The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / "Canada's Weird Radio Laws": The Video

**Posted by RadioActive** February 26, 2025 2:26 pm

First, this video I just found is six years old. So it's already a bit dated.

Second, I don't think anything he points out is really all that "weird." Essentially, it's an explanation to people in other countries about CanCon, what the rules are and why they were put in. But I suppose they could seem "weird" to people who don't live here and wonder what's on the air on our radio stations.

A bit simplistic but it's garnered almost 65,000 views over the years.

**Posted by torontostan** February 26, 2025 2:30 pm

They are weird

**Posted by Scarboroughbluffsradiof99** February 26, 2025 6:01 pm

I watched an american commenting about this video.
That person thoght it was weird.

**Posted by Hansa** February 26, 2025 6:50 pm

Weird if you're American but I believe a lot of countries in the world have rules requiring a certain amount of local broadcast content and even screen time in cinemas.

**Posted by RadioAaron** February 26, 2025 7:01 pm

Nothing weird about Cancon, but there were quite a few content regulations in the past that were quite bizarre.

**Posted by Radiowiz** February 26, 2025 7:12 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
Nothing weird about Cancon, but there were quite a few content regulations in the past that were quite bizarre.

Yes, if you mean anything intended to protect AM radio at a time when the rest of the world was not.
ie 49% non hits on FM, etc...

**Posted by tdotwriter** February 26, 2025 7:47 pm

Radiowiz wrote:
RadioAaron wrote:
Nothing weird about Cancon, but there were quite a few content regulations in the past that were quite bizarre.
Yes, if you mean anything intended to protect AM radio at a time when the rest of the world was not.
ie 49% non hits on FM, etc...

To my understanding, there were also "specialty" music and even spoken-word programming quotas. Supposedly, from what I believe I've read elsewhere here in years past, Q107 at one point in the '80s would broadcast one (or maybe more) episodes of Chickenman; a radio series popular in the U.S that had been originally created in the 1960s that parodied comic book superheroes during the morning drive and a public affairs talk show in the early afternoon before the evening drive. That's just one example.

**Posted by martyb** February 26, 2025 7:48 pm

It's nice to see when stations choose to do more than their license commitment as well (not just for Cancon requirements), we need more stations doing live community programming! Do the cancon requirements for radio include local performances like TV programming?

**Posted by RadioAaron** February 26, 2025 9:15 pm

tdotwriter wrote:
Radiowiz wrote:
RadioAaron wrote:
Nothing weird about Cancon, but there were quite a few content regulations in the past that were quite bizarre.
Yes, if you mean anything intended to protect AM radio at a time when the rest of the world was not.
ie 49% non hits on FM, etc...
To my understanding, there were also "specialty" music and even spoken-word programming quotas. Supposedly, from what I believe I've read elsewhere here in years past, Q107 at one point in the '80s would broadcast one (or maybe more) episodes of Chickenman; a radio series popular in the U.S that had been originally created in the 1960s that parodied comic book superheroes during the morning drive and a public affairs talk show in the early afternoon before the evening drive. That's just one example.

Correct.

PDs had to time to the minute how much spoken word they had. Simple enough? Nope; not all spoken word was created equal. You had "surveillance," which today is basically traffic and weather. You also had to distinguish between "foreground" and "background" programming. Can surveillance be foreground? Nobody knows! Minutes of news was yet another sub-category of spoken word.

With music, they created arbitrary genres and imposed conditions around percentages of each that were played, Want to alter your format? You're going to have to go to a hearing and get approval for that. I know an MD who had to spend a day arguing with the CRTC about which Eric Clapton songs were or weren't "blues." Also, how many different songs do you play each week? Oh, they're going to tell you.

**Posted by paterson1** February 26, 2025 10:12 pm

Many of those other FM regulations from over 45 years ago actually made the stations better. The spoken word quotas and non hit regulations while inconvenient were largely not a big problem or issue. Like many things in life, they would only become a problem if you let it be one. Other than cancon many of these "weird" regulations were dropped over 30 years ago.

Last edited by paterson1 (February 26, 2025 10:23 pm)

**Posted by RadioActive** February 26, 2025 10:32 pm

What category did Q107's "High Witness News" fit into?

**Posted by Dale Patterson** February 26, 2025 10:32 pm

Wasn't the original quota 30 per cent? The video says 25 per cent.

**Posted by Dale Patterson** February 26, 2025 10:38 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
tdotwriter wrote:
Radiowiz wrote:

Yes, if you mean anything intended to protect AM radio at a time when the rest of the world was not.
ie 49% non hits on FM, etc...
To my understanding, there were also "specialty" music and even spoken-word programming quotas. Supposedly, from what I believe I've read elsewhere here in years past, Q107 at one point in the '80s would broadcast one (or maybe more) episodes of Chickenman; a radio series popular in the U.S that had been originally created in the 1960s that parodied comic book superheroes during the morning drive and a public affairs talk show in the early afternoon before the evening drive. That's just one example.
Correct.

PDs had to time to the minute how much spoken word they had. Simple enough? Nope; not all spoken word was created equal. You had "surveillance," which today is basically traffic and weather. You also had to distinguish between "foreground" and "background" programming. Can surveillance be foreground? Nobody knows! Minutes of news was yet another sub-category of spoken word.

With music, they created arbitrary genres and imposed conditions around percentages of each that were played, Want to alter your format? You're going to have to go to a hearing and get approval for that. I know an MD who had to spend a day arguing with the CRTC about which Eric Clapton songs were or weren't "blues." Also, how many different songs do you play each week? Oh, they're going to tell you.

Norman B. (FM 108 PD) once told me that the station had to have a 60-40 pop-rock ratio. The problem was, the definition of what was pop and what was rock was always changing at the whim of the CRTC. Does anyone remember pop-rock radios? I've never heard of it anywhere else.