Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  No Black Owners To Groove On Toronto’s FM Airwaves By Stephen Weir: There used to be two, but now there are none.  Despite written pleas from the Prime Minister, the mayor, community groups and a listeners’ petition, the financially stressed radio station G-98.7 is no longer in Black hands. On Monday morning a court spent just an hour reviewing the purchase offer of the last Black owned station in the country (Flow, Canada’s first Black FM station was sold off years ago).  Pending a licence review by the Canadian Radio and Television Commission, Mississauga broadcaster Neeti P. Ray is now the proud owner of a station that bills itself as one “that Grooves.” Ray already owns and operates multi-cultural stations CINA-FM in Windsor and CINA 1650 AM in Mississauga. The two stations air programming in a variety of language including: Assyrian, Cantonese, Hindi, Serbian, Spanish and Ukrainian. According to Wikipedia 80% of their daily programming is in Arabic. “While I prepa...

Bidding Deadline Extended    By Stephen Weir Deadline for interested parties to submit written letters of intent with respect to the purchase of the station was Friday, August 7. But A.Farber & Partners Inc., the court-appointed receiver of the company that is currently operating Radio Station G98.7-FM, said earlier this week that the deadline for purchase proposals has been extended to Sept 25, as requested by the bidders in good standing Little information has been released about the proposed sale beyond a list of what the successful buyer will receive.  It consists of the broadcast studio and equipment at 34 Kerns Road in North York, the station’s advertising list, all accounts receivable, the lease for the downtown broadcast antenna and the station’s Canadian Radio and Television Commission licence to broadcast. The estimated price for the station that tags itself as “The Way We Groove,” will be in the range of $2 -5-million dollars. Business and Community interes...

Not the way Fitzroy Gordon would want it to Groove   By Stephen Weir The first time a grieving Marvette Gordon knew there was serious trouble at her late husband’s radio station was when a letter appeared in her mailbox a few weeks ago. She learned that the Ontario Supreme Court of Justice had placed G98.7 FM under investigative receivership and a Toronto law firm was temporarily running the ship. The late Fitzroy Gordon’s FM station is now under attack. A former shareholder has convinced the Provincial Courts that there are serious financial problems at the only Caribbean Canadian owned radio station. The law firm Farber and Associates is, for now, managing the affairs of the FM station and examining closely its books. The Insolvency Insider news-site first reported that Gordon’s Intercity Broadcasting Network, the company that operates radio station G98.7 “was placed in investigative receivership on June 3 on application by Jamrock Broadcasting and Delford Blythe.” A...