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CRTC Warns Toronto FM Station Its Licence Could Be At Stake
I don’t know how many here ever listen to G98.7, aka CKFG, the urban station in Toronto. But it’s obvious the CRTC hasn’t heard what it wants from them.
At a hearing scheduled for January 11, 2018, the Commission is going to question whether the owners, Intercity Broadcasting, understand exactly what they were licenced to do.
It lists a large number of non-compliance issues it says the station is guilty of, including not filing “complete and accurate” program logs, not submitting its financial returns in time, not playing enough promised World Beat and International music (the owners have asked for the level to be reduced from 50% to just 37% if the licence is renewed) and not detailing how it has “fulfilled its programming requirements in serving the Caribbean and African communities of Toronto with its spoken word programming and musical format." Just to name a few.
Because of the number of violations, the CRTC appears to be waiting to hear an explanation before taking action. And it could be serious.
“Given the number of instances of apparent non-compliance and the instances of non-compliance … the Commission could conclude that the licensee has demonstrated that it does not understand its regulatory obligations. Because of this, coupled with the fact that the Commission has already required corrective measures by the licensee during the current licence term with which the licensee does not appear to have complied, the Commission has concerns regarding the licensee’s ability and commitment to operate the station in a compliant manner."
I doubt they’d pull the licence over this, but at the very least during the hearing, as Ricky Ricardo might say, “they got some splainin’ to do.”
CRTC Announcement
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Re: CRTC Warns Toronto FM Station Its Licence Could Be At Stake
The CRTC renewed CKFG-FM's licence on Tuesday, despite a laundry list of non-compliance issues that have been plaguing the station.
Check out the offences:
- the broadcast of Canadian content;
- the broadcast of montages;
- the broadcast of World beat and international music;
- the submission of radio monitoring materials;
- the filing of annual returns;
- the filing of annual programming reports;
- the implementation of the National Public Alerting System (NPAS);
- basic and over-and-above CCD contributions; and
- the regulatory measures to be applied in regard to any findings of non-compliance.
Despite all that, the Commission gave them a short term renewal to give them time to prove they can fix what's wrong. Or else.
Some of the more egregious problems include missing the CanCon mark by as much as 10%, which the station admits was "disappointing." From the CRTC decision:
"Intercity acknowledged that it did not meet its Canadian content obligations and expressed its disappointment at this situation. The licensee noted that it now has a much clearer understanding of its obligations, and that those obligations have been communicated internally via a full-staff meeting, one-on-one follow-up meetings with each on-air personality, and regular communications."
Really? You needed "meetings" to tell radio people they had to play their share of CanCon? What is going on over there?
They also were mandated to play a specified amount of World Beat/International music, which they also blew off, combining them into "montages" instead. The CRTC called foul on that, too and has denied an application to change the amount from 50% to 37%.
But you have to admire the station's chutzpah.
"They stated that the amendment would allow CKFG-FM to broadcast more Rhythm and Blues, Soul and Motown music, which would attract a larger audience from the black community while maintaining the station’s specialty format...
"It added that approval of the amendment would not have a negative impact on incumbent radio stations in Toronto since no other stations currently broadcast World Beat, Reggae, Calypso, Gospel, Rhythm & Blues, Soul or Motown music."
Nice try, but it didn't work. In the end the CRTC concludes their rebuke with this ominous warning:
"The Commission is gravely concerned over Intercity’s unprecedented levels of non-compliance in terms of the number of instances and their severity, and over its ability to operate CKFG-FM in a compliant manner. Should the licensee continue to be in non-compliance with its regulatory requirements, the Commission may consider...the revocation or non-renewal of the licence."
Yikes! Could there be a valuable FM frequency up for grabs in the coming years if these guys don't get their act together?
CRTC Decision
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Thread Starter- cGrant
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Re: CRTC Warns Toronto FM Station Its Licence Could Be At Stake
Rhetorical question: Why does the CRTC allow renewals when there are any condition violations? Even if there is so much as one single violation, the license should get pulled immediately and you hear nothing more than carrier.
Stations know they can piss around and still conduct business as usual (albeit for a shorter time), so why bother running clean? If I was responsible for a station and I knew my ability to transmit will get pulled for the slightest reason, you best know I'd have the ship steering away from that iceberg.