The author of that piece should take a look at the December 2022 CRTC update of the Revised Commercial Radio policy, which makes the following observations:

- The requirement for stations to air a specific level of on-air material that was prepared by local staff from within a station's broadcast area would hurt broadcasters' ability to remain competitive (Section 395). Under pressure from the industry, the Commission said if material is produced "for" a local station to air and contains local elements, it can be classed as local programming. Thus, a host in Kelowna can include some local elements in a segment for air in Kamloops and it would meet the requirements.

- Interesting to note that both Stingray and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters tried to argue that local news requirements for radio were ineffective, and urged the Commission to change the policy to include things like banter among jocks on the air about local events or happenings to fit into the definition of "local news". The CRTC didn't buy that argument, but put off making a decision on the issue (Sections 403-416).

And, as an observation, I note that the author appears to be a local Conservative gadfly who's run both federally and provincially. I thought the Tories were all about eliminating "gatekeepers"? 
 

Last edited by BowmanvilleBob (December 5, 2024 11:17 am)

BowmanvilleBob wrote:

The author of that piece should take a look at the December 2022 CRTC update of the Revised Commercial Radio policy, which makes the following observations:

- The requirement for stations to air a specific level of on-air material that was prepared by local staff from within a station's broadcast area would hurt broadcasters' ability to remain competitive (Section 395). Under pressure from the industry, the Commission said if material is produced "for" a local station to air and contains local elements, it can be classed as local programming. Thus, a host in Kelowna can include some local elements in a segment for air in Kamloops and it would meet the requirements.

 

Precisely why radio is in shambles

Last edited by km93 (December 5, 2024 11:31 am)

RadioActive wrote:

I'm not sure his political affiliation has anything to do with his point, which is that too many stations are not serving the communities they are licenced for. 

 
I don't see how, RA. The Conservative Party's policy manifesto clearly states:

"The CRTC’s role in content regulation should be reduced to eliminate duplication where other legislation exists."

But now, you've got this guy stating that the CRTC should have the power to yank licenses if they fail to deliver on local content. So, which is it? Protector of local radio or rubber stamp organization for whatever the broadcasting industry wants?

Let's dump the 35% or what ever it is can-con requirement and replace it with 35% locally generated content.

I remember a long time ago many AM / FM combination or sister stations would simulcast overnight from midnight to 6:00 am or so. At some point this mostly stopped. Not sure why. Was there a limit to how much time this was allowed. Did the CRTC step in to end it?

These days we have programming in mid-size markets essentially doing the same. CFCA Kitchener and CIQM London have mostly the same programming in the afternoon maybe most of the day.
 

Groups like Quinte broadcasting are on the tail end of small market feasibility. The profits are drying up FAST.

It's not about listenership, it's about a fragmented ad market devaluing advertising across the board to the point where a well staffed local radio station in a small market is not a feasible business model regardless of who owns it. 

There's no going back on this, no matter how tempting it may be to stick our heads in the sand.

The CRTC should make it as difficult as possible to operate radio stations.   Then it will be easier for them to succeed.

BowmanvilleBob wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

Why does everything here have to get into politics?

With respect RA, you posted this morning about the latest antics of Ben Mulroney, who gave a highly politicized rant about political correctness and clearly identified a current member of the governing party as responsible for a supposed "cover-up". How is this not political?

Politics is a fact of everyday life in this country. The man who wrote the article (along with many other people here it seems) clearly wants local radio to include more local content. It's certainly a laudable goal. Yet pointing out that the author supports a political party that would reduce the powers of the one government agency with the capacity to make that goal a requirement is the trigger that sets you off? Perhaps you should be directing your anger there.
 

But at no point in his article does the Kamloops guy get into politics. Again, if it hadn't been mentioned in the tag at the bottom would anyone even know? It seems that once the "C" word gets mentioned, everything else is ignored. The man had a point to make and he made it. His party affiliation has nothing to do with it. And also worth noting that you can support any political party and not agree with everything it stands for. 

As for the Mulroney thing, other than mentioning Ms. Ien as an aside, I did not get the impression this was aimed at any political party. Of course he's pissed off because someone attacked his wife and cost her her job. I wouldn't expect him to react any other way. 

What I find hypocritical about what he did was the Twitter video posted in that Sun article, where he parrots the hope that his position will be given to a deserving minority person. It's only all these years later that we learn how he really feels about what happened. But with the exception of a passing reference to Marcie Ien - who was a host back then and not a politician - not once did he talk about any party or blame Liberals, NDP, Greens, Conservatives, Communists, or any other entity. 

Having been moderator on this board for many years, I've discovered that some people just see the world through a political lens, no matter what the topic. I can't change that, but I would like to keep it to a minimum here. 

I posted on the Mulroney thing because I thought it was astonishing to hear him trash his former colleagues on air. Rarely done, but worth noting when it happens.

Politics is about more than just parties, RA. It's also about attitudes, beliefs and language. There seems to be a tolerance here for talking about 'wokeism" and "lefties", but when the conversation drifts to naming specific parties and specific policies (right-wing), the pearls are clutched. In short, I think its silly for anyone to talk about the need for the CRTC to revoke licenses for lack of local content while supporting a party that would essentially cut the Commission off at the knees in terms of enforcement.

As for the whole Ben Mulroney thing, I'm sure it was the talk of the ladies who lunch at the Four Seasons in Yorkville for a time back in 2020, but the rest of the world has moved on. I suspect his rant today was more about establishing his credentials with the am640 audience than it was out of any sense of grievance. 

I can only speak for MBC.

We don't have a single station in the red.

Many of our stations just finished a record year including our first/oldest market.  Last fiscal we hit our 10 year target - 3 years early and having gone through the pandemic.   I do not share RadioAaron's opinion from my point of view.

I don't stick my nose in other operators businesses, but my observation would be, the independent operators that I admire have lots of sales people, and generally 3-5X or more the performance of their competitors who are doing whatever it is they do.

My final thought is radio enjoyed pretty hefty margins for many years.  Since we started in 2004 - we've always done really well.  Our margins are not the good old days of radio (we never experienced it anyway) BUT - they are usually better than most businesses in our size of markets.  You just have to work hard no different than our customers work hard in their categories.

Radio ran (what I would call) properly is still a very good business.

In 20 years - will people still want local news in their community.  Yes.

In 20 years - will people still want to attend cool events in their community.  Yes

In 20 years - will people still want to support charity events in their community - Yes.

In 20 Years - will businesses still need help with marketing, ideas, community connection.  Yes.

That's what we do.  It's possible our towers may be replaced by streams, or our digital news sites... that's fine - we earn our living by helping others succeed via our platforms.   So our runway is long as long as we deliver.

My 2 cents.   Now we can all patiently wait for RadioAaron to tell me I'm wrong ;)

In 20 years of asking our audience why they listen.  The answers are always as follows no matter the market or format.

1. Local news
2. The music.
3. Contests and promotions.
4. Announcers

We staff accordingly.  If the audience said polka at #1 - we would have polka.