VANCOUVER – The CRTC kicked off a review this morning of several applications for new AM and FM ethic radio stations in the Vancouver and Surrey markets. The Commission will also be exploring three cases of potential non-compliance.
South Fraser Broadcasting (SBF) and Spice Media Group are two of those appearing as part of the first phase of the hearing. SBF, which has a licence for an English language radio station in Surrey, proposes to launch a new FM station at 91.5 MHz.
The company describes its proposed station as “an ethic station with a difference” aiming to serve “the second, third and fourth generations of immigrants and their children who are still connected to their culture but not as much to the original languages of their culture.”
SBF plans to offer service to a maximum of 14 different ethnic groups in 14 languages. Service will be a mix of English and “home language.” The station’s programming will have an emphasis on World Beat music such as Bhangra, Korean pop, Filipino pop, Latin American salsa as well as music from the Middle East, Turkey and Western Asia.
The station also commits to three hours of news each week and 14.5 hours of spoken word. Its English-language sister station will provide traffic weather, local sports, community affairs and public service announcements. It will contribute $50,000 annually to Canadian content development (CCD).
“We recognize that this is an unproven style, but one that we believe is viable, particularly in the area that we propose to serve,” SBF says in its application. The company says this means that revenue projections have been set on the conservative side and as they increase its CCD contribution will rise as well.
Spice Media has applied for a station (AM 900 or 106.9 FM) in Surrey that will be mainly news and spoken word. It will serve 19 different ethnic groups in 10 languages but will have a big focus on the female listener aged 12 to 40. The company has committed to $600,000 in CCD contributions over the licence term.
Ms. Puneet Sandhar, a lawyer based in Surrey and who will advise Spice Media on issues of importance to the radio station, highlighted some of the problems facing women immigrants to the area during the company’s opening remarks to the hearing. They are to a greater degree unemployed or underemployed and are less likely to participate in organizations or associations. This, she says, could be alleviated through Spice Media’s proposed radio station.
"We will proactively help immigrants access work, legal and health information, and ultimately help them to integrate themselves, and their families into Canada," Puneet Sandhar, Spice Media
“These, and other barriers faced by immigrant women, often result in fewer social connections in Canada, making it difficult to integrate into Canadian society. Spice Media will become one of these social connections. We will proactively help immigrants access work, legal and health information, and ultimately help them to integrate themselves, and their families into Canada,” says Sandhar.
Sher-E-Punjab Radio Broadcasting Inc. is seeking a station on the AM dial (600 kHz). The company commits to provide programming to a minimum of 19 different cultural groups in at least 17 languages each broadcast week under a condition of licence.
Among the services it would provide, Sher-E-Punjab says that there would be 84 newscasts or 6.8 hours of “pure news” each week, a total of 8.5 hours of news including sports. All told, 70% of news would be local. The station would also commit to 65 hours of spoken word weekly.
Akash Broadcasting, under the Surrey Connect moniker, wants a licence at 89.3 MHz (91.5 MHz in the alternative) for a station to serve 21 different cultural groups in 14 languages. It “will bring to our community, in those languages, the news, talk, and musical programming that research indicates our neighbours want to hear,” says its application.
In addition to serving South Asian languages, secondary communities such as Spanish, Korean, German and others would also see some programming. Other commitments from Surrey Connect include: 75% of category 3 musical selections (12% would be Canadian content); 50% Canadian content for category 2 musical selections; 120 hours of local programming, about 50 hours of spoken word per week, and more than 11 hours of news (33% would be locally produced).
The company’s CCD contribution would be $700,000 over the licence term.
Three stations will also have to defend their current operations and prove they are still eligible for exemptions. Surrey Myfm Inc. and 89.3 Surrey City FM Ltd. operate low-power tourist information stations. Sur Sagar Radio Inc. operates a low-power house of worship station.
Following a Commission investigation, “it appears that the entities called to this hearing are not operating their stations in compliance with the terms of the exemption orders pursuant to which they purport to operate. In particular, their programming appears to be inconsistent with the terms of the exemption order,” CRTC chair Jean-Pierre Blais said in his opening remarks to the hearing. He added that the tourist information stations haven’t implemented emergency alerting and the house of worship station may be broadcasting at a higher power than is authorized by Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED).
