Allowing Bell to buy stations count??

CRTC buying into engineering doublespeak and allowing CBLT at 740 to move to 99.1 based on 'better coverage'.  There were other factors at play in that one, that's for sure.

Here's the CRTC decision on that CKEY-CKO deal that never happened. It's a fascinating document.

The Commission at the time gave a detailed explanation of why they turned it down, but a lot of it looks pretty specious in hindsight. It agrees, for example, that it would almost certainly have benefitted both stations. The fact that the owners of CKO had failed to meet certain targets was cited as one reason. CKO stated a lack of funds had kept the network from building studios in parts of the west, as promised. CKEY was willing to give them a huge infusion of money to get the swap and let them build the new facilities. But the CRTC said no. 

If you read the release, it's plain that CKEY was honest with the CRTC - it was not trying to bring a new format or station to the then-current FM dial. Just an existing one on a different band. But again, the Commission wouldn't hear of it. 

"...The Commission finds that Key has proposed a new FM station whose format would not be substantially different from what is already available on existing FM stations in the Toronto market. This result is likely due to Key's desire to transfer its existing AM format to the FM band with as few changes as possible. In the Commission's view, the following comments made by Key at the hearing tend to support this conclusion:

It wasn't our intention to try to look totally different from everybody else on the FM band. We did this on the basis of trying to be transparent. Of trying not to introduce a new radio station into Toronto...

We looked at that number (68% of music from subcategory 51)...You know, it looked like we were almost a Group 1, and the answer to that is very simple. That is precisely what we are and that is the most transparent move we can make."

And then there was that old immovable object, CanCon:

"The Commission notes that Key has proposed a level of only 20% for Canadian content music; this is the minimum allowable for most FM stations, and is 10% less than the level currently broadcast on CKEY by regulation.

Furthermore, as proposed by the applicant in its Promise of Performance, the number of selections per day to be broadcast on the FM station would be lower than the number played on its existing AM station. Taking into account the proposed reduction in Canadian content from 30% to 20%, this would result in at least 10,000 fewer Canadian selections being broadcast per year on the proposed FM station than are currently broadcast on CKEY."

So instead, they allowed both of them to go out of business. Exactly how did that help broaden the scope of programming on the Toronto radio dial? I honestly believe both would still be on the air today if they'd agreed to the swap. Short-sighted and the listeners are the ultimate losers. 

CRTC CKEY-CKO Announcement, April, 25, 1988

The one that always irked me was the denial of TV Niagara in 2005. It was basically killed by an intervention from CanWest, which owned CHCH at the time.

The CRTC had no problem, however, allowing rebroadcast transmitters for CKVR in that area a few years later.

Last edited by MJ Vancouver (March 24, 2024 5:22 pm)

Yep. Hard to disagree with those who condemn allowing Bell and Rogers etc. from controlling so many stations and essentially driving many of them into the ground. It was not hard to see this coming. But as noted, because of the make-up of the CRTC, there is willful blindness when it comes to these companies, who basically are allowed to get away with just about anything they want over and over again.

Another failure on the CRTC's part? Skinny basic cable, which was deliberately manipulated by the cable companies to offer the worst package possible, to ensure no one took it. The Commission didn't care and essentially let it fade into obscurity.

The CRTC keeps insisting that it's trying to be more consumer friendly. 

Their decisions suggest exactly the opposite.

The denial of a FM licence for Cabin Radio Yellowknife

Most people forget that CKO was licensed as a national all-news network, not just the Toronto outlet. It had a local morning show in Toronto, but was committed to carrying network programming for much of the rest of the day and on the weekends. With no local traffic, news or weather outside of morning drive, I have a hard time believing it would have developed much of an audience even if it had been given the AM slot. The CRTC decision may seem "specious", but I doubt even a positive verdict would have prevented the eventual failure of the network. 

RadioActive wrote:

I just wish the CRTC hadn't been so bullheaded and given two Toronto outlets the chance to compete and survive. CKEY saw the writing on the wall for music on AM and it would possibly have given Toronto its very first all oldies station on the band. And CKO would have had a better reach on 590. We'll never know what might have been, but as a onetime CKEY staffer (long before the FM request), I would have liked to have seen them try.

Two things:

1) Back in those days, FM in Toronto was required to play 49% non hits.
2) What were the ratings for the late great Zed 97.3 back then?
This is the closest example of what CKEY may have been forced to sound like if it were to have moved to FM.

 

Last edited by Radiowiz (March 25, 2024 9:25 am)

I know several people who worked there and they said it was run on the extreme cheap. In those pre-computer days, they were often forced to work with tape that had so much splicing tape in it, it was more all splice and no tape. When they tried to get new material ordered, they were told it was coming - but somehow, it never arrived. 

I have a lot of favourite stories about CKO and they all seem to centre on people quitting the place, (including this classic I originally told here in 2015.) But this one is also great.

There was a woman there who served in an off-air role and, like many of the employees, one day she'd simply had enough of low pay, too much responsibility and broken promises. So she decided to give her notice. She went searching for someone - anyone - in management, but after looking for half an hour, couldn't find a single one of them. 

I remember talking to her that afternoon, as she wailed into the phone one of the greatest phrases in broadcasting history. "There's no one to quit to!"

The "Toronto One" TV network decision was also a bad one.  Over the Air television was already in decline.  Licensing the Craig family from Bandon MB to operate a S. Ontario network made absolutely no economic sense.  Some "social engineering" by the CRTC to try and make a small regional player, into a quasi National player.  I can't ever remember tuning to any programs on Toronto One.  Perhaps someone on this board has a recollection of compelling Canadian programming that they watched on that station.

tvguy wrote:

The "Toronto One" TV network decision was also a bad one.  Over the Air television was already in decline.  Licensing the Craig family from Bandon MB to operate a S. Ontario network made absolutely no economic sense.  Some "social engineering" by the CRTC to try and make a small regional player, into a quasi National player.  I can't ever remember tuning to any programs on Toronto One.  Perhaps someone on this board has a recollection of compelling Canadian programming that they watched on that station.

From Wikipedia:
"CKXT went to air on September 19, 2003 as the first new general-interest television station in Toronto in 30 years. Toronto 1 proved, however, to be a financial and critical disaster for Craig. The station was frequently criticized in the Toronto media, particularly for flashy but vacuous and repetitive local content, newscasts that had a tabloid feel, an uninspired daytime schedule laden with American talk shows and an equally uninspired prime time schedule based heavily on movies, much like CHUM's longstanding Citytv. Columnist Russell Smith of The Globe and Mail called Toronto 1 an "abject, wretched excuse for a television station" whose only truly locally-focused programming was a trio of celebrity-focused talk shows and a health-issues show."