The station was founded in 1974 by Casimir Stanczykowski; CKJS was the second station to be established by Stanczykowski, behind Montreal's multicultural station CFMB.
(meta data) TITLE:  Multilingual radio station CFMB agrees to sale to Evanov Radio | Montreal Gazette  (meta data) PUBLISHER: https://www.facebook.com/montrealgazette Skip to navigation Skip to content Open Search Sign In Sign Out # Multilingual radio station CFMB agrees to sale to Evanov Radio Steve Faguy, Montreal Gazette Updated: November 18, 2014 Stefan Stanczykowski, director of CFMB in the multilingual radio station's Westmount studios. The station's manager and son of its founder plans to return to his law practice after a transition to new ownership. John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette files ## Canada's oldest multilingual radio station has been sold by the family of its founder after 52 years of broadcasting. The owners of CFMB 1280 AM announced to about 50 station employees on Tuesday that it has agreed to sell to Toronto-based Evanov Radio, which owns two other stations in the Montreal area that are set to launch within weeks. The deal, which will be done through a purchase of all shares in station owner CFMB Ltd., is for $1.125 million. It requires approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, for which an application was filed on Friday, Evanov said. #### Retirements prompted deal CFMB was founded in 1962 by Casimir Stanczykowski. Since his death in 1981, his company has continued to own 80 per cent of CFMB Ltd., managed by his widow Anne-Marie and son Stefan. The remaining 20 per cent is owned by Andrew Mielewczyk, the company's president. "We've reached a situation where Andrew and my mother are both retiring right now," said Stefan Stanczykowski, who has managed the station since 2011. "We needed an outside investor and outside help to carry on the legacy of CFMB. It's very hard in Quebec to be a stand-alone radio station." Evanov first approached the station about an acquisition a couple of years ago, but "we said no," Stanczykowski said. Discussions resumed in the last few months as Evanov was preparing to launch two radio stations in the Montreal area. "After a lot of thought we thought they were the best ones to take over CFMB," Stanczykowski said. "It's emotional for all of us. A lot of events in our lives have taken place in these four walls. But at one point you've got to think objectively what is the better good for the company." #### Synergies, but no job cuts Evanov, through its subsidiary Dufferin Communications Inc., owns 17 radio stations in four provinces, including multilingual AM stations in Toronto and Winnipeg. The latter, CKJS 810, was also founded by Casimir Stanczykowski in 1974. It was sold to Newcap Inc. in 2006, and then to Evanov in 2011. For Evanov, the deal makes sense because of the synergies that it's able to offer, both geographically and through programming, said vice-president Carmela Laurignano. "We're looking for opportunities, and this proved to be one." Among those efficiencies, she said, are a common music library, shared computer systems, "some management at the upper level," and potentially shared office and studio space. The multilingual stations could also share programming, particularly for less popular languages where CFMB has had difficulty finding staff to create programming. In its licence renewal this year, the station received approval to reduce its programming from 18 to 16 languages because of the "very limited pool of talent" to hire. But Evanov wants to be "really as local as possible," Laurignano said, and for about 50 employees of the station, everything is status quo for now. "Hopefully, we'll make some improvements, some investment in it," she said. "There's no chance that anyone's going to be displaced." Though he "worked very hard to ensure that people here would still have their jobs after the change in ownership," Stefan Stanczykowski himself will be leaving his job to return to practice law after the transition to new ownership is complete. #### Rapid growth Evanov's jump into the Quebec market with three stations at once is consistent with the company's rapid growth elsewhere. It has built its network quickly, by setting up clusters and finding "some niche markets we can mine for ourselves," Laurignano said. Of its 17 stations, 14 have launched or been acquired in the past 10 years. Two of them are in Quebec, set to launch within weeks: Radio Fierté 980, a French-language AM station serving Montreal's LGBT community, and The Jewel 106.7, an English-language FM station serving Hudson, St-Lazare and Vaudreuil. They are currently doing on-air testing, and will employ about 20 people each. Their formats are based on stations Evanov operates in other markets: Proud FM in Toronto, and seven other stations using the Jewel brand. "Proud FM worked in Toronto and we thought the next market demographically would be Montreal," Laurignano said. Hudson and the off-island region, meanwhile, did not have its own English-language radio station, and Evanov felt that the market was sufficiently separate from Montreal that one could work there. If the application for change of ownership is approved by the CRTC, which could take a few months, the plan is to eventually move CFMB from its office and studio on York St. in Westmount to Fierté's space on Papineau Ave. The Jewel will be based in Hudson, though the Quebec stations will share some management and resources. #### Failed bid in Quebec City Evanov first tried to enter the Quebec market in 2008, with applications for English and French music stations in Quebec City. Those applications were denied by the CRTC in 2010, though the denial for the English station was by a split decision. The majority opinion felt that the anglophone market was too small to support a commercial station, and that it would instead rely on francophone listeners for audience, or undermine an existing tourist information station. Commissioner Timothy Denton wrote in his dissent that the English station would have served a need and "it is not the concern of the federal government to prevent" people from listening to rad1io stations in other languages. "We're going to go back eventually" and try again in Quebec City, Laurignano said. #### sfaguy@montrealgazette.com Tuning in to Montreal's radio scene The best ideas from Je Vois Mtl ## This Week's Flyers ## Comments Postmedia is pleased to bring you a new commenting experience. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.
train16830
CKJS
History.