CBC Saskatoon debuts its morning show on-air after five-month delay

From L-R: Newsreader Dan Kerslake, Producer Kim Garritty, Online Host Matt Kruchak, Host Leisha Grebinski. Photo courtesy of CBC

CBC Saskatoon debuted its first morning show on-air on Thursday after a five-month delay.

From L-R: Newsreader Dan Kerslake, Producer Kim Garritty, Online Host Matt Kruchak, Host Leisha Grebinski. Photo courtesy of CBC

CBC Saskatoon debuted its first morning show on-air on Thursday after a five-month delay.

The public broadcaster had failed to get the necessary CRTC regulatory licence and only realized its mistake three days prior to the launch of the morning show back in April. But the new morning radio show has been in the works for almost five years, ever since CBC undertook a country-wide study looking at underserved markets.

At the time, CBC Saskatchewan managing director John Agnew told J-Source it was a "complete surprise” to him. He said licensing is handled by the regulatory affairs branch of CBC, which is separate from the CBC Saskatchewan programming office, and he only found out on April 23 that the licence was not in place.

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CBC Saskatchewan has a licence to rebroadcast content in Saskatoon from their offices in Regina, but Agnew said they needed to apply for or amend their licence to change the point of origin for the original content coming out of Saskatoon. “To be blunt, somewhere along the line, something fell off the rails,” said Agnew.

The morning show started in late April but only online. With the CRTC licence now in place, Saskatoon Morning can now also be heard on the radio at 94.1 FM in Saskatoon from 6 to 8:30 a.m. CST, featuring host Leisha Grebinski, newsreader Dan Kerslake, producer Kim Garritty and online host Matt Kruchak.

"It was good, fun and exhilarating," Grebinski said of the launch in a CBC article. "I felt like part of the city this morning."