BO FM features 'urban' mix of French and English music, will rely on volunteers

A9

BY NICK MOORE
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF

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Dieppe's first-ever radio station is now on the air.

Enlarge Photo

Ron Ward

On-air personality Natalie Verdon is one of the voices of CFBO 90.7 FM in Dieppe.

CFBO-FM, branded as BO FM, can be found on the dial (at 90.7 FM) and online (at www.cfbo.ca). The station's studios are located in the old Dieppe city hall on Acadie Avenue.

Owned by Radio Beauséjour (also owners of CJSE in Shediac), General Manager Serge Parent said it took about eight years for the Dieppe station to sign on.

"It will be a community radio station, the fifth French radio station in the Moncton market," said Parent. "It will be a typical community radio station focusing on the community."

Parent said bringing community flavour to airwaves will be possible because the station is offering volunteer opportunities to the public.

"We'll be recruiting people for different types of shows: sports people, cultural-type people that know a lot about different aspects of music and arts ... all to be reporters. There will be all kinds of ways to volunteer."

Volunteers will make up a large part of the station's weeknight and weekend schedule; their recruitment will begin around mid-October. The station will also employ five people.

Following an "urban" sound mix, Parent says BO FM will have both French and English music on its playlist, ranging from Top 40 hits to classic tunes. The station's schedule will also feature a music countdown show based out of Paris, France.

Sister station CJSE in Shediac also went through a mild format change with BO FM going on air. CJSE now plays exclusively country music, pushing all bits of pop music over to BO FM. Parent said tweaking the format in Shediac helped the broadcaster get a licence from the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission) for the Dieppe station. At the same time, Parent said the adjustment on CJSE isn't all that drastic.

"We've always been known as the country music (station) before," he said. "The only difference now is that we've pulled off all the pop music from the station and kept the country and Acadian music."