RadioActive wrote:

I'm not saying their excuse wasn't true, but when was the last time you heard ANY Canadian radio station using HD competition as an excuse not pay its bills? I think that's a first for the country. 

They have a point, though.

The CRTC has left the sub-channels completely unregulated, and as a result the ethnic stations at 88.9 and 101.3 have launched multiple new brands and sold off the airtime. What were supposed to be two stations are now effectively eight. That's going to be a very challenging thing to compete against.

Possibly. But that brings us back to another question frequently debated here: how many people actually have access to HD Radio, know how to tune it in or even know it's in their cars if they do? Most broadcasters barely even mention its existence. 

Forward Power wrote:

Ah yes, the old "because of covid" excuse... broadcasters' convenient excuse for everything lately. But obligations are obligations, and the CJRK people are full of crap. You, as a licensee, are required to fulfill your CCD obligations - THIS IS MANDATORY AND NOT OPTIONAL. And using covid and HD Radio as your excuses for not paying into CCD like you are required to are complete B.S. responses. Pay up, or shut down your station and hand the licence back to the CRTC.

On the HD argument, the CRTC caused this by breaking its own rules and leaving it unregulated. Regulations like CCD need market cap regulations to function. Either have both rules or neither.
 

It's an unusual thing with HD Radio in this country. I have a friend who's been on-air for over 40 years, mostly in Toronto. Back when the pandemic was just getting started, he bought a new car (so no supply chain issues.) 

One day I asked him off the top of my head if his new vehicle had HD in it.

He had no idea.

It never even occurred to him to check to see before I inquired. And this guy's a real pro and very smart. So you can imagine what the average person knows about the very existence of HD or even how to tune it in. Especially when most stations have given up mentioning its existence altogether. 

First it was AM Stereo. Then DAB. Now it's HD that appears to be a failure. You might think, without any real CRTC regulation, stations might want to take advantage and start separate HD stations that can get around all kinds of onerous government regs. and publicize those "bonus" outlets to the hilt. Instead, it's almost all simulcasts of AM on an FM signal. . 

HD sounds a little better but there's no compelling reason to tune any of those stations in. I give it an "F," for FM - and for Fail. What a waste of what could be so much more.

RadioAaron wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

IYou might think, without any real CRTC regulation, stations might want to take advantage and start separate HD stations that can get around all kinds of onerous government regs. and publicize those "bonus" outlets to the hilt. Instead, it's almost all simulcasts of AM on an FM signal. . 
.

HD is incompatible with the traditional radio business model. We can’t even get reliable and consistent ratings for anything but the top third FM stations; getting anything for HD is impossible.

So AM simulcasts and brokered programming it is.

HD stations shouldn't be following the traditional radio business model.  Maybe that's why the CRTC gave broadcasters carte blanch to do what they want.  But no, the conglomerates that always want less regulation don't know what to do with it anyway. 

Nice to see it is smaller and ethnic stations that are more nimble and creative and actually are taking advantage of the opportunity. 

At the very least stations can use the separate HD stations to upsell clients or do some bonusing.  

Offering separate and different programming and actually promoting it isn't rocket science.  Typically the big guys can't be bothered.  And let's blame the CRTC for allowing this layer of new radio to be unregulated....Please..

 

RadioActive wrote:

But that brings us back to another question frequently debated here: how many people actually have access to HD Radio, know how to tune it in or even know it's in their cars if they do? Most broadcasters barely even mention its existence. 

I just took delivery of a new Nissan SUV (top level model)

It does not have HD capability



 

OK,, I have some "baseball insider" knowledge here.  This is the second station to operate on the frequency, and provide predominately Thamil language programming.  The first operator was clueless, and with the help of his broadcast consultant lost the licence.  The first operator had serious financial and compliance problems.  There were significant signal problems reaching the Thamil community in Scarborough.  As many readers know the frequency is saturated with stations in within 100 miles of Toronto. The current operator "won" the licence in a competitive bidding war.  To be blunt he bet the farm, on CCD financial expenditures.  But he also bid for and took up the licence, notwithstanding a lot of other market changes, (all legal) with other ethnic broadcasters who have great signals....who target many of the same ethnic groups that he serves.  HD is just a red herring.  If you drill down to the program schedules of higher powered ethnic stations around the GTA, and the ethnic groups whom they target, that's the real issue.  Their signals are available in-car, in-home throughout Scarborough and the rest of the GTA, where the S. Asian population resides.  One more thing when he bid for the licence,  if he had credible regulatory counsel or consultants, he would have known that the "licensed" high powered ethnic stations can change their ethnic programming mix, at will, without CRTC approval.  That's their right,  Some of the older stations have no restriction on the %age of airtime that they must devote to a target ethnic or "language" group.  For example, Fairchild has an obligation to serve the Chinese population, but it is also obligated to air a significant amount of ethnic programming directed to other ethnic groups.  The "big signal" stations use that airtime to serve the most viable ethnic communities, or sell off the airtime to brokers.  The brokers will pay hundreds of dollars an hour to reach their (own) target audience.  There is no regulation by the CRTC of brokers or brokerage.  So from day 1, he should have known that others could and would devote airtime to Thamil language programming on superior frequencies, without regulatory approval.  that's the way it works - legally speaking.  The legacy ethnic stations would only be paying CCD and CFRC fees on their actual revenues, which is regulated and relatively low.  So he has to sell a lot of airtime, at a dollar-a-holler just to satisfy the CCD chain around his neck.

Sometimes applicants who out-bid others, for inferior frequencies have no-one to blame for their zeal and unreal financial expectations.  If memory serves me well, the owner of CJRK may have owned a 67khz subcarrier station at one time.  That's an unregulated business - has been for decades.  It is at best a niche business.   One's acumen operating a 67khz subcarrier does not carry over to operating a regulated FM station with overly high CCD financial commitments.  Others may disagree but HD is not the culprit, or the reason for his failure to achieve his revenue projections with may I say, a really crappy signal

Last edited by tvguy (August 3, 2023 7:50 pm)

Even with a $120K total commitment, that’s a lot of ads to support the expense.  Haven’t seen their rate card (if they publish one) but the ad rates for GTA ethnic stations have cratered during the last few years.  I’d bet that they only get a few bucks an ad on this station given their signal limiitations.