• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

CRTC wants to clamp down on 3 U.S. South Asian border stations targeting Vancouver

D

Dan Sys

Leading Participant
A public hearing will be held on October 15th to determine if anything can be done about 3 U.S. border stations broadcasting South Asian programming to the Vancouver area and how it might translate into a violation of the Canadian Broadcasting Act:
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2014/2014-426.htm

After reading the bulletin it seems that the only teeth the CRTC might have in this situation is paragraph 12 where Canadian companies cannot claim tax deductions for ads broadcast on U.S. stations. This could hurt the 3 stations involved financially as it seems most of their advertising comes from Punjabi versions of Ma & Pa businesses.

Alternatively the CRTC could ask the FCC to get involved and clamp down from the U.S. side saying that the 3 stations involved are not serving the communities they are licensed to serve at all, but at this point that seems unlikely to happen with the new age deregulated FCC.

It should be interesting to see what comes out of this and if it might have implications on the other side of the country where the Martz English language stations from the U.S. target the Montreal market.

More on the Montreal side of the story from Steve Faguy's "Fagstein Blog":
http://blog.fagstein.com/2014/08/13/crtc-cross-border-stations/
 
I find this extremely interesting. The station I am affiliated with is very strict on how PSA's are supposed to be handled. I have not had the chance to take a listen to any of these stations, but I do not get the impression that you would be likely to hear any local PSA for Blaine/Ferndale, or some sort of national message from Washington D.C.

I wish I had the capability to understand the language heard on these stations; it would be interesting to see what kind of announcements are featured.
 
This all screams out one thing: That perhaps Canadian stations are failing to serve many of the demographic groups in Vancouver, thus American stations are filling the gap. Perhaps the CRTC should look at its own house before pointing the finger to the south?
 
The CRTC recently denied a request from CHLG 104.3 to drop its obligation to air special interest music selection. My question is simple, why do they make it that difficult? If you look at a situation like that, its easy to see why it might be easier for a broadcasting group to find a signal across the border that will serve their purpose.
 
It really is stupid why Newcap is being penalized for the mistakes of previous owners Shore Media & Astral/Bell at 104.3 in Vancouver. However Newcap did state in their original application to purchase the station that they would work with the special interest music requirements. So I think the CRTC is dealing with a "little white lie" here on top of the non-compliance issues from the previous owners. I'm sure the CRTC will give in sooner or later after their point has been made. It's just not fair that CHLG is stuck with these asenine requirements while everyone else in the market can do whatever they please.
 
FreewayGeek said:
It really is stupid why Newcap is being penalized for the mistakes of previous owners Shore Media & Astral/Bell at 104.3 in Vancouver. However Newcap did state in their original application to purchase the station that they would work with the special interest music requirements. So I think the CRTC is dealing with a "little white lie" here on top of the non-compliance issues from the previous owners. I'm sure the CRTC will give in sooner or later after their point has been made. It's just not fair that CHLG is stuck with these asenine requirements while everyone else in the market can do whatever they please.
Click to expand...

What do the requirements force CHLG to do?

I agree, though. Look at CFMI, they do whatever they want and don't worry.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
This all screams out one thing: That perhaps Canadian stations are failing to serve many of the demographic groups in Vancouver, thus American stations are filling the gap. Perhaps the CRTC should look at its own house before pointing the finger to the south?
Click to expand...

Canadian stations are forced to provide 35-40% Canadian content, are they not?
If Multicultural stations are not excluded from that rule, it's a lot easier to serve Vancouver from the States with the freedom to go with 100% music from another country, without the stress of M.A.P.L.
(the method of how to determine what counts as Canadian, even when the song is in another language)
 
There are multicultural radio station in Vancouver (such as CHKG 96.1 and CJRJ 1200) which serve their purpose while abiding by the rules. However, its easy to see why broadcasting stateside would be a tremendous benefit. I would like to know how much it costs the parent company of these "border blaster" stations to rent transmission facilities in the US. After all, it must be extremely expensive.
 
