World Music now on Montreal’s new CKIN 106.3 FM

The home CKDG-FM and now CKIN-FM on Parc Avenue

There’s a new radio station on the Montreal FM dial and while they’re not officially on the air yet, they are in the testing phase, which means you can listen to them right now. They’re to be known 106.3 CKIN-FM, pronounced SKIN, according to a plugs heard on that station as well as on sister station, CKDG 105.1 Mike FM. So far CKIN has been playing non-stop World Music, but there will also be spoken word programming once the station launches.

I am just a little surprised that this license was approved given that CKDG is not really very well known. If you already have one tree falling in the forest, not making any sound, why would you want a second one? True, Mike FM’s problems may be related to their crappy signal more than anything else, but still, it’s to the point where if I even mention CKDG in casual conversation, I know I’ll have to explain just what 105.1 Mike FM is and answer questions like, is that a Montreal station and are you sure you’re not confused with 105.7 Rythme FM?

CKDG is the one that plays Classic Hits during the morning and afternoon drive and muliticultural programming, the vast majority of which is in Greek, at other times. Now that CKDG is giving birth to a second radio station, a greater variety of world sounds will get airplay and given the success of Putumayo CDs, a station playing World Music on FM may be a good thing. Let’s just hope people can actually find their signal this time.

Speaking of crappy signals, the problem may be corrected eventually, at least as far as CKDG is concerned. They’ve made an application with the CRTC to move the 105.1 signal over to 106.7 FM. It should be noted that this is a totally separate application from that of CKIN at 106.3 FM. There has been some confusion as a result of both proposed signals being in the 106 range.

But if Mike FM does get approval for 106.7, bear in mind that this is also the frequency currently used for the Mohawk pirate country radio station, KKIC. Now that could open up a whole other can of worms.

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