Almost all media in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec serves all cities in the region, with very little differentiation between the three primary cities of Rouyn-Noranda, Val-d'Or, and Amos.
Although the cities of Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d'Or are far enough apart that radio and television stations in the area serve the cities from separate transmitters, almost every broadcast station in either city has a rebroadcaster in the other city. The only nominal exceptions are the cities' separate Énergie stations, although at present even these stations share the majority of their broadcast schedule. While Amos is the official city of license for some of the rebroadcasters, only one radio station originates in that city, and all transmitters licensed to either Amos or Val-d'Or encompass both cities within their broadcast range.
History
In 1920 the first newspaper in the region L'Abitibi appeared and its director was Hector Authier. In 1922, it became La Gazette du Nord and subsequently L'Écho Abitibien in 1952.[1]
In 1938 Donald A. Jones, the owner of the Rouyn-Noranda Press, obtained a broadcasting license. The following year the station CKRN was in operation, affiliated with CBL-Toronto.[2] RNC Média was founded in 1948 by Jean-Joffre and David-Armand Gourd and brings together the stations CKRN 1400 AM (Rouyn-Noranda), CKVD 900 AM (Val-d'Or), CHAD 1340 AM (Amos) and CKLS 1240 AM (La Sarre).[3]
In 1957 CKRN-TV became the first television station in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, affiliated with Radio-Canada television.[4] Until 2018, the region was served by ICI Radio-Canada Télé (CKRN-DT) which broadcast on channel 4 in Rouyn-Noranda, affiliated with RNC Média[5] with antennas throughout the region.
In 1957 two cable distributors were founded: Câblevision in the regions of Rouyn-Noranda, Val-d'Or and Malartic, and Câble Amos[6] in the greater Amos region. Cablevision was purchased in 2001 by Télébec, owned by BCE, and became a subsidiary of Bell Aliant.[7] Its community television is branded TVC9. In 2019, Cable Amos was purchased by Vidéotron.[8] Its community television is branded MédiAT-TVC7.
In the 1960s community media offered the population programming focused on popular education with the Multi-media organization which bought airtime on radio and television. It also worked in newspapers. Fernand Bellehumeur was its first anchor. François Gendron, at the time a teacher, was an educational facilitator.[4]
In the fall of 1979 CFEM-TV (TVA, formerly Télé-Métropole) went on the air. CIVA-TV (Télé-Québec, formerly Radio-Québec) went on the air and CFVS-TV (now Noovo, formerly Télévision Quatre Saisons) appeared in 1986.
Radio
- FM 100.5 CFME, a french language events radio station in Rouyn-Noranda.[9]
Television
Newspapers
- Le Citoyen (in French)
- Le Reflet (in French)
- L'Indice bohémien[10] (in French)
- L'Écho des montagnes (in French)
- La Depêche (in French)
Old Newspapers
- L'Écho (in French)
- L'Éclat (in French)
- La Frontière (in French)
- Rouyn-Noranda Press (in English)
References
