New radio service for Fox Creek

By Laura Bohnert

If you’re living or working in Fox Creek, Alberta, you’re going to want to turn your radio dial to 98.1 FM. As of 3 p.m. on Wednesday, December 10, 2014, Fox Creek’s newest radio service officially switched to “on the air.”

The new radio service is owned by Newcap Radio which is one of Canada’s leading radio broadcasters. Newcap Radio holds 95 licenses across Canada including 96.7 The Rig in Whitecourt, and reaches millions of listeners each week through multiple formats. Newcap Radio’s decision to provide radio service to Fox Creek at 98.1 FM was approved by the CRTC (the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission).

“The service is on a transmitter tower that is located within the Fox Creek region,” explains Dave Schuck, General Manager of Newcap Radio’s Alberta NW Division. “It provides repeater broadcasting of The Rig with an improved signal for Fox Creek.”

A telecommunications repeater is an electronic device that receives and retransmits signal. It can retransmit at a higher level or power in order to cover longer distances. The service allows The Rig to broadcast with better and more reliable reception to the Fox Creek area.

The service began broadcasting on Wednesday, December 10 without any interruptions, reports The Rig’s Magen Steiger who made her way to Fox Creek for the kickoff, “and we are already receiving really good feedback.”

The Rig is a Rock format station. It was founded in Whitecourt in 2006, and was Whitecourt’s first radio station.