Congratulations to the folks at My Broadcasting Peterborough's CJMB-FM for what has to be the greatest excuse for breaking the rules heard before the CRTC this year. Jon Pole should be proud. 
 
Their “non-compliance” issue actually centred around playing music from a category they weren’t supposed to use. (They actually got their condition of license changed so it won’t be a factor in the future.)  
 
But when it came to explaining what happened and why, they came up with a wonderful bit of doggerel that I can’t help but admire for its creativity and originality.    
 
It’s explained in a CRTC release and it’s a classic. (The italics are mine):
 
“The licensee acknowledged the non-compliance and suggested that there was a misunderstanding of the Commission’s definition of local programming. The licensee believed that commercials would qualify as local programming if they were produced separately and exclusively for the station.
 
“My Broadcasting argued that commercials can be of direct and particular relevance to local communities by promoting local economic events and activities.
 
And then the piece-de-resistance:
 
“The licensee compared the spectacle of local commercials broadcast on small town radio to that of television commercials broadcast during the Super Bowl.”
 
Now that, as my grandmother might once have said, takes a lot of chutzpah. Yes, folks, not only did they try to claim that commercials count as “local programming,” but they also dragged the Super Bowl ad controversy into the mix while they were at it!
 
I always get a secret kick out of politicians and corporations trying to get away with idiotic statements, hoping no one will notice. They didn’t in this case (the Commission renewed their license for a shorter-than-normal five year period) but I have to give them credit for giving it the old college try.
 
CRTC Decision