Latest news with #BillGade
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
Swan River radio staff scared after police say station was intentionally set on fire
The owner of a Swan River radio station says staff are feeling scared after police said the fire that destroyed their studio on Thursday morning was intentionally set. At 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, RCMP officers responded to a building fire at the CJ Radio studios on Main Street in the Manitoba town, located about 380 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. In a news release on Thursday, RCMP said the cause of the fire was incendiary and it led to extensive damage to the inside of the building. Police have launched an arson investigation. Police said CCTV footage from the area shows an unknown male riding a bike past the building before the fire started. Investigators are working to identify a suspect, police said. "The entire place was aflame in less than a second," said CJ Radio's Bill Gade, who runs five radio stations across Manitoba and Saskatchewan from the building. "We're pretty upset. Everything's destroyed, stations are all off, nothing is good, but we are still alive," he said. Gade told CBC News the station began receiving threats on social media about a week ago, when he posted a social media update about a head-on collision that left three dead near Swan River on Canada Day. Gade said he's usually at the building around 5 a.m., but he was running late on Thursday. He said there is "absolutely no way would have gotten out" had he and his co-host been there. "Our staff are scared to go places. They don't know what's next … We just don't know. We're scared," he said. Gade said he is hoping to start feeding some content to his stations later on Friday, but they won't be up and running again for about two weeks as they try to replace the radio equipment that was destroyed by fire. "It took us 19 years to build five radio stations and get them all networked together and have them working perfectly. It's going to take some time to put them back together," he said.
CBC
4 days ago
- CBC
Swan River radio staff scared after police say station was intentionally set on fire
Social Sharing The owner of a Swan River radio station says staff are feeling scared after police said the fire that destroyed their studio on Thursday morning was intentionally set. At 5:30 a.m. on Thursday, RCMP officers responded to a building fire at the CJ Radio studios on Main Street in the Manitoba town, located about 380 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. In a news release on Thursday, RCMP said the cause of the fire was incendiary and it led to extensive damage to the inside of the building. Police have launched an arson investigation. Police said CCTV footage from the area shows an unknown male riding a bike past the building before the fire started. Investigators are working to identify a suspect, police said. "The entire place was aflame in less than a second," said CJ Radio's Bill Gade, who runs five radio stations across Manitoba and Saskatchewan from the building. "We're pretty upset. Everything's destroyed, stations are all off, nothing is good, but we are still alive," he said. Gade told CBC News the station began receiving threats on social media about a week ago, when he posted a social media update about a head-on collision that left three dead near Swan River on Canada Day. Gade said he's usually at the building around 5 a.m., but he was running late on Thursday. He said there is "absolutely no way would have gotten out" had he and his co-host been there. "Our staff are scared to go places. They don't know what's next … We just don't know. We're scared," he said. Gade said he is hoping to start feeding some content to his stations later on Friday, but they won't be up and running again for about two weeks as they try to replace the radio equipment that was destroyed by fire. "It took us 19 years to build five radio stations and get them all networked together and have them working perfectly. It's going to take some time to put them back together," he said.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Swan River radio station struck by arson
Mounties are searching for a suspect seen outside a Swan River radio station, shortly before the building caught fire early Thursday. Police in the town some 375 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg responded to reports of a fire at a business on the 500 block of Main Street around 5:20 a.m., Manitoba RCMP said in a news release Friday. Officers encountered heavy smoke and the building's interior was significantly damaged, police said. 'With assistance of a fire investigator, the preliminary investigation has determined the cause of the fire to be incendiary.' Investigators recovered video surveillance from nearby cameras that shows an unknown man riding a bike past the business right before the fire broke out. In a social media post, Bill Gade, owner of CJ104 Swan River, wrote: 'Security video shows that at about 5:20 a.m. on Thursday, an individual riding a bicycle approached our Main Street Swan River location. They parked their bike and lit a fire bomb they were carrying. They then threw the fire bomb through the glass window of our studio. Fire crews responded minutes later to extinguish the flames.' He said the studio is where the Mark and Bill morning show is produced each weekday and aired on stations in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. 'On a typical morning, our staff would already be in the studio preparing for the broadcast. Due to a scheduling change for July 10, the staff had not yet walked into the studio,' said the post by Gade, who is also reeve of Swan Valley West. Had staff been in the studio, there would have been fatalities, the message said. 'To be clear, from the amount of accelerant used and the method of which it was thrown into the studio, had our staff been inside that room, they would have been covered in burning accelerant and would have not been able to exit the studio.' The studio and master control facilities for stations in Neepawa, Gimli, Virden and Esterhazy, Sask., were destroyed. The post said computer servers for Parkland Tourism, the Swan Valley Chamber of Commerce and non-profit groups had also been destroyed. Gade promises to rebuild the network of radio stations. 'Work on this began while the fire crews were still extinguishing the flames and it will continue until each station is again operational.' fpcity@
