CICS-FM

CICS-FM is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts at 91.7 FM in Sudbury, Ontario. The station airs a country music format, branded as Pure Country 91.7. The studio and offices are located at 60 Elm Street, and the station transmits a 50,000 watt signal from the CBC tower.

History

Owned by Larche Communications, the station was licensed by the CRTC on July 12, 2007.[1] The format and branding were patterned on Larche's existing CICZ-FM in Midland, although CICZ's format and brand were moved to sister station CICX-FM in Orillia before CICS was launched.

The station began on-air testing periods without audio in late spring 2008, and officially began testing with country music on the morning of July 28. On August 18 at 7 a.m. EDT, the station officially launched as KICX 91.7. The KICX-FM morning show hosts Luke and Shannon kicked it off that morning with the song "Play Something Country" by Brooks and Dunn.[2] [3][4]

On August 10, 2017, Bell Media announced that it would acquire CICS-FM.[5] Bell Media received approval from the CRTC on February 14, 2018.[6]

On May 28, 2019, as part of a country-wide format reorganization by Bell, CICS rebranded as "Pure Country 91.7". [7]

Technical issues

CICS-FM may receive some interference from a 100 kW FM signal, WCML-FM in Alpena, Michigan. Although Sudbury is well outside of WCML's normal broadcast range, due to tropospheric ducting over Lake Huron the signal has sometimes reached the Sudbury area strongly enough to be in almost crystal clear FM stereo.[8]

Former logos

  • Logo used for CICS-FM from 2008 to August 2016

References

  1. ^ CRTC Decision 2007-229
  2. ^ "Hot new country", Northern Life, August 18, 2008.
  3. ^ KICX Launch Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine (video) - KICX 91.7 brings FM country music back to Sudbury, sudbury24.ca, August 18, 2008.
  4. ^ "Serving up some kicks - New country station on air", Sudbury Star, August 2008.
  5. ^ "Bell Media to Acquire Four Ontario Radio Stations from Larche Communications Inc. – Bell Media". www.bellmedia.ca. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  6. ^ Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2018-57, CICZ-FM Midland, CICX-FM Orillia, CJOS-FM Owen Sound and CICS-FM Sudbury – Acquisition of assets, CRTC, February 14, 2018
  7. ^ Bell Media Rebrands 13 Canadian Country Stations As Pure Country
  8. ^ WCML-FM from recnet

External links

Coordinates: 46°30′14″N 80°58′04″W / 46.50389°N 80.96778°W / 46.50389; -80.96778