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Radio stations that target the U.S. from Canada or Canada from the U.S.

T

Tomgsinger

Frequent Participant
I've been hearing about border blisters a decent amount recently, and that got me thinking about stations that do the opposite: "Border boasters" along our northern border. I know you have CIMX, WYUL, WLYK and (formerly?) CFLZ, but are there other stations you can think of that either
a. Target the U.S. from Canada, or
b. Target Canada from the U.S.
 
WTOR in Youngstown, NY (north of Niagara Falls) blasts a 13,000 watt directional signal straight towards Toronto with brokered ethnic programming.

Hard to argue their target audience is anyplace but Ontario.
 
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I often catch "American Top 40, the '70s" on CKWW-AM 580. It is a Detroit station, but with a COL of Windsor, Ontario. Because of that, they often play Can-con during breaks that I am not usually able to hear, here in Tennessee.
 
TheBigA said:
You realize the Canadians have content laws about this?
Click to expand...

This thread got me curious enough to look up the Can Con law, and I found this phrase that might explain the success of CIMX:

"Stations in Windsor, Ontario, are also permitted to meet lower Canadian content targets, due to Windsor's proximity to the Metro Detroit media market in the United States."

The interesting part of CIMX is it's located in what would be the non-commercial, educational part of the FM band. Except that rule doesn't apply to Canada.

In other parts of the great white north, beyond Windsor, radio stations are required to play at least 35% Canadian Content, and the records must be written and recorded in Canada. That often excludes a lot of Canadian artists who record in US studios.
 
TheBigA said:
This thread got me curious enough to look up the Can Con law, and I found this phrase that might explain the success of CIMX:

"Stations in Windsor, Ontario, are also permitted to meet lower Canadian content targets, due to Windsor's proximity to the Metro Detroit media market in the United States."

The interesting part of CIMX is it's located in what would be the non-commercial, educational part of the FM band. Except that rule doesn't apply to Canada.

In other parts of the great white north, beyond Windsor, radio stations are required to play at least 35% Canadian Content, and the records must be written and recorded in Canada. That often excludes a lot of Canadian artists who record in US studios.
Click to expand...

We have what is called the MAPL system (Music, Artist, Production or Performance, Lyrics) and a song must meet 2 of those requirements. A Canadian recording in the U.S. could count as a Canadian recording IF the music and lyrics were written by a Canadian, and that would be where the difference lies. A Canadian recording in the U.S. a song not written by a Canadian in any way would not qualify as a Canadian recording. On the other hand if a song is recorded by an international artist, but recorded IN Canada and either the lyrics were written by a Canadian, or the music was, then it counts as a Canadian recording. Records and CDs delivered to the station (when I worked in Canada in the 90's) would actually have the MAPL label on the back with the corresponding letters coloured differently to let us know if the record met any of the criteria.
 
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To add to that, if a British artist were having a concert in Toronto, and in that concert performed a song written by a Canadian (either the music or the lyrics were written by a Canadian) and a recording of that concert was released to radio, that would count as Canadian content. I'm also reminded of Robert Smith of the Cure recording Platinum Blonde's "Not In Love" in Canada..and the song met 3 out of the 4 requirements, it was considered Canadian Content, despite Mr. Smith being English.
 
TheBigA said:
"Stations in Windsor, Ontario, are also permitted to meet lower Canadian content targets, due to Windsor's proximity to the Metro Detroit media market in the United States."
Click to expand...

Am I not the only one who thinks the Niagara Region should be treated the same way due to proximity to Buffalo?
 
mimo said:
We have what is called the MAPL system (Music, Artist, Production or Performance, Lyrics) and a song must meet 2 of those requirements. A Canadian recording in the U.S. could count as a Canadian recording IF the music and lyrics were written by a Canadian, and that would be where the difference lies. A Canadian recording in the U.S. a song not written by a Canadian in any way would not qualify as a Canadian recording. On the other hand if a song is recorded by an international artist, but recorded IN Canada and either the lyrics were written by a Canadian, or the music was, then it counts as a Canadian recording. Records and CDs delivered to the station (when I worked in Canada in the 90's) would actually have the MAPL label on the back with the corresponding letters coloured differently to let us know if the record met any of the criteria.
Click to expand...

Would the stuff that R. Dean Taylor wrote for Motown count?
 
FreddyE1977 said:
Would the stuff that R. Dean Taylor wrote for Motown count?
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Another thing to consider in this thread: Even if a station hoped to cross the border with their programming, you can't sell advertising north of the border anyway. That option went away around 2000, when the Canadian government stopped allowing sales offices in BC or other provinces.
 
Kelly A said:
Another thing to consider in this thread: Even if a station hoped to cross the border with their programming, you can't sell advertising north of the border anyway. That option went away around 2000, when the Canadian government stopped allowing sales offices in BC or other provinces.
Click to expand...

And, IIRC, there is a restriction on business expensing of advertising expenditures made on US radio and TV stations.

Decades ago, Polaris and McLendon made nice money with KCMD television in Pembina, ND, which was marketed as a Winnipeg outlet. But the Canadian government prohibited the deduction of the cost of advertising on US media, and the rug was yanked from under them.

http://www.americanradiohistory.com...1965-03-29-BC-OCR-Page-0022.pdf#search="kcnd"
 
DavidEduardo said:


And, IIRC, there is a restriction on business expensing of advertising expenditures made on US radio and TV stations.

Decades ago, Polaris and McLendon made nice money with KCMD television in Pembina, ND, which was marketed as a Winnipeg outlet. But the Canadian government prohibited the deduction of the cost of advertising on US media, and the rug was yanked from under them.

http://www.americanradiohistory.com...1965-03-29-BC-OCR-Page-0022.pdf#search="kcnd"
Click to expand...

Yep, same thing happened with one of my former stations KVOS-TV in Bellingham, WA.
 
DavidEduardo said:


And, IIRC, there is a restriction on business expensing of advertising expenditures made on US radio and TV stations.

Decades ago, Polaris and McLendon made nice money with KCMD television in Pembina, ND, which was marketed as a Winnipeg outlet. But the Canadian government prohibited the deduction of the cost of advertising on US media, and the rug was yanked from under them.

http://www.americanradiohistory.com...1965-03-29-BC-OCR-Page-0022.pdf#search="kcnd"
Click to expand...

American station owners could probably challenge this practice as violating the terms of NAFTA.

Though Trump says he's going to pull us out of NAFTA, so that may be a moot point.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
American station owners could probably challenge this practice as violating the terms of NAFTA.
Click to expand...

As this is a Canadian income tax regulation, there is likely nothing that can be done.

Though Trump says he's going to pull us out of NAFTA, so that may be a moot point.
Click to expand...

There is no plan to pull out of NAFTA... discussions have been about renegotiating certain aspects of the treaty.
 
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