The Chetwynd Communications Society, broadcasters of Peace FM, have a request to install a transmitter in Tumbler Ridge.
The process has been in the works since at least 2016, but as of March 1, the CRTC has opened the proceedings for public comment.
Leo Sabulsky, General Manager for Peace FM, says he’s been working on the project for at least four years. “I gave up at one point because of the mountains between Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge,” he says. “They prevent direct sight lines between the Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge. Four years ago, we didn’t have the money to spend the thousands of dollars to build a bunch of towers. It was too complicated and expensive. We had to wait until we had high speed fibre internet at a reasonable cost. We didn’t have it in Chetwynd until Sept 2018. Now that we have that, our proposal is to have an internet connection between Chetwynd and Tumbler Ridge. The whole cost will be $23,000 to put it into Tumbler Ridge..”
Sabulsky says that’s been the biggest issue with getting a station in Tumbler Ridge. “There’s Line of sight from Chetwynd to Dawson. If you shone a light from our tower you could see it in Dawson. In Hudson’s Hope [where they are also planning on putting in a tower], you can hear us at the top of the valley. Tumbler Ridge is stuck in a hole surrounded by mountains.”
If they are successful, the station will broadcast at 99.5 FM, with the call letters CHIA. “We wanted to get CHTR, but there’s a station in Alberta that has that already.”
Comments—positive and negative—can be filed at the CRTC website. Sabulsky says he hopes most of the comments will be positive. “Unlike Commercial Stations, we’re going to have a person in Tumbler Ridge whose job it is to sell ads, to collect information about local events and news and musicians, and sell bingo tickets there. We’re going to be a part of the community.”
Once the CRTC has collected all the feedback, there will most likely be a question and answer period, where the station can respond to any feedback. Then the CRTC will either call for a hearing, and Sabulsky will have to go to Ottawa to answer questions, or they will give the station a green light. “The best case scenario is for us to be broadcasting there in four to six months.”
The new tower will be 50 W, and, while they are still investigating the actual location for the tower, it will most likely be in town and not on a ridge. “Tumbler Ridge proper will be covered as well as the area around it, but you need line of site,” says Sabulsky.
“It’s a good step for Tumbler Ridge, and I’m really proud that we were able to do it. The engineer has done so much work on this. Once we get the tower there, it will mean that we will be the real voice of the South Peace.”
CHET-FM began in 1996. In 2002 the station added a 50 w transmitter at 104.1 in Dawson Creek, and changed their name to Peace FM.
