CALGARY – A CRTC hearing into new radio stations in Calgary kicked off on Monday with the first few operators stating their case for the 95.3 MHz frequency as the new home of an ethnic service.
Diversified Society of Alberta, Unison Media Inc. and Alberta Mosaic Radio Broadcasting Inc. each took their turn Monday morning explaining to the Commission why they should be granted the license for the frequency.
Diversified Society, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to serving South Asian communities, in essence plans to operate a community radio station run largely by volunteers. The radio station would serve “the larger populace by inter-connecting the diverse ethnic communities through programs in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Gujrati, Bengali and Tamil languages.” It aims to provide 100% ethnic programming, and 90% of that would be devoted to third-language programming. Music would make up the majority of the programming with between 25% and 30% coming from spoke word programs.
Unison and Alberta Mosaic propose radio stations with a much larger cultural reach. Unison says it will target 21 communities in 19 languages with a focus on South Asian communities while Alberta Mosaic plans to reach 18 community groups in 16 languages targeting not only South Asian cultures, but also Eastern European, Caribbean, Latino, African, and the Middle East.
The founders of Unison have experience at the helm of the organization in founding Radio Sursangam, Calgary’s first South Asian programming service in 2001 and then a similar service in Edmonton a year later. Unison, which dubs its service as Radio Connect, says its station will fill the scarcity of programming related to the integration of immigrants to Canadian society.
“As befits our name, our goal with Radio Connect will be to use the medium of radio as a tool in more effective integration of ethnic Canadians into Canadian society. We want to fill the gaps between ethnic and mainstream society in a manner that allows all communities to better understand and relate to each other,” said Jyoti Gondek, Unison’s VP of stakeholder engagement and marketing.
Alberta Mosaic is looking to address the integration issue as well.
“Mosaic FM proposes to be a force for integration, to be a positive actor on the media stage: by emphasizing commonalities in regularly scheduled programming; by providing cross-cultural programs in English so we can be exposed to common experiences in a common language; and by being one radio station with 16 languages rather 16 different radio stations,” said Sinela Jurkova, Alberta Mosaic’s co-ordinator of Eastern European programs and community affairs.
While they all proposed slightly different stations, the common element among all three was that there would be a much greater portion of original content than currently exists on Fairchild’s ethnic station in the city, FM 94.7 CHKF. Diversified Society explained under questioning that it would not resort to brokered programming (programs made elsewhere and broadcast here). Rather, the non-profit organization would enable the production and airing of original content from members of the communities it aims to serve.
Apar Kahlon, VP of operations and part owner in Unison, said the vast majority of programming would be done in Calgary. “95% of our programming for all languages will be produced locally. We have reserved 5% – about six hours of broadcast weekly – for national ethnic programming so that we can broadcast some popular one-off events or, if we can make it happen, national talk shows with partners across Canada,” he said during his opening remarks.
Fairchild’s 94.7 FM is largely focused on the Chinese community. While it does offer South Asian community oriented programming, it’s brokered content. Kahlon added that the company has created a schedule where its South Asian programming wouldn’t compete with that of Fairchild’s. “When we were creating our schedule we ensured that our timings for the same languages would be different. So their core target is on the weekend or in the evening for one hour, we will not provide South Asian at that time,” he explained under questioning.
There are more than ethnic station proposals for 95.3 FM. Jim Pattison Broadcasting Group and Bell Media, who will appear Tuesday, are trying to stake claim to 95.3 MHz for commercial radio services. Pattison is proposing a Triple A commercial radio format (Adult Album Alternative). In its application filed with the CRTC, the company says this format is currently not being programmed in Calgary. In addition, Jim Pattison plans to air a minimum of 40% Canadian content.
For Bell, the company wants to launch a Rhythmic CHR format that will broadcast a mix of Hip Hop, R&B and Reggae. Dubbed Flow, the station will be the “go-to place for people who love Hip Hop and R&B music but do not want to have to sit through other genres such as Pop, Rock and Dance music to hear it.”
Currently, Calgary doesn’t have this type of station and therefore wouldn’t have a negative impact on the current landscape, says Bell.
Rawlco is also seeking a commercial radio station licence, but is requesting the 100.3 MHz frequency for a commercial service focused on the Hits format with considerable interactivity. Copying its station in Edmonton 102.3 FM NOW! radio, the Calgary service would have a large interactive component where the radio stations becomes the centre of a city-wide social network.
“The programming will revolve around what our listeners have to say. We will invite them to ‘join the conversation’. They’ll text us, chat with us on Facebook, tweet us, and all the other methods of interacting that are second nature to the next generation (those younger than Baby Boomers) and a continuous part of their daily lives,” reads Rawlco’s application.
For its part, Corus wants to add an FM transmitter for CHQR 770 AM (news, talk sports) at 95.3 so that it can achieve better reception in the urban areas of Calgary. “The purpose of the FM transmitter is to rebroadcast the programming of CHQR in order to correct coverage deficiencies in downtown Calgary associated with CHQR’s AM signal,” it says in its submission.
Corus believes now is not the time to be adding more radio stations to the Calgary market, it has no choice but to apply for an FM stick because “CHQR cannot afford to be left behind with an AM frequency that, while providing extensive rural coverage both day and night outside of Calgary, is incapable of properly serving a significant segment of its listening audience in Calgary’s core areas.”
The hearing continues through the week and can be heard live on the CRTC web site.
