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Ottawa, 20 May 1993
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Decision CRTC 93-164
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La Coopérative des Montagnes Limitée
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Edmundston, New Brunswick - 921322400
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Licence renewal for CFAI-FM
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Following a Public Hearing in Moncton beginning on 17 February 1993, the Commission renews the broadcasting licence for CFAI-FM Edmundston from 1 September 1993 to 31 August 1996, subject to the conditions specified in this decision and in the licence to be issued.
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This term will enable the Commission to assess at an early date the licensee's compliance to the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the regulations) and the FM policy.
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Subsections 8(5) and 8(6) of the regulations require each licensee to retain, for a period of at least four weeks from the date of broadcast, and furnish to the Commission upon request "a clear and intelligible tape recording or other exact copy of all matter broadcast".
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In this regard, the Commission requested the station's logger tapes of the programming broadcast during the week of 3-9 November 1991. The licensee subsequently informed the Commission that it was unable to submit the logger tapes for 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9 November because its recording equipment had malfunctioned. In addition, the Commission's analysis revealed that 1 hour and 3 minutes of programming was not on the logger tape for 8 November. Further, an analysis of the programming broadcast between 19 and 25 July 1992 revealed that the logger tapes for this period were incomplete and at times unintelligible. When asked to comment, the licensee stated that it was concentrating all its efforts on preventing the closure of the station, but that it would nevertheless check the logger tapes on a weekly basis.
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The licensee's self-analysis of the programming broadcast on 8 November 1991 indicated a level of 71.2% French-language vocal music, whereas the Commission's analysis revealed only 57.7%. The licensee indicated that it had calculated the level of French-language music on the basis of playlists that did not correspond to the logger tapes. The licensee also admitted broadcasting only 4 hours of Category 3 music during the week of 3-9 November 1991, although it had committed to broadcast 9 hours 34 minutes. The self-analysis for the week of 19-25 July 1992 revealed a second case of non-compliance with respect to Category 3 music, with a level of 3 hours 50 minutes broadcast. At the time that its licence renewal application was filed on 5 October 1992, the licensee admitted that it was still not in compliance with respect to Category 3 music, as it was broadcasting a level of only 5 hours a week. It stated that residents of the area had shown little interest in this type of music.
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The Commission views with great concern the licensee's failure to comply with the provisions of the regulations relating to logger tapes and to adhere to the commitments outlined in its Promise of Performance. It intends to monitor the licensee's performance during the new licence term, and directs the licensee to take all necessary measures to ensure that the regulations and the licensee's commitments are adhered to at all times.
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The renewal application included several proposals to amend the station's licence. The Commission approves the proposal by the licensee to increase its production of local programming from 69 hours 20 minutes to 94 hours per broadcast week. However, it is a condition of licence that the licensee not reduce this proposed level of local program production by more than 20%.
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The Commission notes the licensee's proposal to broadcast a minimum of 6.6% Category 3 music (Traditional and Special Interest) as a percentage of overall music programming.
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The Commission notes that the licensee intends to retain its existing programming sources; that is, programming will be obtained from the Edmundston studios, from CFAI-FM-1 Grand-Sault and from CFAI-FM-2 Kedgwick/Saint-Quentin, all on a part-time basis.
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In view of the approval of the transfer of ownership of CFAI-FM-2 Kedgwick/Saint-Quentin approved in Decision CRTC 93-166 released today, the Commission deletes the condition of licence relating to the simultaneous operation of stations CFAI-FM Edmundston, CFAI-FM-1 Grand-Sault, and CFAI-FM-2 Kedgwick/Saint-Quentin by La Coopérative des Montagnes Limitée, and replaces it with the following condition:
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It is a condition of licence that the licensee operate CFAI-FM Edmundston and CFAI-FM-1 Grand-Sault simultaneously during the new licence term.
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Further, the Commission approves the application to amend the licence for CFAI-FM Edmundston by amending the present condition of licence relating to advertising and replacing it by:
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It is a condition of licence that the licensee broadcast no more than 6 minutes of advertising in every hour of broadcast, and that it broadcast no more than an average of 4 minutes of advertising per hour of broadcast up to a total of 504 minutes of advertising per week. This amendment is in accordance with the community radio policy for Type B stations, announced in Public Notice CRTC 1992-38 dated 29 May 1992.
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It is also a condition of licence that the licensee not solicit advertising in the province of Quebec.
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In Public Notice CRTC 1992-59 dated 1 September 1992 and entitled "Implementation of an Employment Equity Policy", the Commission announced that the employment equity practices of broadcasters would be subject to examination by the Commission. It considers that community radio stations should be particularly sensitive to this issue in order to reflect fully the communities they serve. It encourages the licensee to consider employment equity issues in its hiring practices and in all other aspects of its management of human resources.
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The Commission acknowledges the intervention by Radio Edmundston Ltée opposing this licence renewal application, and the interventions by the Association des radios communautaires acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick and the Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada Inc. in support of the application. The Commission also acknowledges the observations and comments submitted by the Syndicat des communications de la République du Madawaska.
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Allan J. Darling
Secretary General
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