CKMS 102.7 FM Radio Waterloo (elongated teal rectangle with yellow and black sunflower on the left and black text on the right and empty space at the bottom)

Advertise on CKMS

So you’re thinking of getting some exposure with CKMS for your event or business? There are many ways that your business can gain exposure with community radio. Here is a “How to” on what each type entails…

 ^  Advertising

Radio Waterloo is non-commercial radio, but not commercial-free radio. We are happy to run ads for local businesses and organizations.

There are seven timeslots for ads throughout the day. Ads can be up to 45 seconds long. Please contact us for ad rates.

To submit your ad, please complete this form:  https://radiowaterloo.ca/advertising-form.

For a production fee the staff at Radio Waterloo can assist in producing and recording your radio advertisement, including script development.

Contact the Advertising Committee at advertising@radiowaterloo.ca if you have any questions.

 ^  Show Sponsorship

Connect with a specific show to receive mentions of your business on that show.

How to set up a Sponsorship on CKMS

  1. Visit our shows page or the schedule and look for a show that meets your businesses audience. If you are having trouble finding a specific show please contact the Program Co-ordinator at progcom@radiowaterloo.ca to help you find a show.
  2. Contact the show producer and set up an arrangement of payment for mentions and associated media.

 ^  Events Listings

Mentions by show hosts of concerts, plays, poetry readings, gallery showings, and other similar events are not ads. If the event listing announcement is recorded, and the event is “for profit” then it will be considered an ad, and advertising rates will apply. CKMS producers and show hosts may mention various events during their shows. If there is an event that you would like promoted please contact a specific show host. The show host may be interested in promoting the event.

 ^  Public Service Announcements

A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest played without charge, with the objective of raising awareness about a social issue. If there is an event that you would like promoted then create an audio file up to 45 seconds with all the information, and send it to office@radiowaterloo.ca with “PSA” in the subject line. PSAs will be added to our PSA rotation to air randomly throughout the day between shows; there is no guarantee how often a particular PSA will get played.

The staff at Radio Waterloo can assist in producing a public service announcement, including script development. There is a $50.00 production fee.

  ^  Media Reach

Here are some statistics on Community Radio and our broadcast reach:

Map showing an outline of Waterloo Region and a circle showing the Radio Waterloo broadcast radius
Red circle: Broadcast radius; Orange outline: Waterloo Region
CKMS-FM broadcasts at 102.7 MHz with 250 Watts from our transmitter in Waterloo. Our broadcast radius is 15km (the 50 μVolt contour inside which there is a “clean” signal, outside that radius the quality of the signal diminishes), with a maximum reach of about 30km towards Guelph. That encompasses a population of about 700,000 people (as of 2025).

An August 2025 report from Canadian Media Means Business (PDF, 4.9 MBytes) indicates that:

  • 77% of Canadians listen to radio weekly; adults spend ~11.1 hours/week with radio.
  • 32% of Canadians listen to campus & community radio regularly or occasionally (10% regular + 22% occasional).
    • That’s 70,000 regular listeners + 154,000 occasional listeners in Radio Waterloo’s broadcast radius!
  • 48% of Canadians aged 18–29 listen regularly or occasionally to campus & community radio.
  • Regular listening has doubled since 2017 (5% → 10% regular).
  • Community-active audiences: 56% of Canadians active in their community listen regularly or occasionally.

CKMS-FM is a terrestrial broadcast radio station concentrating on the local community, so while we provide streaming audio it’s not our main product. We do have Internet streaming at https://radiowaterloo.ca/listen/. A snapshot of stats in March 2021 shows an average of 3600 daily connections with an average of 4 simultaneous clients, peaking at 43 simultaneous clients. The 2019 CRTC report indicated about 22% of Canadians listen to streaming radio 8.6 hrs/week.

CKMS-FM also has a presence on Rogers Digital Service on channel 946. Rogers doesn’t share listener statistics, but some weekend show hosts report the bulk of their listeners are on Rogers.

In 2020-2021 our website averaged 1425 hits per day from 314 daily unique visitors.

Other reports


Community Radio in Waterloo Region