Vandalism at transmitter kicks 2 Niagara region radio stations off-air [Video]

Two radio stations in Welland, Ont., suffered an outage Tuesday morning after wires at their transmitter were cut.

CIXL-FM and CKYY-FM, better known locally as 91.7 Giant FM and Niagara’s New Country 89.1 respectively, were down for several hours as repair crews fixed what station manager Mike Haberer says to be an act of vandalism.

“We’re deeply saddened by this act of vandalism,” he said.

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Radio hosts Chris Lukas and Rob Leclerc made a post on Facebook after 10 a.m. explaining why they were off the air, while also asking residents for any information on the incident.

Vice-president of content development Rob Mise said in an interview that he feels the vandalism to the equipment was likely targeted, and caused potentially “hundreds of thousands of dollars” worth of damage.

“This will send shockwaves in our community, …