Media in Windsor, Ontario

Windsor Star newspaper's offices.

Windsor, Ontario is the fourth-largest border city media market in Canada, after Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. It is also the only one of those four markets to exist within the shadow of a larger American media market – whereas Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal are all the dominant media markets in their regions and are adjacent to significantly smaller American markets, Windsor is located directly across the border from Detroit, the 11th largest television market and ninth largest radio market in the United States. Thus, it is considered part of the Detroit television and radio market for purposes of territorial programming rights, and can also receive radio and television signals from Toledo and even Cleveland.

Since Windsor is considered part of one large American media market (Detroit) and close to two others (Cleveland and Toledo), the city's media outlets (radio and television stations, and newspaper) have a special status designated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, exempting them from many of the Canadian content ("CanCon") requirements that most other broadcasters in Canada are legally required to follow. These CanCon requirements, mandating that a minimum of 35% of the broadcast material of a station must be of Canadian artists, actors, or shows in/about Canada, have been blamed in part for the decline of the popular Windsor radio station, CKLW, a 50,000 watt AM radio station that in the late 1960s, prior to the advent of CanCon, had been the number one radio station not only in Detroit and Windsor, but also in the Toledo and Cleveland markets.

CHWI-TV studio on Ouellette Avenue.

Windsor has also been exempt from concentration of media ownership rules. Although Blackburn Radio has a rebroadcaster of its Chatham station in Windsor and is scheduled to launch a new station in 2009, all of its current commercial broadcast outlets are owned by a single company, Bell Media.

Radio

In addition to Windsor's own radio stations, virtually all radio stations in the Detroit market are also available in the city, as well as some from Toledo.

Frequency	Call sign	Branding	Format	Owner	Notes
540 AM	CBEF	Première Chaîne	news/talk	Société Radio-Canada	French
580 AM	CKWW	AM 580	oldies	Bell Media Radio
800 AM	CKLW	AM 800	news/talk	Bell Media Radio
88.7 FM	CIMX-FM	89X	modern rock	Bell Media Radio
89.9 FM	CBE-FM	CBC Radio 2	public music	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
93.9 FM	CIDR-FM	The River 93.9	adult contemporary	Bell Media Radio
95.9 FM	CJWF-FM	Country 95-9	country	Blackburn Radio	formerly Windsor's FM 95-9 prior to the rebranding on September 7, 2010
96.7 FM	CHYR-FM	Mix 96.7	Hot AC	Blackburn Radio
97.5 FM	CBEW-FM	CBC Radio One	news/talk	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
99.1 FM	CJAM-FM	CJAM 99.1	campus radio	University of Windsor	formerly on 91.5 FM prior to October 7, 2009
100.7 FM	CKUE-FM-1	The Rock	active rock	Blackburn Radio	rebroadcaster of a station from Chatham-Kent
103.9 FM	CJBC-FM-2	Espace musique	public music	Société Radio-Canada	French
105.5 FM	CBEF-2-FM‏	Première Chaîne	news/talk	Société Radio-Canada	French; LP rebroadcaster of CBEF 540.

Television

Because television stations operating in Windsor would be required to purchase program rights at Detroit market rates, which are higher than any market in Canada, Windsor is not directly served by Canada's major commercial networks. The city is served only by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's English and French networks and the provincially owned public broadcaster TVOntario, all of which air almost entirely Canadian-produced programming, and by the smaller CTV Two system.

Both CTV and Global put only marginal signals into Windsor itself – CTV's nearest transmitter (CKCO-TV-3 on UHF 42) is located near Oil Springs, while Global's transmitter (CIII-DT-22 on UHF 22) is between Leamington and Wheatley, near Point Pelee (though it's city of license is Stevenson, northeast of Wheatley) – although both are available on cable. CIII-DT-22 is highly directional, aimed towards Chatham-Kent to the northeast, and Leamington and Kingsville to the west, with a strong null towards Windsor and Detroit (however, it is still receivable with a strong rooftop antenna), presumably to protect broadcast rights of the Detroit television stations.

Even the CTV Two station, CHWI, is officially licensed to Wheatley rather than Windsor – and while the station's studios and operations are based in Windsor, CHWI only has a low-power UHF repeater in downtown Windsor itself, which broadcasts from a directional antenna specifically designed to minimize the station's reception area in Michigan.

OTA channel	DTV channel (Until August 31, 2011)	DTV channel (After August 31, 2011)	Call sign	Network	Notes
9	35	91	CBET	CBC
16	66	16	CHWI-TV	CTV Two	Main CHWI-TV signal, Stevenson, Ontario
32	25	32	CICO-TV-32	TVOntario	Repeater of CICA-TV, Toronto
54	69	351,2	CBEFT	Radio-Canada	Repeater of CBLFT, Toronto
26	65	263	CHWI-TV-60	CTV Two	Windsor repeater of CHWI-TV
22	6	224	CIII-DT-22	Global	Repeater of CIII-TV, Toronto

• ¹The digital conversion of CBET and CBEFT will take place by August 31, 2011. The CBC had previously planned a 1-year delay (to August 31, 2012), per special request by the CBC to the CRTC, which was later abandoned.^[1][2]
• ²A recent proposal by the CBC is to "downgrade" CBEFT from a full-power semi-satellite of CBLFT Toronto, to a low-powered repeater, broadcasting in analog on 35.
• ³Original post-transition allocation for CHWI-TV-60 was UHF 25, though this was changed to UHF 26.
• ⁴CIII-TV-22 flash-cut to digital operations as CIII-DT-22 on August 8, 2011.

