ARCHIVED -  Decision CRTC 86-599

Decision

Ottawa, 26 June 1986

Decision CRTC 86-599

Communications communautaires des Portages

Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec - 853207900

Following a Public Hearing in Montreal on 18 March 1986, the Commission renews the broadcasting licence for CION-FM Rivière-du-Loup for a period of one year only from 1 October 1986 to 30 September 1987, subject to the conditions specified in the licence to be issued.

In accordance with the licensee's proposal and the Commission's policy statement on The Review of Community Radio (Public Notice CRTC 1985-194 dated 26 August 1985), the Commission will issue a special FM licence for community radio, Type B, to this station, which will be operated in the Group IV music format.

From its inception, CION-FM has con-tinually had difficulty in adhering to the Commission's regulations and policies. Over the past few years, it has been the subject of complaints, and the Commission has cautioned it repeatedly.

CION-FM went on the air in September 1982, and only a month later, the Commission received a complaint from another broadcaster in the region contending that the station was broadcasting commercial advertising in contravention of its condition of licence limiting it to a maximum of 4 minutes per hour of restricted advertising.

Analyses of CION-FM's programming conducted by the Commission in December 1982, January and June 1983 and January 1984 revealed ongoing non-compliance pertaining to advertising, in spite of the fact that the licensee had been informed of the results of the analyses and had been required to comply. These analyses also indicated that the station's musical orientation was toward rock music, contrary to its Promise of Performance which emphasized general popular music; that French-language vocal music was at a level of only 33%, compared with a commitment of 75%; and that, overall, CION-FM's programming had little community orientation. On each occasion, the licensee failed to reply to the Commission's letters inviting it to comment on the results of the analyses.

On 29 March 1984 (Decision CRTC 84-301), the Commission denied the licensee's application to amend its Promise of Performance by broadcasting up to 5 minutes per hour of restricted advertising at certain times of the day. The Commission reminded the licensee that, in the analyses conducted in 1982 and 1983, it found "that the licensee was not complying with its condition of licence pertaining to the broadcasting of restricted advertising," and that it intended to review this matter at the next licence renewal.

Taking into account, however, that the licensee was experiencing financial difficulties and in order to give the licensee greater flexibility to enable it to generate more advertising revenue while complying with Commission policy, the Commission authorized the licensee to broadcast restricted advertising in accordance with the broader definition as outlined in its Public Notice 1983-43 dated 3 March 1983 on the Review of Radio.

In the same decision, the Commission noted the licensee's commitment made at the hearing that [TRANSLATION] "insofar as we would have access to restricted advertising of a commercial nature, there is no doubt that we would comply with the directives", and the Commission expected it to adhere to this commitment.

In two subsequent decisions (Decisions CRTC 84-625 and 85-149 dated 31 July 1984 and 28 March 1985 respectively), the Commission renewed CION-FM's licence for short periods in order to allow the licensee to participate fully in the consultations and in the 23 April 1985 Public Hearing on the review of community radio. The Commission informed the licensee that it could not make a proper assessment of the situation until such time as the broadcasting undertaking was operating in conformity with the requirements of Decision CRTC 84-301. The Commission also reminded the licensee that failure to comply could compromise subsequent renewals of its licence.

The Commission's analysis of CION-FM's programming over three days during the week of 16 to 22 September 1985, revealed not only that the licensee had failed to apply corrective measures with respect to advertising, but also that, particularly for the Saturday in question, its performance had deteriorated considerably in virtually every area of its authorized Promise of Performance. Foreground programming was very limited, especially during the week, at a level of 6.2% on Tuesday, 15.2% on Saturday and 13.7% on Sunday; gramophone format predominated, particularly on Saturday; the vocal-to-instrumental ratio deviated from the commitment contained in its Promise of Performance; and the percentage of French-language vocal music was much below the commitment of 75%, at a level of 41% on Tuesday, 5% on Saturday and 50% on Sunday. At the time, almost 75% of the station's air-time consisted of music, and none of its programming was directly related to local concerns. This raised serious doubts concerning the station's community orientation and the distinctive nature of its programming.

