Voices radio network; off the air since late 2014.
  • CKO (CKO-1) 106.9 FM was the Ottawa affiliate of the national CKO all-news network which ceased operations in 1989.

Television

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Despite being one of Canada's largest metropolitan areas, many of the "local" stations serving Ottawa–Gatineau are, in fact, based in the Greater Toronto Area. Notably, the country's #2 and #3 private-sector broadcast networks, Global and Citytv, respectively, rely on repeaters of their Toronto-based stations, not originating stations, to serve Ottawa viewers. Despite this, however, Ottawa–Gatineau is unique among Canadian television markets, as the only market in all of Canada which has terrestrial access to virtually the entire range of Canadian broadcast networks and systems in both English and French — the larger Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver media markets each lack over-the-air access to some of the services in their market's minority language. The sole exception is aboriginal network APTN, which only has broadcast coverage in the North, but is carried on cable in Ottawa and indeed throughout the country.

Of the fourteen stations available over the air, only six actually originate from the area and provide local news. These six stations are currently owned by only three companies, with two stations apiece: the CBC (with stations for its English and French networks), RNC Media (which owns the local affiliates of the two private French-language networks, TVA and Noovo), and Bell Media (which owns stations associated with its CTV and CTV 2 networks).

Both of the CBC stations carry local evening newscasts in their respective languages. The two Bell Media-owned stations, while nominally maintaining separate news operations, do not currently compete against each other for local news; CTV airs local newscasts at midday and in the evening, while CTV 2 only broadcasts a morning newscast. As for the RNC Media stations, the TVA affiliate carries a local evening newscast, whereas the Noovo affiliate only airs short local news updates.

OTA virtual channel (PSIP) Actual channel Rogers Cable
(Ottawa)
Vidéotron
(Gatineau)
Call sign Network Language Transmitter location Notes
4.1 25 (UHF) 8 6 CBOT-DT CBC Television EN Camp Fortune, Gatineau
6.1 14 (UHF) 3 8 CIII-DT-6 Global EN Camp Fortune, Gatineau Rebroadcaster of CIII-DT (Toronto)
9.1 33 (UHF) 5 2 CBOFT-DT Ici Radio-Canada Télé FR Camp Fortune, Gatineau
11.1 22 (UHF) 18 11 CHCH-DT-1 Independent EN Manotick, Ottawa Rebroadcaster of CHCH-DT (Hamilton)
13.1 16 (UHF) 7 7 CJOH-DT CTV EN Camp Fortune, Gatineau
14.1 20 (UHF) 14 240 CJMT-DT-2 Omni Television
("Omni 2")
EN Manotick, Ottawa Rebroadcaster of CJMT-DT (Toronto)
15.1 15 (UHF) 25 55 CITS-DT-1 Yes TV EN Manotick, Ottawa Rebroadcaster of CITS-DT (Hamilton)
24.1 24 (UHF) 2 10 CICO-DT-24 TVOntario EN Camp Fortune, Gatineau Rebroadcaster of CICA-DT (Toronto)
30.1 30 (UHF) 69 3 CIVO-DT Télé-Québec FR Camp Fortune, Gatineau Rebroadcaster of CIVM-DT (Montreal)
32.1 32 (UHF) 10 4 CHOT-DT TVA FR Camp Fortune, Gatineau
34.1 34 (UHF) 11 5 CFGS-DT Noovo FR Camp Fortune, Gatineau
43.1 35 (UHF) 6 12 CHRO-DT-43 CTV 2 EN Manotick, Ottawa Rebroadcaster of CHRO-TV (Pembroke)
60.1 27 (UHF) 16 239 CFMT-DT-2 Omni Television
("Omni 1")
EN Manotick, Ottawa Rebroadcaster of CFMT-DT (Toronto)
65.1 17 (UHF) 15 13 CITY-DT-3 Citytv EN Manotick, Ottawa Rebroadcaster of CITY-DT (Toronto)
22 Rogers TV EN Rogers Cable community channel
23 TV Rogers FR Rogers Cable community channel
9 MAtv FR Vidéotron community channel

Defunct television stations

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  • CFVO-TV channel 30—the region's first TVA affiliate; broadcast from 1974 to 1977
  • CKXT-DT-3 channel 20—local repeater of CKXT-DT Toronto; broadcast from 2008 to 2011

Newspapers

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Daily

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Weekly

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College and university

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Community

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  • Barrhaven Independent
  • Barrhaven Weekender
  • Canada Chinese News
  • Capital Chinese News
  • Centretown Buzz
  • Centretown News
  • Cumberland Communiqué
  • Ecolatino (Latin/Italian community)
  • The Epoch Times (Chinese Edition)
  • Glebe Report
  • Hogs Back News
  • Il Postino (Italian community)
  • Image
  • Kanata Kourier Standard (Now defunct)
  • Kitchissippi Times
  • The Low Down to Hull and Back
  • La Nouvelle
  • Mainstreeter
  • Manor Park Chronicle
  • Manotick Messenger
  • The Manotick Review
  • The Mike on a Mic Show
  • Muslim Link
  • Nepean This Week
  • New Edinburgh News
  • Newswest
  • L'Ora di Ottawa (Italian community)
  • Orleans Star
  • The OSCAR
  • The Ottawa News
  • Ottawa Jewish Bulletin
  • Ottawa South Weekender
  • Ottawa This Week (various)
  • Ottawa Weekend Chinese News
  • Packet
  • Queenswood Newsliner
  • Riverviews
  • The Spectrum
  • Stittsville News
  • Stittsville Weekend Signal
  • Vistas
  • West Carleton Review
  • Weekly Journal

Other publications

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Other media

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References

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  1. ^ "Historic local radio/TV transmitter tower taken down". CTV Ottawa, November 4, 2012.
  2. ^ vankleekfm.com
  3. ^ www.labradio.ca
  4. ^ Decision CRTC 97-44, New French-language religious FM radio programming undertaking, CRTC, February 6, 1997
  5. ^ VF8013-FM, French/Religious, Ottawa Fabrique de la Paroisse du Sacré-Coeur du diocèse d'Ottawa - Canadian Communications Foundation
  6. ^ VF8013 - fccdata.org
  7. ^ www.radiohull.ca
  8. ^ CIWW - AM 1310 kHz Ottawa - FINAL Sign Off Oct. 27th 2023 9am EDT
  9. ^ Decision CRTC 2001-67, New low-power information service, CRTC, February 14, 2001
  10. ^ Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2005-64
  11. ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2012-231
  12. ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2017-227, Findings regarding market capacity and the appropriateness of issuing a call for radio applications to serve the Ottawa-Gatineau radio market, CRTC, June 30, 2017
  13. ^ Decision CRTC 89-263
  14. ^ New Canadian FM and technical changes since 18th Edition FM Atlas (under "deleted" section)
  15. ^ Former Ottawa Valley Radio Stations, Canadian Communications Foundation (see former stations)
  16. ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2002-71 Special event radio programming undertaking, Fondation radio enfant (du Canada), CRTC, March 14, 2002
  17. ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2005-256, Low-power English-language tourist information service in Ottawa, CRTC, June 23, 2005
  18. ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2005-601
  19. ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2007-75
  20. ^ CIIO-FM - Canadian Communications Foundation
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