ARCHIVED - Decision CRTC 2001-144

Decision CRTC 2001-144

Ottawa, 28 February 2001

Diffusion communautaire
Baie des Chaleurs inc.
Carleton and Paspébiac, Quebec 2000-1368-1

Application processed by Public Notices CRTC 2000-112  dated 4 August 2000 and CRTC 2000-112-1 dated 29 September 2000

Licence renewal for CIEU-FM and its transmitter CIEU-FM-1

The Commission renews the licence for Type B community radio programming undertaking CIEU-FM Carleton and its transmitter CIEU-FM-1 Paspébiac, from 1 March 2001 to 31 August 2004, subject to conditions specified in the licence to be issued, as also set out in Public Notice CRTC 2000-157.

This short-term renewal will allow the Commission to conduct an early review of the licensee's compliance with its conditions of licence and with the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the Regulations). The concerns giving rise to this short-term licence renewal are discussed below.

Further, the renewal of this licence follows the new Community radio policy. Among other things, the Commission has removed the requirement to submit a Promise of Performance and the limit on advertising for Type B community radio stations. Type B stations now have the same advertising flexibility as Type A stations (PN 2000-13).

Compliance concerns

Section 8 of the Regulations requires licensees to keep for a period of at least four weeks from the date of broadcast, "a clear and intelligible tape recording" of the programming broadcast, and to provide it to the Commission upon request. These tapes are essential since the Commission uses
them as its primary means to confirm that a station is operating in compliance with the Regulations and its programming commitments. Tapes are also used to assess complaints from listeners, if need be. During the current licence term, the licensee was unable to submit complete logger tapes for the week of 26 July to 1 August 1998.

The Commission also notes the licensee's non-compliance with the conditions of its licence requiring the broadcast of a certain number of hours of Category 3 musical selections (traditional and special interest) and limiting the amount of advertising that the station may broadcast per hour.

The Commission has noted the corrective measures that have since been taken by the licensee.

The Commission reiterates that the licensee must take the necessary measures to ensure that it is in compliance at all times with its conditions of licence and the Regulations.

The new licence term

The licensee has requested authority to devote at least 25% of its programming to spoken word programming during the 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. time period.

The Commission notes that the Community radio policy requires Type B stations to devote at least 25% of the programming aired in each broadcast week to spoken word, with an emphasis on community-oriented spoken word programming. Moreover, the Commission's long-standing policy is to deny applications for licence amendments from licensees who have been operating in non-compliance with regulatory requirements or with conditions of licence. For these reasons, the Commission denies the licensee's request.

The licensee has committed to broadcast 126 hours of programming per week, all of which will be produced by the station. Community radio licensees have the flexibility to reduce or increase their weekly broadcast time by up to 20% without application to the Commission. A change of more than 20%, however, requires prior Commission approval.

In accordance with the requirements of the new Policy, the licensee made a commitment to devote 60% of its news programming time to local news and 40% to regional news, during each broadcast week. The Commission expects the licensee to honour these commitments.

The licensee has also committed to meet the new regulatory requirements with respect to the percentage of Canadian musical selections from category 2 (35%) and category 3 (12%) that community and campus radio stations must broadcast each broadcast week.

The Commission expects the licensee to implement the initiatives set out in its plan for Canadian talent development and to give effect to the measures designed to encourage the participation of volunteers.

Other matters

The Commission considers that community radio stations should be particularly sensitive to employment equity issues in order to reflect fully the communities they serve. It encourages the licensee to consider these issues in its hiring practices and in all other aspects of its management of human resources
(see PN 1992-59).

Related CRTC documents

• Public Notice 2000-157 - New licence form for community radio stations

•  Public Notice 2000-93 - Regulatory amendments to implement certain aspects of the revised policies for campus and community radio, and incorporate revised content categories for radio

• Public Notice 2000-44 - Call for comments - Proposed regulatory amendments for the purpose of implementing certain aspects of the revised policies for campus radio and community radio, and incorporating revised content categories for radio

• Public Notice 2000-14 - Revised content categories and subcategories for radio

• Public Notice 2000-13 - Community radio policy

Secretary General

This decision is to be appended to the licence.
It is available in alternative format upon request, and may also be examined at the following Internet site: www.crtc.gc.ca