1 of 1- RadioActive
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How Long Is Too Long To Sign On After Getting Licenced By The CRTC?
I ask the title question because I've just read that Elliott Kerr, who was granted a licence for a new talk station at 960 AM in Mississauga way back in 2011, has just been given yet another extension to get his yakker up and running. The CRTC now says he must be on air by November 2016, despite the fact that in a follow-up from 2013, the commission granted him a reprieve for the just passed date of November 22, 2015 - and noted that would the final such extension he'd get.
Yet now he has an additional year to get CKNT on the air. (Still rather unfortunate call letters, if you try to pronounce it.)
So my question is this: how long should an applicant who's been granted a licence for precious spectrum (even on AM) be allowed to wait until he actually puts the thing on the air? I know there's a lot of work to be done getting something like this launched, but really - going on five years? That just seems excessive.
I'll be curious to find out what happens when next November rolls around and the station is still dormant.
Last edited by RadioActive (December 20, 2015 12:23 pm)
- Radiowiz
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Re: How Long Is Too Long To Sign On After Getting Licenced By The CRTC?
I think 5 years is fair for AM.
Perhaps the fact that it's AM and not FM is contributing to the CRTC's generous decision to allow the delay of a launch date.
If this were FM (a music format, perhaps?) there would be major outcry in a very short time and the licence would have been terminated long before now in favour of someone else.
Speaking of other options, is anyone else wishing to broadcast on AM 960? That would speed up the issue...
Last edited by Radiowiz (December 20, 2015 1:24 pm)
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- Kilgore
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Re: How Long Is Too Long To Sign On After Getting Licenced By The CRTC?
Insiders say they are in deep negotiation with Hazel McCallion for AM drive and Mike Bullard for noon - 1:00
- ig
- Iain Grant
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Re: How Long Is Too Long To Sign On After Getting Licenced By The CRTC?
In all fairness, from what I've read, the guy is trying but keeps getting the rug pulled out. If it was an FM station he'd undoubtedly be up and running by now, but AM is a bitch to find the right spot, and the right budget. He's had a few agreements in place, using some pretty interesting technology to put the towers on an office building among others, but 'something' always seems to crop up.
Personally I can't imagine working in the top floor of a building with an AM transmitter sitting above my head, no matter how much copper is on the roof, but I don't know nearly enough about RF to know if it's as safe as the manufacturer claims. (or not.)
An AM talk station in Mississauga is going to be a hell of a rough haul, and if you've seen the contours, the CRTC wanted to make sure that it is a Mississauga station. Honestly, the signal is so restricted, I'm surprised the applicant hasn't considered a couple of LPFM sticks instead. Far less, better quality and possibly cleaner coverage.
Having said that, Mississauga already has a station licensed for that market. November 27th. 1973, Jean Caine was awarded a license because "Mississauga was becoming the country's fastest growing city and the Caine's felt the city deserved its own voice" That didn't work out as well as expected. A little over 10 years later, they were denied the 96.3fm frequency for an easy listening station, and it subsequently slid into a christian/ethnic cash cow.
Maybe the CRTC should do their job, and offer up CJMR to Kerr and see if he can operate it the way it was initially licensed. And if he pulls it off, give him "Toronto" stations CFNY, CIDC and CKDX to do the same thing with.
Last edited by ig (December 20, 2015 1:39 pm)
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
- Leslieville Bill
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Re: How Long Is Too Long To Sign On After Getting Licenced By The CRTC?
RadioActive wrote:
(Still rather unfortunate call letters, if you try to pronounce it.)
You mean he CKaNT do it? 
Last edited by Leslieville Bill (December 20, 2015 3:19 pm)
- Not an industry person. Just a guy with a love of Toronto radio.
- geo
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Re: How Long Is Too Long To Sign On After Getting Licenced By The CRTC?
. . . it subsequently slid into a christian/ethnic cash cow . . .
Are you saying AM 1250 CHWO is a cash cow?
- ig
- Iain Grant
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Re: How Long Is Too Long To Sign On After Getting Licenced By The CRTC?
. . . it subsequently slid into a christian/ethnic cash cow . . .
Are you saying AM 1250 CHWO is a cash cow?
Absolutely. Between paid Christian and ethnic programming ii'll bet it makes a fortune.
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
- geo
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Re: How Long Is Too Long To Sign On After Getting Licenced By The CRTC?
Between paid Christian and ethnic programming ii'll bet it makes a fortune.
wish I'd stayed in Sunday School so I'd know what the H. they're talkin about
(was corrupted by Allan Waters in the spring of '57)
Last edited by geo (December 20, 2015 5:26 pm)
- Radiowiz
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Re: How Long Is Too Long To Sign On After Getting Licenced By The CRTC?
Insiders say they are in deep negotiation with Hazel McCallion for AM drive and Mike Bullard for noon - 1:00
Will Hazel still be alive if and when AM 960 actually gets around to finally signing on? 
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- Ms. C.
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Re: How Long Is Too Long To Sign On After Getting Licenced By The CRTC?
Hazel & Mike on Morning Drive would kick John Derringer & Maureen Holloway, Erin & Mike and Roger & Marilyn to radio's dustbin
- kowchmedia
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Re: How Long Is Too Long To Sign On After Getting Licenced By The CRTC?
Perhaps the fact that it's AM and not FM is contributing to the CRTC's generous decision to allow the delay of a launch date.
Sounds all to familiar with what I'm dealing with in Montreal where I helped TTP Media get three AM licenses: one French talk station, one French sports talk station and one English talk station. We're now into our THIRD one year extension that ends November 2016.
I suspect Radiowiz is correct. It's AM ... there isn't much demand so the CRTC is more patient for both Mississauga and TTP to get up and running. Also, if you think a Mississauga talk station is a hard sell, imagine what it's like to find investors, listeners and clients for an English talk station in La Belle Province's largest city.
I think we gotta cut these guys some slack to launch a radio station and give them all the time it takes.