A simmering dispute over radio broadcasts from the US into the Vancouver, British Columbia market is being investigated for a possible link to a shooting Saturday (8/28) outside a Sikh temple in Canada where a large wedding had taken place. The man who was shot was recovering in a local hospital from a bullet wound to his thigh.
KVRI-AM Blaine, WA is owned by Multicultural Radio and throws a 50kw daytime/10kw night signal across the border into the Vancouver market on 1600 kHz. Known as “Radio India,” it is programmed under an LMA from studios in Surrey, BC, southeast of Vancouver and north of Blaine.
According to the Vancouver Sun, local contractor Harjit Singh Atwal, age 54, was shot in the leg outside the Guru Nanak temple. The newspaper said he and two other men had sued Radio India, its managing director, Maninder Singh Gill, and several of the station’s journalists last month over broadcasts in May which they charged were false and defamatory.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are investigating the shooting, but have not made an arrest.