Moreover, in a program self-assessment of the same week in September 1985, the licensee acknowledged that CION-FM had broadcast a level of 29% spoken word, compared with its commitment of 35.5%; and a level of 50% hits, compared with its commitment to broadcast a level of only 15%. Moreover, the licensee had not broadcast any traditional or special interest music (category 6), compared with its commitment of 13 hours 47 minutes per week.

In its new Promise of Performance reviewed at the 18 March 1986 hearing, the licensee proposed to broadcast a level of 27.7% spoken word programming, 5 hours per week of pre-recorded programming and a level of 50% hits. It also proposed to reduce the time devoted to traditional and special interest music from 13 hours 47 minutes to 8 hours 2 minutes, as well as to reduce the minimum amount of commercial-free time reserved for programs produced by groups or members of the community at large from 12 hours 10 minutes to 5 hours per week.

Given CION-FM's general state of non-compliance and its refusal to take corrective action in spite of repeated warnings, the Commission denies the amendments noted above. The Commission also notes that the proposed level of 50% hits is contrary to its radio FM policy for community as well as for private stations. It approves, however, the proposal to broadcast a daily average of 4 minutes per hour of advertising, with a maximum of 6 minutes per hour, in accordance with the community radio policy for Type B stations.

In renewing CION-FM's licence for another year, the Commission has taken into account the fact that the new community radio policy is still very recent and could be of assistance in resolving some of the problems faced by community radio stations, especially with respect to advertising.

The Commission requires the licensee, however, to take immediate steps to rectify the serious problems revealed by the analyses, especially the excessive amounts of advertising and music with far too high a level of hits, its unsatisfactory performance in the areas of spoken word and foreground/mosaic programming, and the lack of traditional and special interest music. In accordance with the community radio policy, such corrective measures must result in programming aimed at achieving a minimum objective of 35% spoken word and, in accordance with the commitments made by the licensee, 30% foreground programming and 85% combined foreground/mosaic programming. In accordance with its Promise of Performance and the Group IV music format, the licensee should offer highly diversified music programming using most, if not all, of the subcategories in category 5 (Music-General) including at least 65% French-language vocal music.

Further, the Commission requires the licensee to submit a report, within six months of the date of this decision, on the station's compliance with its Promise of Performance and the requirements of this decision.

Moreover, the Commission strongly urges the licensee to take advantage of this short renewal period to undertake an in-depth review of its approach to community radio as outlined in its statements at hearing, particularly with regard to the importance it attaches to its competitive position in the market and to its specialized listening audience. Should the licensee conclude from this review that it cannot or does not wish to opt clearly for an genuine community station, it may choose to submit an application for an independent FM station, which would be considered under the procedures set out in Public Notice CRTC 1986-152 accompanying this decision.

In the coming months, the Commission intends to conduct further analyses of CION-FM's programming to monitor the station's compliance. The Commission will forward a copy of the results of these analyses to the licensee, which will be given an opportunity to submit its comments.

As part of its consideration of the next licence renewal application, the Commission will invite the licensee to a public hearing at which it will have to demonstrate its compliance beyond all doubt, or show cause as to why its licence should be renewed. The Commission warns the licensee that any deviation from the requirements contained in the present decision, in its conditions of licence, in the community radio policy or the FM regulations, may jeopardize the renewal of its licence.

The Commission acknowledges the written interventions in support of the present application submitted by Action-Emploi-Region of Rivière-du-Loup, the Cerebral Palsy Association of Quebec Inc., the Association des radiodiffuseurs communautaires du Québec, the Centre d'action bénévole of Grand-Portage, the Centre Louis-Joseph Janelle, the CLSC Les Aboîteaux of Rivière-du-Loup and Témiscouata, the Comité ParrainsMarraines, the Conseil populaire des communications de l'est du Québec Inc., La Maison des Femmes of GrandPortage and the Musée du Bas-SaintLaurent. The Commission also notes the concerns expressed by Radio CJFP Ltée, licensee of CJFP Rivière-duLoup, and by the Association canadienne de la radio et de la télévision de langue française inc. regarding the proposed amendments to the licensee's Promise of Performance.

Fernand Bélisle
Secretary General