Skywave wrote:

ISED's Broadcast Procedures and Rules Part 1 states:"7.2 Identification of broadcasting undertakingsPursuant to section 18 of the Radiocommunication Regulations, a broadcasting station for which a call sign has been issued must identify itself in accordance with the provisions of BETS-11."

BETS-11 in turn states:
2. Technical Requirements 2.1 Using the call sign issued to the broadcasting station, the holder of a Broadcasting Certificate shall, during any time that the broadcasting station for which that certificate was issued transmits a radio signal, identify the broadcasting station at least once every hour on the hour or within 10 minutes thereof, or at the beginning and end of a program where the program lasts longer than one hour, by a voice announcement in English or in French that: (a) articulates each letter and states any accompanying designator of the call sign of the station; and (b) names the principal city or community that is served by the station. 2.2 In the case of a television broadcasting station, the voice announcement may be replaced by a visual announcement of not less than three seconds in duration that identifies the call sign assigned to that station and the principal city or community that is served by that station. 2.3 The holder of a Broadcasting Certificate for a broadcasting station or network that originates programming shall identify at least once every day, in the manner set out in 2.1 or 2.2, as the case may be, a station that is licensed to rebroadcast the programming. 2.4 Paragraph 2.3 does not apply in respect of a rebroadcasting station where the Broadcasting Certificate issued in respect of that rebroadcasting station specifies that the rebroadcasting station: (a) has been assigned a radio frequency without protection from interference caused by a broadcasting undertaking; (b) shall not cause interference to any broadcasting undertaking; and (c) is not within any zone that, by virtue of an agreement between Canada and any other country, requires Canada to obtain the concurrence of that other country to the establishment of that rebroadcasting station."

The bottom line is that the officially assigned call letters are to be identified at least once every hour on the hour +/- 10 minutes. So most stations are in flagrant violation of the rules.  Stations such as CFTR and CFMZ are compliant at the top of the hour.
Some years ago, the programming and marketing types got all wound up with cute monikers and many abandoned call signs entirely. 
CBC's use of the prefex "CB" is by agreement with Chile, because that prefix is not assigned to Canada. They too are also non-compliant.
Now if the Federal Government wants to make a dent in the huge Covid deficit, ISED could issue Administrative Monetary penalties for a violation of the Broadcasting General Rules, which requires compliance with BRP-1
"The certificate holder must comply with the requirements of the Broadcasting Procedures and Rules BPR-1, General Rules, as amended from time to time, and to the Broadcasting Procedures and Rules corresponding to the authorized type of broadcasting undertaking, as amended from time to time. The Broadcasting Procedures and Rules can be viewed at: http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/h_sf06134.html."
The Administrative Monetary Penalty for a Type 1 Violation such as:
"Installation, operation, or possession of any radio apparatus in contravention of any term or condition of a radio licence." is $1000 for the first occurrence and $3000 per subsequent occurrence. That amounts to $7200 per day or $26,280,000 annually, per station....

Skywave is absolutely right on the money about this. I just received an email from an official at Industry Canada, who confirmed all of the above. Here is his response: (Italics, where present are mine.)

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Please see my responses to your questions below:

1. Is there a requirement by law that all radio stations identify themselves by their assigned call letters at the top of every hour? (i.e not by their branding, like Boom 97.3 or Newstalk1010, but instead by CHBM or CFRB.) 

A:  According to the document: BPR-1: Broadcasting Procedures and Rules - General Rules, Section 7.2 Identification of broadcasting undertakings:

Pursuant to section 18 of the Radiocommunication Regulations, a broadcasting station for which a call sign has been issued must identify itself in accordance with the provisions of BETS-11.

The holder of the broadcasting certificate for a rebroadcasting undertaking complies with these requirements if its originating broadcasting undertaking identifies it in accordance with the provisions of section 2.3 of BETS-11.

Rebroadcasting undertakings that meet the criteria of section 2.4 of BETS-11 comply with these requirements.
 
For your reference:
 
Radiocommunication Regulations - Part II: Broadcasting Undertakings, Identification, Section 18:
 
The holder of a broadcasting certificate shall identify the broadcasting station in accordance with the Technical Requirements Respecting Identification of Broadcasting Stations, issued by the Minister, as amended from time to time.
 
BETS-11 — Technical Requirements Respecting the Identification of Broadcasting Stations, 2. Technical Requirements, Subsection 2.3:
 
The holder of a Broadcasting Certificate for a broadcasting station or network that originates programming shall identify at least once every day, in the manner set out in 2.1 or 2.2, as the case may be, a station that is licensed to rebroadcast the programming.
 
2. If so, why does this not seem to apply to CBC Radio, which only ever refers to itself as “CBC Radio 1” and not by its assigned calls. (i.e. CBLA-FM Toronto as an example?) 

A: CBC Radio is required to self-identify the broadcasting station by the same rules as outlined in BPR-1: General Rules.
 
3. Do the same rules apply to local TV stations? If so, why do stations like CFTO in Toronto only refer to themselves on air as “CTV Toronto” and never “CFTO.” Very few over the air television stations use their call letters any more at all, any time of the day or night. Why is that? Are they supposed to? 

A: Local TV stations are also required to self-identify their broadcast stations by the rules outlined in BPR-1: General Rules, although their requirements are slightly different:
 
BETS-11 — Technical Requirements Respecting the Identification of Broadcasting Stations, Section 2.2:
 
In the case of a television broadcasting station, the voice announcement may be replaced by a visual announcement of not less than three seconds in duration that identifies the call sign assigned to that station and the principal city or community that is served by that station.
 
 I hope I thoroughly answered your questions. If you have any further questions, please ask.

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And I have replied with a "further question." Clearly, neither CBC Radio or TV or CFTO follows these edicts. And they're not the only ones. If these are the rules and so many stations obviously do not comply with them, what - if anything - are the government regulators doing about it? This has been going on for years, and I haven't seen a single indication that anyone (besides me) actually cares about this. Are they going to crack down on this? I doubt it, but I will certainly let you know if I receive an answer. 

My guess is that most people really don't care and that's why you never hear about it. It only came up here because a friend was asking about it. Otherwise, it's rarely a topic even on a board like this. I would think even twice a day (say at 6 AM and 6 PM) would be more than enough. But they don't even do that.  

RadioActive wrote:

MJ Vancouver wrote:

The one station that has basically never used its call letters is TVO. The one exception I'm aware of is from when they signed on in 1970, they showed a video of that during one of their anniversaries that verbally stated CICA-TV. I've never seen it at any other time on TVO.

That's probably because at the very beginning there WAS no TVO per se. There was only CICA, Channel 19, and I remember John Delazzer used to be the voice on the IDs. Once it became an Ontario network, the CICA call letters disappeared, seemingly forever.   

They might have been known on air as CICA at launch but they were branded OECA (Ontario Educational Communications Authority) until 1974 and still are OECA legally. 

They had possibly the scariest on air ident ever created. A bit counterproductive for an educational channel to have an ident that would cause children to run, screaming from the living room 



Of course, WGBH, which produced much of PBS' programming in the 1970s, wasn't much better.
"Can't sleep, educational TV will eat me".





 

Last edited by Hansa (March 3, 2021 7:28 pm)