|
Decision
|
|
Ottawa, 2 December 1988
|
|
Decision CRTC 88-831
|
|
Radio Centre-Ville Saint-Louis
|
|
Montreal, Quebec -873917900
|
|
Following a Public Hearing held in Trois-Rivières, Quebec on 5 July 1988, the Commission denies the application to amend the broadcasting licence for CINQ-FM Montreal by increasing the station's effective radiated power from 50 watts to 1,545 watts.
|
The Commission authorized the licensee in 1974 (Decision CRTC 74-388) to operate a community radio station to serve the downtown area of Montreal. In 1986 (Decision CRTC 86-609), the Commission renewed CINQ-FM's licence until 30 September 1990 and commended the licensee on the quality of its performance as a genuine community radio station. The Commission also authorized the licensee, by condition of licence, to devote no more than 40% of its broadcast time to ethnic programs, including programs in the Portuguese, Greek, Spanish, Chinese and Haitian Creole languages. The remaining 60% of its programming is presented in the French and English languages.
|
|
At the July 1988 hearing, the licensee stated that the primary purpose of its application was to enable it to serve those ethnic groups that have moved away from the centre of Montreal, as well as ethnic groups outside of its current coverage area who have never been able to receive the station's signal.
|
|
Because the proposed power increase would have enabled CINQ-FM to serve virtually the entire city of Montreal, the Commission paid particular attention to the services that the licensee intended to offer to the much larger ethnic population it would reach, and the manner in which it planned to provide this new audience with access to its programming.
|
|
Although its intention was to reach a larger ethnic audience, the licensee has not made any provision for increasing its ethnic broadcast time or extending service to more ethnic groups than the five that are presently served. It stated in this regard [TRANSLATION], "We have neither the resources nor the desire to serve other groups, be they ethnic, francophone or anglophone, outside of those principal majority groups that we serve at this time. We give priority to these people in terms of access".
|
|
The Commission notes that, consistent with the above-noted statements, the licensee indicated in its Promise of Performance that it would give programming priority to those cultural groups and districts already being served. Accordingly, its proposal contained very few changes that would have taken into account the needs of listeners in the new areas that would have been served. In this regard, the Commission notes that the licensee had planned to increase the number of volunteer journalists by about 25%.
|
|
In addition, while acknowledging that the ethnic groups already being served by CINQ-FM had asked that the number of broadcast hours in their respective languages be increased, and that other ethnic communities not now being served had asked that they be given access to CINQ-FM, the licensee stated that it was unable to meet these demands at the moment, pointing out that its ethnic programming is restricted to 40% of its total programming by condition of licence. It also indicated that the station's membership has not to date expressed the desire to increase the amount of ethnic programming to 60%. Such an increase would change CINQ-FM's status from that of a community station to that of an ethnic station, as defined by section 7 of the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the regulations).
|
|
The Commission, having analysed all aspects of this application, has determined that the licensee has failed to demonstrate conclusively how it intends to serve the ethnic groups that reside outside its original service area. In particular, the Commission notes that the licensee's stated intentions in this regard were not reflected in the amount of ethnic broadcast time proposed, in the ethnic groups it proposed to serve, or in the Promise of Performance submitted with its application. The Commission also notes that the licensee's access policy, as described at the public hearing, does not reflect a willingness to include this new audience, and raises concerns regarding the complex procedure currently utilized by the licensee in permitting interested groups and individuals to have access to CINQ-FM. The Commission also considers that the licensee was unable to demonstrate that it had suffered any real decrease in the size of its original audience because of a relocation of ethnic populations away from the centre of Montreal.
|
|
As another matter, the Commission requested the licensee to submit a self-assessment of the programming broadcast by CINQ-FM during the week of 13 to 19 March 1988. Based on the information submitted by the licensee, the Commission determined that there were a number of potential performance problems, particularly with regard to the ratio of vocal to instrumental music selections broadcast and the amount of local and regional news. At the public hearing, however, the licensee advised that the self-assessment it had submitted dealt with the programming broadcast on one day only (15 March 1988) rather than with a full week as had been requested by the Commission. The licensee explained that the station's programming manager had been absent during the week in question, making it impossible to assess all of the programs broadcast that week. The licensee stated that the self-assessment thus did not provide a true picture of its programming but was, in reality, an extrapolation based on a single day's programming. It asserted, however, that it had actually been in compliance with its Promise of Performance.
|
|
The Commission had asked the licensee for a self-assessment for a period of one week. When the licensee filed the information requested, it did so in a manner which gave no indication of the fact that the information was extrapolated from a one-day analysis, and the Commission was misled in this respect. The Commission intends to examine the licensee's performance at the time it considers the next renewal of this licence, which expires on 30 September 1990.
|
|
With respect to the incomplete logger tapes submitted for the week of 13 to 19 March 1988, the licensee explained that it had experienced unforeseen technical problems, but that all the required equipment was in place and measures had been taken to ensure compliance in this regard.
|
|
Subsections 8(5) and 8(6) of the regulations require all licensees to retain "a clear and intelligible tape recording or other exact copy of matter broadcast" for a minimum of four weeks from the date of broadcast, and furnish such copies to the Commission upon request. The Commission reminds the licensee of the importance of complying with these requirements and requires that it submit, within 60 days of the date of this decision, a report confirming that the equipment is in place, that it is functioning properly and that it is capable of meeting the Commission's requirements.
|
|
The Commission has taken into account the interventions submitted in support of this application.
|
|
Fernand Bélisle
Secretary General
|
|
|