HISTOIRE DE CFRG AM / CFRG FM
History of CFRG
En 1998, la communauté de Gravelbourg (Saskatchewan, CANADA) a fait des essaies en ondes en utilisant les studios de la radio étudiante du Collège Mathieu. Après quelques années, CFRG a loué de l'équipement pour un studio temporaire sur l'estrade du Centre culturel Maillard. En 2001, la station a trouvé un emplacement permanent au sous-sol du Centre culturel.
CFRG FM a obtenu sa licence de radio-diffusion du CRTC en 2003. La station diffuse sur la fréquence 93,1 FM à partir du studio "Dumont Lepage" au Centre culturel Maillard. Mais, le premier CFRG, c'est-à-dire, CFRG 710 AM est venu au monde il y a plus de 55 ans...
Le 1er juin 1952, c'est la fête à Gravelbourg d'où est diffusée la première émission de CFRG, sigle auquel on associe les termes Crois, Façonne, Rayonne, Garde qui devient la devise du poste. Elle est le reflet de la mission que se donne la radio française, soit de sauvegarder la langue et la foi des francophones de la province. Une messe commémorative est au programme durant laquelle Maurice Baudoux prononce un sermon où il associe étroitement la langue et la religion. Plus tard, les discours officiels sont prononcés au Collège Mathieu.
Dû à des problèmes financiers et l'entrée de Radio-Canada en Saskatchewan, CFRG 710 AM est vendu à Radio-Canada en 1973. La station CFNS de Saskatoon est aussi vendu à la société d'état d'un même coup. Certains Fransaskois ont senti qu'avec la vente de leurs stations, ils perdaient une part de leur identité...
Crois, Façonne, Rayonne... Reviens?
En 1998, les Fransaskois de Gravelbourg ont commencé un projet ambitieux de ramener une station de radio au village.
En 2003, CFRG revient sur les ondes à Gravelbourg. Aujourd'hui, la station continue de diffuser sur la fréquence 93,1 FM ainsi que sur son site web officiel, www.cfrg.ca.
Gravelbourg Francophone Community Radio CFRG-FM
The history of radio in Gravelbourg is rich and is well rooted in the francophone community. An important event in that history came in 2002 when the community celebrated the 50th anniversary of French radio in Saskatchewan. Gravelbourg was at the centre of the activity. A plaque recognizing the role of Gravelbourg in Francophone radio was unveiled and stands as a permanent reminder next to the Gravelbourg Post Office. As well as the historical plaque, a collection of 78 RPM discs was donated to ACFG and the Gravelbourg Museum by Radio-Canada many of which originated from the collection at CFRG in Gravelbourg.
Before the historic change, radio in Gravelbourg was a going concern and played an important role in the cultural and commercial life of the community. That early history came to an end on August 31, 1973, at 11:05am. Following 21 years of radio operation in Gravelbourg, CFRG-AM discontinued all broadcasts. The following day, French radio broadcasting became a provincial entity with broadcasts from the studios of Radio-Canada in Regina. Gravelbourg had lost a powerful cultural instrument that was close to the hearts but the Saskatchewan francophone community had gained a full provincial service.
In the years that followed, the dream of radio returning to Gravelbourg was not lost. Francophones began investigating better ways of communicating amongst themselves and community radio, a model that relies mostly on volunteers, was targeted as an option. Community radio stations has opened in New Brunswick and Ontario and in 1991, they joined forces to create an alliance of French language community radio stations in Canada. Thus the Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada (ARC), was born. This movement attracted attention in the French community in Saskatchewan and with Gravelbourg’s ACFG.
In 1994, in celebration of the 15th Fête fransaskoise in Willow Bunch, a radio trial was undertaken in collaboration with ARC and ACFG. This led to the formation of an ACFG radio committee. For a period of time the local cable station was used to transmit a handful of programs including popular music with Pierre Paquette, a traditional musical program called ‘Battre la semelle’ with Michel Vézina and a history show with Annette Labelle.
In 2000, a new push for community radio saw further broadcasts with temporary equipment as a result of technical and marketing studies. The same year, Gravelbourg participated in the ACFG network trial which included Ponteix, Vonda, Zenon Park, Prince Albert and Regina using the SCN (Saskatchewan Network) satellite.
Finally in 2001, with many of the pieces now in place, the committee applied to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC) for a permanent broadcast license. As a result a new era of radio in Gravelbourg had begun. The CRTC granted the permanent license on January 9, 2003 and then in March, the community celebrated the official launching of the ‘NEW’ CFRG 93.1 FM. The CRTC regulations governing the radio operation include a minimum of 65% in French, a maximum of 25% in English and a maximum of 10% in other languages. A room in the basement of the Maillard Cultural Centre, named the ‘Dumont Lepage’ studio became its new home. What had been a developmental stage emerged as a full-time radio operation with membership in ARC and a connection to other French language broadcasters in Canada.
Over the course of the next few years, many coordinators contributed to the further development of the operation: Robert Dumont (2000-2002), Luc Archambault (2002-2003), Fernan Sepulveda (2003-2004), Jack Walton (2004), Cédric Bell (2005-2007), Guylain Bergeron (2007-2008) and Robert Dumont since 2008. A series of special initiatives were also undertaken and included youth projects with Jason Ouellette and Geneviève Messier and a summer marketing project with Gabriel Brian Lopez. In July of 2006, the Centennial year of the founding of Gravelbourg, CFRG-FM had come of age and played a significant role in covering and promoting the centennial celebrations.
By the end of 2006, CFRG-FM operations included continuous 24-hour broadcast service with 15 locally produced shows primarily by a team of community volunteers. The local programming is complimented by an equal amount coming from other francophone community stations across the country. In 2006, CFRG-FM’s broadcast area covered approximately 20 kilometers around Gravelbourg with plans to increase its broadcast area. The radio in now available on Internet: CFRG.ca.
Today CFRG-FM in still continuing to offer its services to the community but has added the Réseau CFRG, this is a format for people outside of the radius of the signal to send in community programming. In Ponteix Annette Labelle has invested in 150$ of equipment to register her program with the MP3 program. She saves it as a file and sends it by e-mail to the Radio station. Her comments can be heard during the morning programming of CFRG-FM and the world can listen to CFRG by Internet on cfrg.ca.
Enjoy!!