I can imagine an American watching Son of a Critch on the CW Network seeing VOCM as the radio station where Mark Critch's dad works. Their inner dialogue being like "they created a really fake radio station for a TV show."
Except VOCM is a real radio station in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.
U.S. station call letters start with W east of the Mississippi River and K west of the Mississippi River (with some grand exceptions). Canadian station call letters start with C. So why are there stations in Newfoundland that start with the letter V?
Newfoundland wasn't a part of Canada until 1949. When the province joined Canada, stations such as VOCM, VOAR, and VOWR that broadcast before becoming part of the country were allowed to keep their call letters.
VOCM is at 590 AM in St. John's with a news/talk/classic hits format. There is a VOCM-FM at 97.5 FM in St. John's that plays classic rock with a rebroadcaster in Clarenville at 100.7 FM.
VOCM has rebroadcasters in Corner Brook (570 AM), Gander (650 AM), Stephenville (870 AM), Grand Falls-Windsor (620 AM), Clarenville (710 AM), and Marystown (88.3 FM).
The VOAR signal belongs to the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Newfoundland & Labrador with a bunch of rebroadcasters throughout the province. The primary VOAR-FM is licensed to Mount Pearl.
VOWR is at 800 AM in St. John's with a Christian radio format.
There is a rebroadcaster called VF2095 at 100.9 FM in Natuashish that rebroadcasts CFGB-FM, the CBC Radio One station in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador.
You can listen to these stations via the Internet and various apps if you want to hear a station's call letters starting with V.
The vast majority of Newfoundland and Labrador radio stations start with C. The only 2 TV stations in the province also start with C and are licensed to St. John's: CBNT (Channel 8) is the CBC station and CJON (Channel 21) is the NTV (Newfoundland TV) station, carrying mostly Global programming.
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I took this picture in 2015 when I was in St. John's. I knew VOCM was a thing yet when this was literally in front of me, I couldn't resist the desire to get a photo.
They likely report on moose-related traffic accidents. You see road signs for moose crossings. Fortunately, the only moose I saw in Newfoundland was on my plate at a restaurant in Petty Harbour.
Son of a Critch continues into the fall on the CW Network in the United States. Seasons 1-2 are available in Canada via CBC Gem and Season 3 will run this winter on the CBC.
photo credits: Son of a Critch/CBC Comedy; me
video credit: Son of a Critch/CBC Comedy
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