AM radio station 630 CHED, an Edmonton broadcasting mainstay for more than 60 years, will change frequencies this fall, according to parent company Corus Entertainment.
Programming — including Edmonton Oilers game broadcasts, to which CHED has the rights for radio play by play — will move to 880 AM, another Corus-owned station that was previously Global News 880.
The change will begin Oct. 9, coinciding with the Oilers’ season opener, according to an internal memo obtained by CBC News.
“At the time, it was stated that this would be for an interim period, after which only one AM station would operate in the market,” Global News senior vice president Ward Smith said in the memo.
“Broadcasting CHED on 880 will provide better city coverage and a stronger signal for listeners, and we have an exciting plan in place to market this change to our listeners.”
The company stopped operating the 880 AM radio station in June, and has been broadcasting CHED content on both frequencies ever since.
It plans to sell the land in Edmonton where the 630 CHED transmitter sits, Smith said. The licence to operate at that frequency will return to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), which regulates Canadian broadcasting.
CHED started broadcasting in Edmonton in the mid-1950s at the 1080 frequency, then moved to 630 AM about a decade later. The station has held Oilers radio broadcast rights since 1995.
“With everything going on in media these days and all the changes taking place, it’s really just another brick in the wall,” said Grant Ainsley, who runs a media communications firm in Edmonton and previously worked at 1110 CHQT.
He noted that there have been many mergers and massive layoffs over the last 10 to 15 years.
“While yes, it is certainly historic in terms of what we remember as 630 CHED, nothing would surprise me these days in the media,” Ainsley said.