QUEBEC CITY – The Supreme Court of Canada has rejected efforts by Genex Communications, owners of this city’s troublesome CHOI-FM, to appeal the non-renewal of its licence ordered by the CRTC in July 2004.
However, while some believed that would mean the silencing of CHOI once and for all, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
CHOI remains on the air, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday, because of a behind-the-scenes deal between Genex, the would-be new station owner and licence-holder, Radio Nord Communications Inc., and MBL Communication Média.
MBL, which had expressed interest in competing for CHOI’s frequency when it looked like the CRTC would revoke the licence, won the right to challenge the transfer of CHOI’s licence to Radio Nord before the Federal Court of Appeal. The case was to be heard later this year.
The CRTC had approved Radio Nord’s licence application last October, without issuing a general call for applications. MBL’s owner, Marc B. Lachance, said that decision was unfair because it deprived other interested parties of the opportunity to bid for CHOI’s much-coveted licence.
However, MBL appears to have bowed out, allowing the sale of CHOI and the licence transfer to Radio Nord to proceed without any further roadblocks.
In a statement issued Thursday afternoon, Radio Nord President Raynald Brière referred to “discussions” with Lachance that he hoped would result in a settlement quickly.
Meanwhile, Genex President Patrice Demers told CHOI listeners the station “is staying on the air and that as of midnight [Thursday], CHOI will be operated by Radio Nord”.
Radio Nord, which owns 15 radio stations and five TV stations across Quebec, was granted a licence for seven years.
Since the days in 2004 when CHOI flirted with the loss of its voice, the station has parted company with Jeff Fillion, its morning show host who so incurred the wrath of the CRTC for his “relentless…use of the public airwaves to insult and ridicule people."
It’s also shed its rebel image and fallen from its perch atop the city’s radio market.
Radio Nord has said it would maintain the station’s local identity and contribute more than $1 million over seven years to promote Quebec music and emerging artists.
Glenn Wanamaker is Cartt.ca’s Quebec Editor.
