CHIP 101.9 FM, the Pontiac’s community radio station hosted its AGM last Thursday. During the AGM, the organization adopted the minutes of the 2021’s AGM, read and adopted the organization’s financial statements, adopted an activity report, presented priorities for 2022-2023 and elected directors.
The President of CHIP, Diane Grenier, highlighted the current position of the station in her opening remarks, stating: “In 2012 CHIP 101.9 was overwhelmed by deficits and, unlike today did not play a key role in the field of local information. The difficulties were numerous both in terms of human resources and technology. Today, our station is being held up as the example to follow, such as the Community Radio . . .
Fund of Canada (CRFC) has done on several occasions.”
The annual report presented at the AGM presented various facts of the programming developed by the radio station over the past 10 years, notably including:
One hundred and six hours per week of locally produced programs, production of the “Bonjour Pontiac Program” which attracted 2,500 listeners a week during the winter of 2022, the production and broadcast of a podcast on the history of the Outaouais and the Pontiac, niche programs on topics like literature, the outdoors, hunting and fishing french country music and the Quebec cultural scene, a renewal of a partnership with Cogeco allowing for the broadcasting of Montreal Canadien games, and more than 500 interviews broadcast on air and available online.
The activity report focused on growing CHIP’s digital presence, which included the launch of the station’s new website.
The activity report also mentioned the accomplishments of CHIP’s newsroom, which included the publishing of 1,200 news articles from 2021-2022.
As for priorities for 2022-2023, the report listed continuing to develop digital goods and services, as well as increasing revenue from digital sources and the application of progressive and innovative human resource practices like teleworking, adapted working hours and improved salary conditions for staff.
The provisional budget for 2022 and 2023 was balanced with 858,000 total revenues and 858,000 total expenses.
Brett Thoms
Fort-Coulonge December 2, 2022
