Canadian French-language music network operated by the CBC
ICI Musique
is the
French-language
music radio service of
Canada
's national public broadcaster, the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
(
Societe Radio-Canada
). It is the French equivalent of the English
CBC Music
, although it has a different programming focus.
History
[
edit
]
The network was originally launched as
Le FM de Radio-Canada
in 1974, with stations in
Montreal
,
Ottawa
,
Quebec City
and
Chicoutimi
.
The network grew slowly. For a long time, its only full-fledged stations outside of
Quebec
were in
Ottawa
and
Moncton
. It presently covers the majority of Quebec, all
provincial capitals
(though
Regina
,
Victoria
,
Edmonton
,
St. John's
,
Fredericton
and
Charlottetown
are only served by rebroadcasters) and other large cities such as
Toronto
,
[1]
Calgary
and
Vancouver
.
The network was rebranded as
La chaine culturelle
("The cultural network") in 1997 and later as
Espace musique
in September 2004, the latter as part of a major repositioning of the CBC's French services.
[2]
[3]
Many high-brow cultural programs were moved to
Premiere Chaine
, while the new
Espace musique
service adopted a more populist approach focusing on four genres –
classical
,
jazz
,
world
, and
folk music
– and French-language song.
For about two weeks in late August / early September 2004 leading up to the Espace musique relaunch, the network did not have any name, at least officially. The network "
stunted
" with a continuous stream of
classical music
and
jazz
, aside from hourly newscasts simulcast from Premiere Chaine and regular reminders that la Chaine culturelle had shut down and (later) that it would relaunch as Espace musique on September 7.
The rebranding was controversial. The network's previous
format
, largely classical music, had been similar to that of CBC Radio Two, and was indeed regarded by some as superior to its English-language counterpart, leading many cultural commentators to criticize the new format. However,
Bureau of Broadcast Measurement
ratings taken soon after the relaunch
[4]
[5]
suggested that the service has indeed become more popular.
Unlike most CBC broadcast networks, from its inception until fall 2010, all
ICI Musique
transmitters aired the same programming simultaneously on all stations regardless of location, except for (from 2004 to 2010) two weekday evening programs that were interchanged on the
British Columbia
transmitters.
Since September 2010, the network has adopted the practice of the CBC's other French-language networks, whereby network programs are broadcast live in the Eastern, Atlantic, and Newfoundland time zones, then aired on tape delay (at the same local times as in the Eastern time zone) in
Western Canada
. At the same time the network devolved responsibility for the 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (9:30-1:00 AT; formerly from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. / 10:00-4:00 AT) time slot to regional stations. Separate daytime programs were slated to be produced by each of the network's originating stations - the exceptions having been
CBAX-FM
Halifax, which carried programming produced at
CBAL-FM
Moncton;
[6]
and
CBCX-FM
Calgary / Edmonton, which carried regional programs from
CKSB-FM
Winnipeg.
On May 4, 2011, the network began transmitting on
Sirius XM
satellite radio
channel 153 across North America. "Ici musique chansons" was later moved to channel 163.
On June 5, 2013, it was announced that Espace musique would be re-branded as
ICI Musique
as part of a wider re-branding of the CBC's French-language outlets around the brand "Ici". The changes took effect on-air in June 2014, along with the re-branding of the network's website espace.mu as icimusique.ca.
[7]
[8]
[9]
[10]
On April 10, 2014, further budget cuts were announced for the CBC/Radio-Canada,
[11]
affecting also Espace Musique, whose regional programming (namely
Beau temps, mauvais temps
on weekday mornings) was cancelled on June 20. Since then, the ICI Musique network feed has essentially been a retransmission of flagship
CBFX-FM
in Montreal.
[12]
Stations
[
edit
]
Frequency
|
Call sign
|
Location
|
89.7 FM
|
CBCX-FM
|
Calgary
,
Alberta
|
91.5 FM
|
CBAX-FM
|
Halifax
,
Nova Scotia
|
98.3 FM
|
CBAL-FM
|
Moncton
,
New Brunswick
|
100.7 FM
|
CBFX-FM
|
Montreal
,
Quebec
|
102.5 FM
|
CBOX-FM
|
Ottawa
,
Ontario
|
95.3 FM
|
CBVX-FM
|
Quebec City
,
Quebec
|
101.5 FM
|
CBRX-FM
|
Rimouski
,
Quebec
|
90.7 FM
|
CBRX-FM
|
Riviere-du-Loup
,
Quebec
|
100.9 FM
|
CBJX-FM
|
Saguenay
,
Quebec
|
90.9 FM
|
CBBX-FM
|
Sudbury
,
Ontario
|
90.3 FM
|
CJBC-FM
|
Toronto
,
Ontario
|
90.9 FM
|
CBUX-FM
|
Vancouver
,
British Columbia
|
89.9 FM
|
CKSB-FM
|
Winnipeg
,
Manitoba
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Mietkiewicz, Henry (February 19, 1986). "CBC plans to start French FM station next year".
Toronto Star
.
- ^
(in French)
[1]
Archived
April 16, 2005, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Licence Renewal ? French Services Panel Opening Remarks (section on Radio)"
.
CBC/Radio-Canada: Media Centre
. CBC/Radio-Canada. November 20, 2012
. Retrieved
June 26,
2013
.
- ^
(in French)
[2]
Archived
April 16, 2005, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"What is a Public Space?"
(PDF)
.
CBC/Radio-Canada Annual Report 2004-2005
. CBC/Radio-Canada. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on May 28, 2013
. Retrieved
June 28,
2013
.
- ^
Societe Radio-Canada
(February 3, 2010).
"Espace musique: des changements a l'automne 2010 - Encore plus pres des auditeurs partout au Canada"
. Retrieved
December 8,
2010
.
- ^
"New Brand Architecture"
(PDF)
.
News Releases
. CBC/Radio-Canada French Services. June 6, 2013. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on September 23, 2015
. Retrieved
June 20,
2013
.
- ^
"ICI Radio-Canada: We've heard you"
(Press release). CBC/Radio-Canada. June 10, 2013
. Retrieved
June 19,
2013
.
- ^
"Radio-Canada retreats on rebranding company as ICI"
.
CBC News
. Retrieved
June 11,
2013
.
- ^
"Espace musique et Espace.mu deviennent ICI Musique"
. The Huffington Post Canada. May 27, 2014
. Retrieved
May 28,
2014
.
- ^
"CBC/Radio-Canada looks to the future as it makes tough choices to balance its budget"
.
CBC/Radio-Canada
. CBC/Radio-Canada. April 10, 2014
. Retrieved
April 17,
2014
.
- ^
Gaboury, Paul (April 10, 2014).
"Radio-Canada: les details des compressions locales connus vendredi"
.
Le Droit
. Retrieved
April 17,
2014
.
External links
[
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]
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