The situation is getting ugly. They are getting cease and desist letters and the CRTC might shut them down:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...perating-in-bc-face-crtc-ban/article20464412/

If this happens, I hope the following will happen:
1550 goes off the air and Vancouver listeners can hear KKOV's adult standards at night...
1600 becomes a local border station serving the UNITED STATES part of the border.
1110 goes back to KWDB and Whidbey Island community news, information and music.
 
crainbebo said:
The situation is getting ugly. They are getting cease and desist letters and the CRTC might shut them down:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...perating-in-bc-face-crtc-ban/article20464412/

If this happens, I hope the following will happen:
1550 goes off the air and Vancouver listeners can hear KKOV's adult standards at night...
1600 becomes a local border station serving the UNITED STATES part of the border.
1110 goes back to KWDB and Whidbey Island community news, information and music.
Click to expand...

I wish. The situation regarding those AM stations has only gotten more and more problematic. I really do not see a future for these stations unless they start trying to comply.
 
1550 predates 1600 by a long time, and they did at one point serve the U.S. but not at this point. Either both 1550 and 1600 will be sold if they lose this programming, or they'll go silent. I don't think the current owners have any interest in creating their own programming.
 
mimo said:
1550 predates 1600 by a long time, and they did at one point serve the U.S. but not at this point. Either both 1550 and 1600 will be sold if they lose this programming, or they'll go silent. I don't think the current owners have any interest in creating their own programming.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Its a shame that 1550 and 1600 would be silent, but its a step above what is going on right now. If I had tons of money burning a hole in my wallet i'd love to buy one of those stations (and ultimately end up in extreme debt).
 
Seems odd that the Harper government is willing to rock the boat with the local Punjabi population in the year before an election. The Punjabi vote is a huge factor in parts of Greater Vancouver, and they usually vote in blocs.
 
FreewayGeek said:
Seems odd that the Harper government is willing to rock the boat with the local Punjabi population in the year before an election. The Punjabi vote is a huge factor in parts of Greater Vancouver, and they usually vote in blocs.
Click to expand...

Better solution: The FCC terminates the licenses for all of the AM stations in Whatcom county. That way no blame can be directed at the CRTC.
 
The first thing that came to mind when I read about this was why do they care?

It's not like the Canadian dial is loaded with South Indian stations.

Sure, the border blasters are just trying to make money.... but they're also trying to serve an audience.

And they must be pretty effective at serving that audience, considering they are not even FM, but stations on the AM band -- they must be getting decent enough ratings over the border to where somebody north of the border is whining about the competition.

Maybe they should quit whining and allow for more South Indian stations in the Vancouver area.
 
and also ...

i wonder if the crtc will try to do anything about wtor am 770 serving toronto.


Dan Sys said:
A public hearing will be held on October 15th to determine if anything can be done about 3 U.S. border stations broadcasting South Asian programming to the Vancouver area and how it might translate into a violation of the Canadian Broadcasting Act:
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2014/2014-426.htm

After reading the bulletin it seems that the only teeth the CRTC might have in this situation is paragraph 12 where Canadian companies cannot claim tax deductions for ads broadcast on U.S. stations. This could hurt the 3 stations involved financially as it seems most of their advertising comes from Punjabi versions of Ma & Pa businesses.

Alternatively the CRTC could ask the FCC to get involved and clamp down from the U.S. side saying that the 3 stations involved are not serving the communities they are licensed to serve at all, but at this point that seems unlikely to happen with the new age deregulated FCC.

It should be interesting to see what comes out of this and if it might have implications on the other side of the country where the Martz English language stations from the U.S. target the Montreal market.

More on the Montreal side of the story from Steve Faguy's "Fagstein Blog":
http://blog.fagstein.com/2014/08/13/crtc-cross-border-stations/
Click to expand...
 
Dan Sys said:
Here's an update on the situation via the National Post:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/1...ations-in-vancouver-broadcast-out-of-the-u-s/

Sounds like the South Asian stations in question will defy any cease and desist orders issued by the CRTC. The statement about easily gathering 50,000 people to protest in the streets is quite ominous. It should be very interesting following this story as it unfolds.
Click to expand...

Interesting that they consistently refer to the stations as 'pirates'.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.
Back
Top Bottom