CKIN-FM, branded on-air as Radio CINA, is an FM commercial (

multilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

)

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

which operates at 106.3

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one h ...

( FM) in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

, Canada. Its headquarters are at 1955 Côte-de-Liesse, Saint Laurent although initially CKIN broadcast through temporary studios located on Avenue du Parc in

being the facilities of CKDG, with its transmitter located atop

Mount Royal Mount Royal (french: link=no, Mont Royal, ) is a large intrusive rock hill or small mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The best-known hypothesis for the origin of the name Montreal is the hi ...

. The station's multiethnic programming is primarily in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

, with evening blocks in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

, and hour-long blocks with other third languages including

Assyrian Assyrian may refer to: * Assyrian people, the indigenous ethnic group of Mesopotamia. * Assyria, a major Mesopotamian kingdom and empire. ** Early Assyrian Period ** Old Assyrian Period ** Middle Assyrian Empire ** Neo-Assyrian Empire * Assyrian ...

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–1 ...

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

History

On August 20, 2009, Canadian Hellenic Cable Radio Ltd. (CHCR) received

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

(CRTC) approval to operate a new multilingual specialty radio station at Montreal. The station would serve as a sister to

CKDG-FM CKDG-FM is a radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned and operated by Groupe CHCR Inc., it broadcasts on 105.1 MHz using a directional antenna with an average effective radiated power of 524 watts ( class A). Like most FM statio ...

and use a similar format, under which it would air mainstream programming targeting French listeners during peak drive times, and air programming in Arabic, Armenian, Romanian, and Spanish among others throughout the rest of the day. On May 20, 2015, Canadian Hellenic Cable Radio announced that they intend to sell CKIN-FM to Neeti P. Ray, who owns similarly-formatted stations CINA in Mississauga,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, and

CINA-FM CINA-FM (102.3 MHz) is a radio station broadcasting a mixture of English-language and ethnic/multilingual music and programming in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The station broadcasts with an antenna aimed toward the northwest and southeast, to p ...

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southe ...

. Ray previously sought licenses for a new station in Montreal twice (in 2007 and 2011), but was turned down in both instances. CHCR intended to use the sale to fund improvements to CKDG. Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2015-201, May 20, 2015.
/ref> Following the closure of the acquisition, CKIN was rebranded as ''CINA Radio'' (a brand shared by Ray's other multilingual stations), and launched a revamped schedule with a larger focus on Arabic and Spanish-language programming. Arabic programming constitutes the majority of its schedule on weekdays and weekends, while Spanish-language programming is aired during the evening hours on weekdays. Hour-long blocks with programming in other languages are carried on weekend mornings to comply with the requirement that CKIN air programming in at least eight languages other than English and French. The changes were meant to improve the viability of the station, as the Arabian and Hispanic communities are among the largest ethnic groups in Montreal. Its Arabic programming was aimed towards a younger audience than its main competitor, CHOU ''Radio Moyen-Orient''. The owners of CHOU filed a complaint with the

CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...

over the shift to Arabic programming, arguing that Ray had promised to maintain CKIN's existing programming, while increasing its production of local South Asian programming. The CRTC dismissed the complaint on October 14, 2016, stating that CKIN-FM's license, nor the approval of the sale, had any conditions requiring the station to serve specific cultural groups—only that it must target at least six different groups, and air programs in at least eight different languages. Its license has since been renewed through August 31, 2024.

References

External links

*
Radio CINA Arabic Facebook page
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ckin Kin Kin Radio stations established in 2009 2009 establishments in Quebec