BC Business
Whistler Village | BCBusinessWhistler Village | BCBusiness
In the midst of the digital revolution it seems quaint that Whistler is celebrating its first ever radio station. The launch of Whistler FM, however, is the first time residents of the resort community have had a station to call their own.
“The most important thing we’ve kept in mind while building the sound of this radio station is remembering why we’re here,” says station general manager and co-owner Robert Wilson, formerly of The Shore 104.3 FM. “Whistler FM is for our local community…a unique tourism-based comunity serving more than two million visitors each year.”
According to a story by Brandon Barrett in Whistler’s The Whistler Question newspaper, the station fulfills a longtime dream for Wilson, who took over Whistler FM’s broadcasting licence in May last year, and was given until March 2, 2013 by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to get the station on-air. Wilson told the Question: “If the weather in the last week had been bad, and they weren’t able to put the antennas up on the tower, then everything I had invested—which is everything I have—would have been gone.”
Earlier delays in getting a local station running, the Question reported, “date back to 2009, when the CRTC granted the ownership group at Four Senses Entertainment a broadcasting licence. At that time, the owners ran into some difficulties securing advertising in the post-recession economic climate, and asked the CRTC for two licence extensions, before Wilson and co-owner Barry Duggan took over in the spring.”
The station, which broadcasts from 101.5 on your FM dial or via www.whistlerfm.ca, went live last Monday with what it’s calling “adult album alternative” playlists. It also plans to broadcast live from Whistler bars and clubs to showcase the resort’s renowned nightlife.