1 of 1- RadioActive
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Fort Erie's "More FM" Gets Less News Go-Ahead From CRTC
Not sure how many people here listen to or can even get CFLZ-FM, aka 101.1 More FM in Ft. Erie, but they may not realize the station has been literally paying for the sins of its predecessor for years.
The CRTC penalized the former CKEY-FM, run by different owners, for not living up to its news commitments, and imposed a far more strict edict, forcing the station to broadcast three hours of news programming a week, with at least 30% of it focusing on the Niagara Region.
That doesn't sound like an excessive amount to me, but Byrnes Communications, the new owners of the place, found it to be somewhat unfair and burdensome, asking for relief from the Commission. And on Monday, they got it, with the CRTC taking away the provision.
"Byrnes explained that this condition is particularly difficult to meet in weeks with a holiday, when fewer resources and personnel are available, especially since the Commission’s definition of news excludes traffic, sports, entertainment, and weather.
Byrnes noted that regional competitors do not have a similar news-specific condition of service and that...(it's) a legacy obligation originally imposed more than 20 years ago on a former station owner in response to that owner’s non-compliance."
The station received 18 submissions from interested parties supporting the request, including an area MP and the mayor of the city, which carries a lot of weight. It means More will now have Less of an obligation to provide that level of news coverage for the area, a rule that they've been living with since 2018. But they still intend to provide a certain level of local information on the station.
The decision is pretty interesting. You can read it here.
- RadioActive
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Re: Fort Erie's "More FM" Gets Less News Go-Ahead From CRTC
By the way, many here have often wondered just how much news is required when the CRTC issues a station a licence. I'm not sure there's a hard and fast rule, per se, but the Commission did include this reminder in its CFLZ decision.
"Although the Revised Commercial Radio Policy does not specify a minimum level of weekly news to be broadcast, it does specify the type of spoken word material that must be included as part of a station’s local programming.
In accordance with that regulatory policy, the Commission reminds the licensee that its station, in its local programming, must incorporate spoken word material of direct and particular relevance to the communities served, and that this programming must include local news, weather, sports coverage, and the promotion of local events and activities. In addition, the Commission encourages the licensee to ensure that a reasonable amount of daily local news and information is made available to those communities."
Is there a difference between "encourages" and "orders?" I'm not entirely sure, but the CRTC does want there to be relevant local news on a station serving a specific market. Does that completely answer the question of how many hours of news a station has to have in Canada? Probably not, but at least we know they have to do something.
(What does that mean for an outlet like CKOC Hamilton? Do they even have any news at all on that mostly automated station? To me, the rules are still unclear.)
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Thread Starter- RadioAaron
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Re: Fort Erie's "More FM" Gets Less News Go-Ahead From CRTC
There are no requirements for actual news unless a station specifically had it added to their condition of license (as happened sometimes when there were multiple applications for a new station in a market, for example)
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Re: Fort Erie's "More FM" Gets Less News Go-Ahead From CRTC
RadioAaron wrote:
There are no requirements for actual news unless a station specifically had it added to their condition of license (as happened sometimes when there were multiple applications for a new station in a market, for example)
That's what I always thought.
But then what does it mean when the CRTC says a station "must incorporate spoken word material of direct and particular relevance to the communities served, and that this programming must include local news, weather, sports coverage, and the promotion of local events and activities."
Doesn't that sound like an order for actual news? I find the rules confusing.
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Thread Starter- RadioAaron
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Re: Fort Erie's "More FM" Gets Less News Go-Ahead From CRTC
There are no requirements for actual news unless a station specifically had it added to their condition of license (as happened sometimes when there were multiple applications for a new station in a market, for example)
That's what I always thought.
But then what does it mean when the CRTC says a station "must incorporate spoken word material of direct and particular relevance to the communities served, and that this programming must include local news, weather, sports coverage, and the promotion of local events and activities."
Doesn't that sound like an order for actual news? I find the rules confusing.
It doesn't really mean anything and it isn't tracked.
Not much more than a tool they can use to rap the knuckles of a station blatantly targeting a market other than the one its licensed to.
- rk12
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Re: Fort Erie's "More FM" Gets Less News Go-Ahead From CRTC
More FM at 101.1 comes just fine here in Mississauga at home with attic antenna.They are a music station,How much local news do the Toronto FM music stations have? Not much!
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Re: Fort Erie's "More FM" Gets Less News Go-Ahead From CRTC
True, but they're really the only station in Ft. Erie that would be covering Ft. Erie news. Seems like that's a different circumstance when compared with all the stations in the GTA.
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Thread Starter- ckg927
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Re: Fort Erie's "More FM" Gets Less News Go-Ahead From CRTC
Small point of order: Byrnes Communications has owned More FM since 2018.
That said, I can see why the "you need to do such and such amount of news" mandate irked GM Chris Byrnes. But it's also good to see they're not going to totally get rid of doing news altogether.
And, FTR, More FM comes in just fine here in Buffalo. It's one of the presets on my car radio.
Last edited by ckg927 (September 1, 2026 6:05 pm)