Canadian MW licence renewal news.
Jon Pearkins jon@pearkins.com
As they promised, the CRTC announced license renewal decisions for a fairly large number of stations, most of them FM. But they’ve delayed their decisions on the many cited for non-compliance with Radio Regulations. All stations listed below have had
their licenses renewed until August 31, 2030. The CRTC plans to announce its license renewal decisions for a number of stations soon, many of which have been cited for non-compliance with Radio Regulations. Included in this list is CHQR-770 Calgary, which is currently in non-compliance for simulcasting on FM.
**UPDATE**: The CRTC announced license renewal decisions for three more AM stations until August 31, 2030. The stations are listed below and each was reminded of the Revised Commercial Radio Policy’s expectation of 5% of the music aired to be from Canadian emerging artists. A new annual report is also required that details the amount of Indigenous content aired, including
percentage of Indigenous music and number of Indigenous musical artists.
530 CHLO ON Brampton – The License renewal notes the requirement to serve at least 12 cultural groups in 13 languages during each broadcast week. There was also a reminder of the Revised Commercial Radio Policy’s expectation of 5% of the music aired to be from Canadian emerging artists. A new annual report is also required that details the amount of Indigenous content aired, including percentage of Indigenous music and number of Indigenous musical artists.
980 CJME SK Regina – License renewal.
1050 CJNB SK North Battleford – License renewal.
1280 CJRU ON Toronto – The only Canadian campus radio station on AM is at Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly known
as Ryerson University, which was famous for its broadcasting degree. CJRU is student-run and owned by Radio Ryerson Inc. License renewal continues the current 99 Watts non-directional.
1280 CFMB QC Montreal – License renewal noted the requirement to serve at least 16 cultural groups in 16 languages.
1320 CJMR ON Oakville – License renewal noted the requirement to serve at least 11 cultural groups in 15 languages, with a maximum of 62% of the broadcast week (6:00 AM to midnight) being brokered ethnic programming.
1350 CIRF ON Brampton – The license renewal notes the requirement to serve at least 14 distinct ethnic groups in 11 languages during each broadcast week. $30,000 per year in Canadian content development (CCD) was also detailed in the Renewal decision.
The station transmits a non-directional 1000 Watts day and only 40 Watts at night.
1430 CHKT ON Toronto – The license renewal notes the requirement to serve at least 14 cultural groups in 15 languages during each broadcast week.
1470 CJVB BC Vancouver -The license renewal notes the requirement to serve at least 23 cultural groups in 23 languages during each broadcast week. April Fools Day, April 1, 2023 included more joy than laughter for many working in Radio. As a federally-regulated industry, the new federal minimum wage of $16.65 per hour effectively overrides the minimum wage in all provinces, since all provinces currently have a lower minimum wage.
Rogers plans to complete its deal to buy Shaw on April 7th after receiving final approval from all necessary federal government areas. Rogers owns radio stations, most notably the CityNews stations, but Shaw created Corus in the 1990s and moved all of its stations there. The Shaw family will continue to maintain its controlling interest in Corus.
Aurora conditions have been almost continuous over the last couple of weeks, only allowing Cuba’s CMBQ-530 to make it to Edmonton once. And, even then, with Aurora conditions still blocking reception from some locations. The night of March 23-24 marked the first time in about 10 years that I could actually see the Northern Lights. Oddly enough, they were directly overhead and slightly to the South. Normally, they are close to the Northern horizon. Of course, Skywave reception was virtually non-existent.
Other licensing news . . .
910 CKDQ AB Drumheller – The just-approved “Application for a technical amendment to a broadcasting licence for an analog radio programming undertaking” for co-owned CHOO-FM, also in Drumheller, makes reference to a proposed CKDQ-FM, which
would replace CKDQ-910. It cites CRTC application 2023-0030-0, which has not yet been published. CHOO-FM can now increase power and make changes to its transmitter site in preparation for CKDQ-FM sharing the site.
990 CBF-16 QC La Romaine – The CBC has applied to move this 40 Watt ICI Première (formerly CBC French AM network) LPRT to 95.1 MHz with 139 Watts. It will continue to simulcast CBF-8-FM in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.
The Facebook page Canadian Radio News by Dan Sys provides much of the information for this column.
NRC DX News (April 11, published April 4) via WOR iog (2023-04-04)