OTTAWA – Corus Radio’s CKOI-FM was dealt a couple of wrist-slaps today for the content of a radio segment from January this year and for the broadcaster’s poor handling of the complaint.
The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) decision today dealt with the broadcast of an episode of the morning show Y’é trop de bonne heure on CKOI-FM (Montreal) in January 2005.
A complainant said that some of the hosts’ comments were “coarse or offensive, unduly sexually explicit, and upsetting and hurtful about Quebec City residents,” says today’s release.
For example, hosts Normand Braithwaite and Claude Poirier called Quebec City residents “pigs and whores” and wondered aloud about sex with a children’s singer on a hood of a car. This was during the station’s morning show.
“The Corus Radio representative who responded to the complaint appeared to accept the accuracy of the quoted dialogue but denied that it was offensive in any of the ways suggested by the complainant,” says today’s release.
When the CBSC received the logger tape dubs from CKOI-FM, it turned out that the segment had not been aired on January 18 but, since it was long after the limit date for retention of tapes by the broadcaster, the CBSC had no way to verify the actual broadcast date. Broadcasters are, however, expected to co-operate fully with complainants by responding quickly and effectively to their specific concerns.
The CBSC said it appeared the person who responded to the complainant, who wasn’t named in the decision, never actually listened to the show in question.
“In order to deliver the required response, it seems fundamental to the Panel that the individual or individuals who prepare the broadcaster’s response must have reviewed the program to know what to say. Whether they agree or disagree with the complainant’s assertions, unless they have heard the words, and possibly the tone, of the on-air hosts, it is difficult to imagine how what they say will be responsive to the complainant. […T]he fact that the tapes supplied do not include the challenged segment, coupled with the generality and non-pertinent nature of the broadcaster’s reply, imply that Corus Radio’s representative(s) did not review the program before sending [the broadcaster’s response],” says the CBSC.
“Consequently, the Panel concluded that, whether by not retaining and supplying the correct tape or by not replying fully and effectively to the complainant’s concerns, CKOI-FM had breached certain of its obligations as a member of the CBSC.”
Despite the missing tapes, the panel did consider that it had sufficient material judge the complaint and, “on the substantive level, it found that some of the language quoted by the complainant was coarse and offensive and in violation of Clause 9(c) of the CAB Code of Ethics. It also concluded that other comments by the CKOI-FM morning team were ‘blatant, crass and unduly sexually explicit.’ Finally, it found that ‘those comments comparing Quebec City to a cow pasture and its inhabitants as being of a lesser class than Montrealers sound a lot like rival yells at a football or hockey game, [while] those that label Quebec City residents ‘pigs and whores’ […] constitute unfair and improper presentation of comment or editorial in violation of Clause 6 of the CAB Code of Ethics’,” says the release.
CKOI-FM is required to: 1) announce the decision, in the following terms, once during peak listening hours within three days following the release of this decision and once more within seven days following the release of this decision during the time period in which Y’é trop d’bonne heure was broadcast; 2) within the fourteen days following the broadcast of the announcements, to provide written confirmation of the airing of the statement to the complainant who filed the Ruling Request; and 3) at that time, to provide the CBSC with that written confirmation and with air check copies of the broadcasts of the two announcements which must be made by CKOI-FM.