Only CIII-DT-22 is broadcasting in digital, with TVOntario planning on flash-cutting CICO-TV-32 to digital as CICO-DT-32 on August 18, 2011. CBET-TV, CHWI-TV, and CHWI-TV-26 have plans to flash-cut on the CRTC-imposed deadline of August 31, 2011. See also TV stations in the Detroit, Toledo, and Cleveland markets.

Out-of-market Stations

In addition to the Detroit stations, Windsor and most of Essex County, Ontario also receive television stations from Toledo (WTOL, WTVG, WNWO, WGTE-TV, and WUPW), and the southern part of the county receives some of Cleveland's television stations (WKYC-TV, WEWS-TV, WJW-TV, WOIO, and WUAB-TV). Only WTOL, WTVG, and WNWO were carried on cable services, having been dropped in 2009 during the DTV transition. In the past, however, WKYC, WEWS, and WJW were all carried on Trillium Cable (and later, Shaw Cable, its successor) in Kingsville and Leamington, and nearby parts of Southern Essex County until 2000, when Cogeco displaced Shaw as the cable provider for the region, and merged the Leamington and Windsor cable services back into one county-wide system.

Along with WKYC, WEWS, and WJW, WOIO and WUAB were frequently also listed in the TV Guides for Windsor and area, though all Toledo and Cleveland locals have since been "dropped" from the listings, with only WTOL, WTVG, and WUAB remaining listed. It should also be noted that no Cleveland stations (in either analog or digital) push past Cottam, Ontario outside of tropospheric skip events, let alone reaching downtown Windsor, over the air (mainly due to adjacent channel interference from the Detroit channels), and Toledo stations barely make it over the air to downtown Windsor. Simultaneous substitution rules are generally in effect for cable and satellite audiences.

While not listed in TV guides, the northern edge of Essex County and most of Windsor are within reception range of Flint's WCMZ-TV on UHF 28 (thanks to its transmitter's relatively close location in southern Genessee County, Michigan), and the October 16, 2009 issue of The Windsor Star had stated readers in the Belle River area were able to add Flint's WJRT-TV (ABC 12) to their lineups, albeit with very weak signal strength. In place of WCMZ-TV, the southern edge of Essex County, including Leamington, receives WUAB-TV from Cleveland, also on UHF 28.

FSN Detroit is not carried under CRTC policy, but CBET will carry any Detroit Red Wings game aired on Hockey Night in Canada, even if it is not televised nationally. Also, some Detroit Tigers and Detroit Pistons games air on broadcast TV stations. Toronto Blue Jays games on CBC were once blacked out in Windsor, but was later lifted (the CBC no longer carries Blue Jays games on the network).

Prior to the 2009 US analog television shutdown and digital conversion, in certain weather conditions, WILX-TV from Lansing, Michigan could also be seen, albeit weakly, in Windsor (along with CFPL-TV from London, both on VHF 10 and WLMB-TV and CBLN both on UHF 40). By theory, Lansing's WLNS-TV could also be receivable to a degree, as its coverage area reaches the Detroit River. However, both analog channels were adjacent to CBET and WXYZ, respectively, which may hindered reception. Since the switchover, WILX's digital signal (VHF 10) remained adjacent to CBET (VHF 9), though WLNS's digital signal moved from VHF 6 to UHF channel 36; however, reception of WLNS may become an issue again when UHF channel 35 is activated for digital broadcasts, first for CBET (if it happens before the CBC's digital switchover in 2012), then for CBEFT (after the switchover).

The city also gets marginal analog signals from CKCO-TV-3 in Oil Springs, and CHCH-TV and CFMT-TV, both from London-area transmitters.

Print

Windsor and its surrounding area is served by the Windsor Star, a daily newspaper operated by Canwest. Alternatively, WAMM (Windsor Arts & Music Monthly), a free independent publication, provides a voice to the underground arts, music and culture scene. Biz X Magazine, the only international border city publication, serves both Windsor and Detroit.

The Lance is the free weekly newspaper from the University of Windsor, providing news, arts, and sports coverage. The Lance is the official student newspaper for the University of Windsor.

The Scoop is also an independent paper that provides information on local activism and events for free.

Film

The 2000 film Borderline Normal, featuring Robin Dunne, Stephanie Zimbalist, Corbin Bernsen and Michael Ironside, is set in Windsor. Many exterior locations, such as Ouellette Avenue, Dieppe Park and the Ambassador Bridge were featured.

Several scenes in Michael Moore's 2002 film Bowling for Columbine were also filmed in Windsor. Moore later returned to Windsor to film scenes for his 2007 film Sicko.

Windsor was the setting of the television series Across the River to Motor City, a crime drama whose plot incorporated many aspects of Windsor's cross-border relationship with Detroit.

A number of scenes featuring Harrison Ford in the 1990 film Presumed Innocent were filmed in Windsor's Coventry Gardens. The house in the film is located on Riverside Dr. just east of the Hiram Walker Distillery. The scenes of the Renaissance Center in the film were shot from Windsor.

It is featured in the backdrop of Tony Scott's 1993 film True Romance. Windsor can clearly be seen in the background during the Christian Slater/Dennis Hopper trailer scene along the Detroit River.

The 2007 film Baby Blues was shot throughout Windsor.

The studio segments of the 2009 NBC and Global comedy series Howie Do It was taped at Caesars Windsor.

See also

• Media in Detroit

References

1. ^ TheMotherCorp.com: "CBC/Radio-Canada releases plan for the transition to over-the-air digital television", August 6, 2010.
2. ^ CBC/Radio-Canada: "2011–2012 Digital Transition Plan", August 6, 2010.