About WKND 91.9 (CJEC)

WKND 91.9 (CJEC)

WKND 91.9 (CJEC-FM) is Quebec City's modern adult contemporary radio station — owned by Leclerc Communication, the company of local businessman Jacques Leclerc (owner of Laura Secord Chocolates and Biscuits Leclerc), broadcasting on 91.9 MHz with 4,500 watts. The station signed on in 2003 as a Cogeco Rythme FM affiliate; after Cogeco's 2010 purchase of Corus Québec forced the sale of CJEC, Leclerc bought it in 2012, dropped the Rythme branding on May 21, 2012, and relaunched it as "WKND 91.9" (pronounced "Weekend Radio 91.9") on June 20, 2012.

Overview

CJEC-FM is a French-language commercial FM station licensed to Quebec City, Quebec, owned by Leclerc Communication Inc. (CJEC Inc.). It broadcasts on 91.9 MHz with 4,500 watts, serving the Capitale-Nationale region.

The station's format is modern adult contemporary, with alternative rock artists added to the playlist. Its broadcast area covers Quebec City and the surrounding region. Leclerc Communication also owns CFEL-FM (blvd 102.1) in Quebec City and acquired Montreal classical station CJPX-FM in 2020, flipping it to "WKND 99.5" that June.

History

On July 16, 2002, Cogeco Radio-Télévision was awarded a licence for a new FM station on 91.9 MHz with 4,500 watts. CJEC Rythme FM began testing in August 2003 and signed on later that year as part of Cogeco's Rythme FM network.

On April 30, 2010, Cogeco announced it would purchase Corus Québec's radio stations; the CRTC approved the sale December 17, 2010, on condition that CJEC-FM be sold to another party by December 2011. On November 9, 2011, Cogeco announced the sale of CJEC-FM and CFEL-FM to Leclerc Communication; the sale was approved January 19, 2012, and completed January 31, 2012.

For a time, CJEC retained the Rythme FM name and simulcast networked programming from CFGL-FM Montreal. On May 21, 2012, at midnight, Leclerc dropped the Rythme FM branding and adult contemporary programming, identifying as "Le 91,9 FM Québec" with hot AC music — then relaunched as "WKND 91.9" on June 20, 2012, at 6 p.m., shifting to modern adult contemporary with alternative rock artists.

Programming

WKND 91.9 plays modern adult contemporary music with alternative rock artists mixed in, targeting adult listeners with a contemporary, personality-driven presentation. The station's programming emphasizes Quebec and international francophone and anglophone hits.

Coverage and Audience

CJEC's 4,500-watt signal covers Quebec City and the Capitale-Nationale region. The station competes with Bell Media's Rouge 107.5 (CITF), Cogeco's Rythme FM (CFOM 102.9), and other French-language outlets for AC listeners.

Ownership

CJEC-FM is owned by Leclerc Communication Inc., the broadcasting company of Quebec City businessman Jacques Leclerc. The station was previously owned by Cogeco Diffusion (2003–2012).

The Leclerc acquisition also reshaped the competitive balance of Quebec City radio. Before 2012, the capital's commercial FM dial was dominated by the national groups — Cogeco, Astral (later Bell), and RNC — with Corus's former assets in transition. Leclerc Communication's arrival introduced a locally owned challenger with deep Quebec City roots: the Leclerc family business, Biscuits Leclerc, was founded in the region in 1905, and Jacques Leclerc's purchase of the Laura Secord chocolate chain made him one of the province's best-known entrepreneurs. Owning two FM stations in the market gave Leclerc a platform its business rivals lacked.

The WKND brand itself was a deliberate positioning statement. Pronounced "Weekend," the name signalled leisure, energy, and a break from the workday — a contrast with the softer, at-work connotation of the Rythme FM brand it replaced. The modern adult contemporary format, spiked with alternative rock artists, targeted adults who had grown up on 1990s and 2000s alternative but aged out of the harder-edged rock stations. In practice, that meant a playlist bridging francophone pop, heritage alternative, and current adult-leaning hits — a lane with few direct competitors in the capital.

