CRTC Commissioner Michel Morin took the unusual step of issuing a dissenting opinion towards the approval of CIDG's licence, in which he stated that Corus Entertainment's competing proposal for a new talk radio station served a greater need in the market.
[2] On November 21, 2008, federal Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages James Moore issued a statement calling on the CRTC to review its approval of both CIDG and Astral Media's new classic hits station CJOT-FM.
[6] The test found that the signal could be used without causing significant interference to CIMF, and Astral consequently gave its consent to the use of the frequency as long as the company retained its licence for CJOT.
[8] CIDG faced difficulties in growing an audience due to the quality of its signal, which was restricted in power in order to protect stations in Cornwall (CJSS-FM) and Kingston (CFRC-FM) on the same frequency (101.9 MHz), as well as listeners being alienated by the hybrid blues/blues-rock format it originally broadcast.
Torres stated that the move would allow CIDG to increase its power to 19,500 watts, giving it a signal and coverage comparable to other commercial radio stations in the Ottawa-Gatineau market.
As a condition of the swap, Torres stated that it would provide Pontiac Community Radio with monetary compensation, which would be used by CHIP to hire additional staff and help advertise the station.