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CBC opens first new radio station in Ontario in 40 years

On Monday, CBC opened a new radio station in Kitchener-Waterloo, the first one in Ontario in 40 years.  The new station will have a mix of hyper-local news, current affairs, and local cultural content. Tamara Baluja reports.    By Tamara Baluja CBC opened a new radio station in Kitchener-Waterloo, the first one in the province in 40 years. The…

On Monday, CBC opened a new radio station in Kitchener-Waterloo, the first one in Ontario in 40 years.  The new station will have a mix of hyper-local news, current affairs, and local cultural content. Tamara Baluja reports. 

 

By Tamara Baluja

CBC opened a new radio station in Kitchener-Waterloo, the first one in the province in 40 years. The new station, dubbed CBCKW, aired on 89.1 FM for the first time on Monday March 11 at 6 am with a brand new three-hour show called “The Morning Edition.” Previously, listeners could only tune in to the Toronto-based CBC Metro Morning show.

The new show will have a mix of hyper-local news, current affairs, and local cultural content, says Chuck Thompson, head of media relations at CBC English Services.

Thompson would not verify the cost of running the new eight-employee station citing “competitive reasons.” CBC last opened a radio station in Thunder Bay in 1973, Thompson confirmed. 

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The newsroom occupies a unit in a redeveloped factory building at 117 King Street West in downtown Kitchener, according to The Record.

The morning show is hosted by CBC veteran Craig Norris. He will work alongside a team of three producers and three reporters, and “online host” Andrea Bellemare, who will give listeners the chance to comment on the show’s content in real-time, and facilitate online chats with some of the show’s guests.

Here is CBCKW’s storify from their launch date. 

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Tamara Baluja is an award-winning journalist with CBC Vancouver and the 2018 Michener-Deacon fellow for journalism education. She was the associate editor for J-Source from 2013-2014.