QUEBEC – Genex Communications, owners of Quebec City radio station CHOI-FM, once considered a synonym for trash radio, has found a potentially profitable way out of its battle royal with the CRTC.
It has reached an agreement with Radio Nord Communications, a growing player in the Quebec radio and TV market, to sell the station for an undisclosed price.
The one obstacle in their path, however, is that the CRTC must give its approval to a licence transfer, and that’s by no means a sure thing.
As Genex President Patrice Demers acknowledged, CHOI has no operating licence. The CRTC ordered its licence revoked in August, 2004, but the station has remained on the air by hooking itself it up to a judicial respirator.
It first went to the Federal Appeal Court, where it lost. Then it filed notice that it would seek to appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada. Now, Demers says that if the CRTC agrees to hand the licence over to Radio Nord, Genex would drop its Supreme Court appeal. In March, with the sale negotiations under way, Genex asked the Court to delay setting the date for the appeal.
The CRTC has yet to respond, preferring to wait until a formal request is made.
Legally, the Commission might be obliged to execute its original order to not renew the station’s licence. On the other hand, were it to agree, the CRTC could rid itself of a station ownership which repeatedly violated broadcast regulations and was more than willing to challenge its jurisdiction.
Despite numerous warnings, through two licence terms, the CRTC said the station’s hosts were “relentless in the use of the public airwaves to insult and ridicule people” and management did nothing to stop it.
Meanwhile, as Genex played for time, the two hosts most often fingered, Jeff Fillion and André Arthur, both departed.
CHOI cuts its ties with Fillion last year and he now operates his own web-based radio station, as profiled by cartt.ca in March. Arthur is now the Independent MP for the Quebec City-area riding of Portneuf-Jacques Cartier and sits on the Industry Committee, one of the House of Commons committees that oversee the CRTC.
So potentially, the CRTC could end up with it wanted in the first place, a de-fanged CHOI under new ownership, without the worry of a Supreme Court battle.
For its part, Radio Nord would gain the top-rated radio station in the Quebec City. It already operates 15 radio and five TV stations across the province. It has another licence request pending before the CRTC to establish a new jazz station in the city.
Glenn Wanamaker covers the province of Quebec for cartt.ca. He is based in Quebec City.
