I once heard a story about an election night in Brockville, at CFJR Radio, still at 830 AM at the time... the 830 operation (1985-2003) was 5 kW day, 1 kW night, DA-2, with the night pattern protecting Minneapolis' WCCO. If I remember correctly, the story goes that it was a municipal election in the '90s, and the powers-that-were at CFJR wanted the station to stay on its "day" parameters until all the results were announced, and then go to "night" mode. However, on account of interference to the clear-channel "eight-three-oh" signal, WCCO brass phoned up CFJR demanding that the station switch to their night parameters immediately.

As for WTOR, how have WABC's bosses still not found out, let alone filed formal complaints with station management and/or the FCC, about the daytimer staying on the air past sunset and interfering with the bigger 770?

Daytime, nighttime rules are seemly more and more not being observed or enforced south of the border:

For several years now, listening to CBW 990 Winnipeg has become difficult because of WNTY Southington CT that is suppose to be running 80 watts at night. It regularly dominates the frequency after dark.

In late Sept. I was trying to listen to Zoomer Radio's Theater of the Mind at a cottage near Renfrew. Significant interference came from WNOP Newport KY [it actually serves Cincinnati OH]. They are suppose to be 30w at night.

Mr. Bluffs, I think you're missing the point of why the Canadian-based Real Estate Agent has bought up all of the time on WTOR.  She would not qualify for a licence in Canada.  Several reasons.  Content is unregulated.  No ability of people to complain to the CRTC or CBSC about content that infringes Canadian broadcast standards, let alone laws.  There is no Canadian content requirements on WTOR broadcasts.   Even if WTOR's parent company pays copyright fees for music licensing, I very much doubt that the fees add up to a fraction of the fees charged to Canadian broadcasters (lawfully) by Canadian copyright collectives.  She gets a "free pass" in terms of copyright royalty obligations. Not so for licensed Canadian broadcasters. The brokers to whom she sells airtime, program 100% in Punjabi.  The CRTC would not license an ethnic radio station in canada, that did not serve multiple communities.   And finally there are no frequencies available that are viable. Finding a transmitter site for a "new" AM station in the GTA is virtually impossible and there is currently a major fight before the CRTC regarding the relocation of CJMR's transmitter to a site in Mississauga - which is wholly within its licensed coverage area.  The Real Estate agent would never pay Corus, Bell or other owners of languishing/unprofitable AM stations the millions of dollars that would be required by the current owners,  or able to afford to buy the land, or pay land leases for the real estate that the transmitters occupy.  Finally there is widespread non-compliance by South Asian broadcasters who are "unlicensed" and buy all the airtime on nearby US AM stations.  There are at least two stations in Washington State, 1550 and 1600 that are run by Canadians from Canadian soil.  The CRTC issued "mandatory" (cease and desist) orders against the Canadians about a decade ago, but the CRTC will not take any action against the current operators....one of whom was subject to the mandatory order years ago.  This is a political issue in the lower mainland of BC and the present gov't and past gov'ts did not have the fortitude to enforce the law.  They are too dependant upon votes from the folks who listen to 1550 and 1600.  So there you have it.  A toothless, feckless government agency who will not enforce the law.  And the FCC who long ago abandoned regulation - well except for the enemies of Donald J. Trump - TV broadcasters and cable networks - which provide unfavourable coverage of the US President, who are now caught in their gunsight.

By the way, I assisted in the investigation of illegal broadcating on 1550 and 1600 - Washington state.   The invoicing "games" being played, probably evaded Canadian taxes (HST) and there was some evidence that the Canadian broadcasters who leased those stations, may have conspired with the advertisers.  To my knowledge the advertisers may have "written off" their advertising expenses even though the Canadian Income Tax Act prohibited such write-offs.   

If you are interested in knowing who actually runs 770 WTOR  from Mississauga, there are some clues here:
https://eawaz.com/about-us/

It's pretty much a game of whack-a-mole with Canadian ethnic broadcasters who buy up all of the time on 770, 1550 and 1600.  Canadian broadcasters who are licensed by the CRTC - suffer the consequences.  And if those illegal operations were shut down - who would suffer?  There's hundreds of hours a week of other Punjabi programming available on Canadian stations in Toronto and the Lower Mainland of BC
https://birach.com/wtor


 

Last edited by tvguy (Yesterday 11:29 am)

Ok, I think that's it. I honestly believe Mr. Bluffs is sincere in his entries here but his obsession with ethnics and the implications of their honesty or otherwise is simply too much. 

I have been getting flooded with emails about this member, all urging me to pull the plug on him. I finally gave him a warning about this, but it just seems he cannot help himself. That has nothing to do with his inability to see. In fact, what he can't seem to really see is his own bigotry. 

I'm very sorry to do this because I know posting here was important to him, but his output on the board today proves he not only hasn't learned his lesson, but that he likely never will. I hope he will find a home on another forum where his views are more accepted. 

I know many here have had it with SB99. It took a while and I wanted to be fair, but enough is enough. Sir, I wish you well. Just somewhere else. 

If their target is the GTA and Canada in general. What's the benefit for them having a faint signal below WABC, for the Niagara/St Cath. area ?

tvguy wrote:

WTOR was never “designed” for night-time listening in Niagara.  It was purely dawn-to-dusk operation at 13,000 watts, to deliver a signal into the GTA.  All of the money is made by the brokers who buy airtime, during daylight hours.  Since the station has no staff that I know of, it’s a money machine for Birach Broadcasting - based in the Midwest USA.  It’s failure to turn off the transmitter at sunset, - which it is legally obligated to do - results in a signal impacted by skywave from WABC.  I have no idea how many listeners they have after dusk when they should not be broadcasting,  The programming is also streamed, so the audience after dusk would likely be online.  Also appreciate that the Washington State, and Youngstown-Toronto (WTOR) “border blaster” AM stations provide service that may be noisy, but is generally tolerated by their Punjabi and Urdu speaking listeners. It is my guess that English-speaking listeners would not tolerate a “noisy” AM signal, but of course there are many alternative AM and FM stations with clear signals to listen to in the GTA and Niagara Region

So could it not be a case of simple incompetence of being asleep at the wheel  rather than a shady business decision ?

Why would anyone think that a distorted, barely audible signal would generate revenue ?
 

Fitz, I’ve been fighting the companies that engage in the end-run that harms Canadian licensees for nearly 20 years.  The US comapanies don’t care, they’re “untouchable” they know that the FCC will not do anything and they know damn well what they’re doing - that the CRTC won’t take acton against their Canadian broker/clients.  Think of it as a renegade broadcaster giving the “middle finger” to regulators and licensed legitimate Canadian broadcasters.  I really don’t think it’s a case of incompetence.  I believe it is intentional.