The station's 4,500-watt signal is modest by the standards of the Mount Bélair giants, but it covers the densely populated Capitale-Nationale core effectively. And the 2020 extension of the WKND brand to Montreal's 99.5 FM — via the CJPX-FM acquisition — gave the Quebec City original a big-city sibling, a rare case of a regional Quebec brand expanding into Montreal rather than the reverse.

The station's story is inseparable from two broader Quebec radio narratives: Cogeco's construction of the Rythme FM network in the 2000s, and the Leclerc family's entry into broadcasting.

Cogeco's original 2002 licence application envisioned CJEC as a Rythme FM affiliate from day one, carrying networked programming from Montreal flagship CFGL-FM alongside local inserts. When the station signed on in late 2003, it gave Quebec City listeners their first local Rythme FM signal — the network's easy-listening adult contemporary blend of French and English hits. The timing mattered: Cogeco's April 2010 announcement that it would buy Corus Québec's radio stations set off the chain of events that ended CJEC's Rythme era. Because the combined Cogeco-Corus portfolio would have exceeded ownership limits in Quebec City, the CRTC's December 17, 2010 approval of the Corus Québec purchase was conditional: CJEC-FM had to be sold to another party by December 2011.

The buyer, announced November 9, 2011, was Leclerc Communication — the broadcasting vehicle of Jacques Leclerc, the Quebec City businessman whose family built its fortune on Biscuits Leclerc and later acquired the Laura Secord chocolate chain. The CRTC approved the sale on January 19, 2012, and the transaction closed January 31, 2012. Leclerc also acquired CFEL-FM (then on 102.1) in the same deal, instantly becoming a two-station operator in the capital.

What happened next was swift. CJEC kept the Rythme FM name and simulcast Montreal network programming only briefly. At midnight on May 21, 2012, the Rythme branding and adult contemporary format vanished, replaced by an interim hot adult contemporary presentation as "Le 91,9 FM Québec." Then, at 6 p.m. on June 20, 2012, the station relaunched as "WKND 91.9" — pronounced "Weekend Radio" — with a modern adult contemporary format spiked with alternative rock artists, a deliberate break from the softer Rythme sound.

Leclerc's ambitions extended beyond Quebec City. In April 2020, the company acquired Montreal classical station CJPX-FM and flipped it to "WKND 99.5" that June, extending the brand to Canada's largest francophone market. Meanwhile, the Rythme FM name returned to Quebec City on August 16, 2021 — this time on Cogeco's CFOM-FM ("M 102.9") — meaning the capital now hosts both the station that once carried the Rythme brand and the station that carries it today.

The Quebec City French-language market

Quebec City's French-language commercial radio market is one of the most competitive in francophone Canada. WKND 91.9 competes directly with Bell Media's Rouge 107.5 (CITF), Cogeco's Rythme FM on CFOM 102.9, Cogeco's active rocker CJMF-FM (FM 93), Bell's Énergie 98.9 (CHIK-FM), RNC Media's talk station CHOI 98.1 (Radio X), and Radio-Canada's Ici Musique (CBVX 95.3) and Ici Première (CBV 106.3) services. Community voices CKRL 89.1 and CKIA 88.3, plus Leclerc's own alternative rocker CFEL-FM (blvd 102.1), round out a dial where nearly every format is contested. WKND's modern-AC-with-alternative positioning sits between the softer Rythme/Rouge offerings and the harder rock of FM 93 and Énergie.

Digital Presence

WKND 91.9 streams live online and maintains an active web presence and social media accounts promoting its hosts, contests, and events. The official site could not be independently verified in this research environment, so the website field is left empty in this draft; the station is associated with the wknd.fm web domain per directory listings.

The station's history — from the 2003 Cogeco launch through the 2012 Leclerc purchase and WKND relaunch — is documented by the Canadian Communications Foundation's broadcasting-history.ca project and in CRTC licensing records.