CJRO Radio moving to 96.3 FM in Casselman and surrounding areas | CJRO Radio change sa fréquence à Casselman et augmentera sa puissance.

(français au bas)

In a decision published on December 15, 2025, the CRTC has authorized the bilingual community station, CJRO Radio to move from 107.9 to 96.3 FM to better serve the Municipality of Casselman and its surrounding areas.  A new FM antenna will be installed in the Spring 2026 on top of the Casselman water tower instead of the industrial park. This technical change will allow CJRO Radio to broadcast to a larger area using a more powerful transmitter (at 50 watts ERP) and offer a stronger coverage for the Municipality of Casselman and for local residents to access the community station.   The technical installation will be done in the spring of 2026.

The new FM signal will also reach the village of St-Albert in the south. CJRO Radio is also available in Embrun in the Russell Municipality on 107.7 FM and in eastern rural Ottawa: Carlsbad Springs on 107.7 FM, Vars on 107.9 FM, and Sarsfield on 107.9 FM.

In a separate application CJRO Radio has also applied in early December to replace its current FM transmitter in Sarsfield to provide a much wider coverage that would cover a large part of east Ottawa on 95.7 FM to service all of rural Ottawa including parts of the Russell Township where its 107.7 transmission does not reach well.

If accepted the new Sarsfield transmission on 95.7 FM at up to 930 watts ERP would also reach Clarence-Rockland in the east such as Hammond, Cheney and Bourget, parts of Orleans on the west side and up to Limoges (La Nation Municipality) and the Russell Township in the south.

The full decision for 96.3 CJRO Radio is available on the CRTC website:  

Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2025-341 | CRTC

The section in green and yellow on the map are where CJRO Radio will be available on 96.3 FM in Casselman after the new installation in the Spring 2026.

Le CRTC a autorisé CJRO Radio à passer de 107,9 à la fréquence 96,3 FM afin de mieux desservir le village de Casselman et ses environs.  La nouvelle antenne FM sera installée au sommet de la tour d’eau de Casselman plutôt que dans le parc industriel.  Ce changement technique permettra à CJRO Radio de diffuser dans une zone plus vaste à l'aide d'un émetteur plus puissant et d'offrir une meilleure couverture à la municipalité de Casselman.   L'installation sera effectuée au printemps 2026.

Le nouveau signal au 96.3 FM atteindra également le village de St-Albert.

CJRO Radio est aussi disponible à Embrun à la fréquence 107,7 FM, à Carlsbad Springs au 107,7 FM, à Vars au 107,9 FM et Sarsfield au 107,9 FM.

CJRO Radio a également demandé récemment à remplacer son émetteur à Sarsfield afin d'offrir une couverture plus étendue qui couvrirait une grande partie de l'est d'Ottawa sur la fréquence 95,7 FM.

La décision complète est disponible sur le site web du CRTC :   Décision de radiodiffusion CRTC 2025-341 | CRTC

Les sections en vert et jaune sur la carte sont les endroits que le signal de CJRO Radio 96.3 FM sera disponible au printemps 2026.

Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2025-341

PDF version

Reference: Part 1 application posted on 20 August 2025

Gatineau, 16 December 2025

CJRO RadioC arlsbad Springs and Casselman, Ontario

Public record: 2025-0356-5

CJRO-FM Carlsbad Springs and its transmitter CJRO-FM-4 Casselman – Technical amendments

1. The Commission has the authority, pursuant to subsection 9(1) of the Broadcasting Act (the Act), to issue licences for the carrying on of broadcasting undertakings and to amend those licences.

2. Consistent with this authority, the Commission approves the application by CJRO Radio to amend the technical parameters of CJRO-FM-4 Casselman, Ontario, a low-power rebroadcasting transmitter of the English- and French-language community FM radio programming undertaking CJRO-FM Carlsbad Springs, Ontario. Specifically, CJRO Radio proposed to relocate its rebroadcasting transmitter to a new site, to change the frequency from 107.9 MHz (channel 300LP) to 96.3 MHz (channel 242LP), to increase the effective radiated power (ERP) from 2 to 50 watts, to increase the effective height of the antenna above average terrain (EHAAT) from 25.8 to 43.0 metres, and to amend the transmitter site’s existing coordinates.

3. The Commission received an intervention in support from the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA) in regard to this application. The NCRA highlighted CJRO-FM’s emphasis on local news. It expressed that the proposed technical amendments would be in the public interest and would allow CJRO-FM-4 to better serve its bilingual listeners in its broadcasting area.

4. Pursuant to section 5.1 of the Broadcasting Act and section 41 of the Official Languages Act, the Commission must promote the vitality and support the development of official language minority communities (OLMCs). CJRO-FM and CJRO-FM-4 serve the French language OLMC in Carlsbad Springs and Casselman. The amendment would allow the station to reach additional listeners and would prevent current listeners from losing service. Accordingly, the Commission finds that approving the application would benefit the OLMC in Casselman.

5. When a licensee files an application for technical amendments, the Commission requires the licensee to present compelling technical or economic evidence justifying the requested amendments. In this case, CJRO Radio submitted that relocating the rebroadcasting transmitter is necessary because the owner of the current site has ceased its operations, and that CJRO Radio’s agreement with that owner is therefore ending. The applicant has reached an agreement with the Municipality of Casselman to install the FM transmitter on top of the municipal water tower. Since the rebroadcasting transmitter has to be moved, a change that requires a technical amendment, CJRO Radio applied concurrently to increase the transmitter power in order to better serve listeners within its coverage area. The Commission is satisfied that the licensee has demonstrated a technical need for the requested amendments.

6. The Commission considers that the proposed technical amendments would benefit listeners in Casselman and surrounding areas by increasing the station’s contours and improving its signal.

7. Pursuant to subsection 22(1) of the Act, this authority will only be effective when the Department of Industry (also known as Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada) notifies the Commission that its technical requirements have been met and that a broadcasting certificate will be issued.

8. The licensee must implement the technical amendments by no later than 16 December 2027. To request an extension, the licensee must submit a written request to the Commission at least 60 days before that date, using Form 300, which is available on the Commission’s website.

9. As set out in section 16 of the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the Regulations), licensees have obligations relating to the broadcast of emergency alert messages received from the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination System. The implementation of the technical amendments approved in this decision could result in changes to CJRO-FM-4 Casselman’s authorized contours. The Commission reminds the licensee that continued compliance with section 16 of the Regulations may require that any alert broadcast decoders (e.g., ENDEC) used for the purposes of broadcasting emergency alert messages on CJRO-FM Carlsbad Springs or on any rebroadcasting transmitters that may appear on the broadcasting licence for that station, be reprogrammed to properly account for the new authorized contours.

10. This decision is to be appended to the licence.