St. Catharines ON AM station CHRC has had its license revoked by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for failing to adequately serve the citizens of its community of license, and instead broadcasting “third-language” ethic programming said in a local report to be the Italian community in nearby Toronto.
The station is required to refrain from broadcasting in a third language between the hours of 6AM-noon on weekdays, and its attempt to get a waiver to broadcast up to 40% in a third language was turned down. According to the rules, the English-language licensed station could fill no more than 15% of its schedule with a third language.
Licensee Pellpropco Inc. was hit with complaints about its programming. A condition was put on the station to devote at least 20 minutes during weekend mornings to English language news, with significant attention to the local community and its environs. It failed to meet that requirement on two days in which its programming was monitored by CRTC.
On top of that, according to a report in the St. Catharines Standard, the station had ceased using studios in its city of license. It will be forced to cease broadcasting when its current license expires 8/31/10.
RBR-TVBR observation: The FCC does not take community of license nearly as seriously as the CRTC, nor does it stick its nose into a station’s programming to nearly the same degree. Thankfully!
