These past many years have been tough for traditionally legacy media – be it in print, television or radio. But one broadcasting network has not only survived but continues to thrive. That would be Golden West Broadcasting.
The Altona-based Manitoba broadcaster with radio stations in over 40 rural communities spanning northwestern Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, is Western Canada’s largest, independently owned broadcasting network. In the coming months, the broadcaster will be celebrating its 70th anniversary.
The key to Golden West’s success, according to CEO Elmer Hildebrand, is its focus strictly on local news and programming. “We don’t over any national or international news,” he says. “Listeners can find that information elsewhere. We provide news and programming that you can’t find anywhere else.”
Hildebrand is that rare individual indeed in modern times who has spent his entire career with one organization. In fact, he was one of the broadcaster’s 11 employees and, as he looks forward to his own milestone – his 90th birthday – he remains actively involved in the company’s management decisions.
CFAM-AM Altona, as Golden West was originally christened, debuted on March 13, 1957, at 1290 on the dial. The station was founded by a group of southern Manitoba businessmen led by A.I. Thiessen (who owned an inter-community bus company that later became Grey Goose) operating as the Southern Manitoba Broadcasting Co. (MSB). Thiessen became the first station manager.
Hildebrand recalls that the new entity had to apply to CBC which, at the time, was the body responsible for granting new broadcasting licenses.
Hildebrand, from a farming family, originally signed on to the new station at the age of 19 as a copywriter. It wasn’t long before he added advertising sales to his responsibilities and excelled at the work. He was appointed sales manager in 1960, general manager in 1965, president in the early 1980s and CEO about 10 years later. (Brett Adnum is the current president.)
While the CFAM wasn’t necessarily looking to expand, management has always been open to opportunities that presented themselves. It wasn’t long after CFAM went on air that the broadcaster opened an ad sales office in nearby Steinbach.
In 1964, the Southern Manitoba Broadcasting Co. launched a second radio station CHSM-AM in Steinbach, 75 miles to the northeast of Altona. SMB had a sales office there since 1959, but signal quality began to deteriorate, and on March 13, 1964, SMB opened CHSM-AM, in Steinbach. It simulcast the programming of CFAM-AM in Altona.
It was in the mid-1970s that the network really began to grow. In 1973, SMB acquired a license for a new AM station in Boissevain in southwestern Manitoba. At the same time, the corporation introduced its own microwave in response to the high costs associated with leasing Manitoba Telephones’ links. This resulted in SMB developing a major business building microwave systems for other broadcasters in Canada, the Caribbean and South America.
In subsequent years, stations in Portage la Prairie and several communities in Saskatchewan and Alberta.
In 1998, Golden West launched the first of its new FM stations, CILT-FM in Steinbach, adding others over the next seven years.
In 2004, Golden West added Christian Contemporary Music with the acquisition of a controlling interest in Christian Radio Manitoba Ltd.’s struggling CHVN-FM Winnipeg. This was followed in 2006, when the company acquired a second Christian music station, CJTS-FM, in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Christian broadcasting has always been an integral part of the company’s programming, with daily hymn and gospel programs, reports on church activities and broadcasts of church services on Sundays.
In 2010, Golden West expanded into Northwestern Ontario with the acquisition of a station in Vermilion Bay.
While much of how Golden West operates is a throwback to the past, the broadcaster is very much in the present. The broadcaster joined the digital world in 2009, with the launch of steinbachonline.com The website provide local news, weather reports, adds, job opportunities and notices of upcoming community events and activities and has been highly successful with 160,000 users monthly and a membership of two million!
And Golden West continues to grow apace. Elmer Hildebrand reports that the company now employs 350 across all its stations. “We hire locally,” he says. “We have a lot of good people working for us.
He further points out that – as with most successful businesses – Golden West believes strongly in giving back to their communities. Company employees are involved with a host of volunteer organizations, he notes.
“We strive to be an integral part of every community we serve,” he says.
It all adds up to a 70-year record of success.
To go to the Golden West Broadcasting website click here.