For the past few days when you tune into G98.7FM, you only hear music, lots of music and more music; no news, or commentary, just music. The reason being is that the station is changing the guards and the end of the station\u2019s Black ownership to new owners, CINA Radio Group.<\/p>\n
The final approval and completion of the sale of the station were completed Wednesday, September 15th<\/sup>, the official day the station changed hands. You will not hear the voices of your favourite radio personalities that most of us as gotten accustomed to because the new owners will not retain the current Intercity Broadcasting Network (IBM) workforce. The contracts for all employees with IBN have been terminated with an option to reapply for their jobs under the new ownership.<\/p>\n The new owner Neeti P.Ray, is the owner of\u00a0CINA Radio Group<\/a>, a multicultural broadcasting network with stations in Windsor and Mississauga, as well as Quebec, serving primarily Indo-Pakistani communities with programs in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi. He has promised to uphold G987FM\u2019s legacy to serve the Caribbean, African and Black communities of the GTA while providing \u201cmuch-needed\u201d financial stability following a period of upheaval.<\/p>\n It is reported that the new owners have hired American Gary Gunter as their new station manager.\u00a0 Gunter the reputation of being a \u201csuper-salesman\u201d who started his career in 1999, at Clear Channel as the Sales Manager. He increased annual sales on advertising revenue to over $10 million. He then moved to Radio One Baltimore\u2019s four media outlets and became senior vice president of sales in 2019. He now brings his skills to Toronto and G98.7FM.<\/p>\n In a quote to the Toronto Star, Aubrey Clarke, a Toronto author who launched an\u00a0online petition<\/a> to keep G98.7 Black-owned-and-operated stated, \u201c This is disappointing but not at all surprising. The concern with G98.7 not being Black-owned is that our children and aspiring broadcasters once again cannot look forward to something owned by us. The Black community has been pushed out of full control of our products in Toronto forever.\u201d<\/p>\n