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Ottawa, 13 June 2013

BY E-MAIL

Mrs. Barbara Miller
Partner, Fasken Martineau Du Moulin LLP (on behalf of Acadia Broadcasting Inc.)
333 Bay Street, Suite 2400
Bay Adelaide Centre, Box 20
Toronto, Ontario
M5H 2T6
bmiller@fasken.com

RE: Complaint by Acadia Broadcasting (Acadia) against Golden West Broadcasting Ltd. (Golden West) alleging CKQV-FM Vermilion Bay, Ontario is in breach of its condition of licence. (Part 1 Application number 2012-0636-8)

Dear Mrs. Miller:

This letter is further to your complaint dated 28 May 2012 alleging that CKQV-FM Vermilion Bay, a station owned and operated by Golden West, is in breach of its condition of licence by having relocated its studios from Vermilion Bay to Kenora, Ontario.

In your complaint, you submitted that the change of studio location is inconsistent with CKQV-FM’s condition of licence which requires that all programming broadcast on the Kenora rebroadcasting transmitter be identical to the programming originating from its Vermilion Bay studio. You further contend that the relocation of the studios has in essence the effect of adding a new radio station in Kenora.

In response to the complaint, Golden West stated that the change of studio location within the same licensed region does not constitute a breach of its condition of licence nor does it constitute the addition of a new station in Kenora. It argued that CKQV-FM was licensed as a regional service and that any reference to a studio in Vermilion Bay simply reflected the applicant’s intent to establish the studio in that community rather than implying that the location of the studio was intrinsic to the regional nature of the service.

In response to Golden West’s arguments, you noted that the condition of licence is clear and specific regarding the location of the studio. You further pointed out that the Commission, despite its revised practice pertaining to the location of the studios, viewed the inclusion of the studio location as material and decided to include it in the initial licensing decision as well as in the renewal decision.

In considering the arguments presented, the Commission notes that CKQV-FM is subject to the following condition of licence outlined in renewal Decision 2011-530:

“The licensee shall ensure that all programming broadcast on the rebroadcasting transmitters CKQV-FM-1 Dryden and CKQV-FM-2 Kenora is identical to the programming that originates from its Vermilion Bay studio and is broadcast on CKQV-FM Vermilion Bay.”

In its correspondence to the Commission, Golden West confirmed that all programming broadcast on CKQV-FM Vermilion Bay, CKQV-FM-1 Dryden and CKQV-FM-2 was identical and that all originating programming was being broadcast from its Vermilion Bay transmitter.

The Commission’s key consideration in the formulation of the above condition of licence was to ensure that the new licensee did not introduce split-feed programming on its Dryden and Kenora transmitters. As regards the inclusion of the studio location in the condition of licence, the Commission notes that this reference was not fundamental to the nature of the condition of licence given that the Commission had no concerns that the licensee would not respect its mandate to serve the residents of Vermilion Bay.

In light of the above, the Commission finds that Golden West is not in breach of its condition of licence by having moved its studio location from Vermilion Bay to Kenora.

Sincerely,

Original signed by

John Traversy
Secretary General

cc: Lyndon Friesen, President, Golden West Broadcasting Ltd. lfriesen@goldenwestradio.com

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