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KWLE/KRPA Flip To South Asian Pop
- Thread starter Bongwater
- Start date
Its a waste to you, but it may not be to others. Obviously, some folks are listening and theyre making some amount of money or they wouldn't keep it on
It's a good thing Dx'ers don't run radio stations or the FCC, theyd run it based on personal opinion rather then legality or facts
If they were making money, they wouldn't have flipped formats.
Considering the format flip was just reported today, it's entirely possible Bongwater was the first to notice, and therefore the only listener, ha ha.
I noticed it on Friday as well. Was in the area and tuned in to hear the trainwreck of a format as it has been for some months now, but no, actually replaced with what appears to be a viable, real professional format. Love to know what ownership's end game is here. 1110 had a CP approved to increase power to 9kW day/ 2.5kW night directional towards Vancouver Island, and then requested that decision be held in limbo due to having to file "environmental statements." It has been in limbo for some years. That signal would easily cover lower Vancouver Island. I don't know what it would cost to turn a monopole into a two tower directional array, but I can't imagine it is cheap, and that may be the real "environmental" stumbling block.
1340 is of course a graveyard frequency that will remain forever 1kW non directional as all 1340s are. I guess it exists to feed a Bellingham FM translator. 1110 feeds an Oak Harbor FM translator, FWIW. If either tanslator has any listeners at all I would be surprised.
As far as I can tell, there is no ownership overlap between the 1340/1110 guys and the 1550/1600 guys. They are of course both "border blasters" with actual HQ in Surrey BC. Turnabout is fair play- we certainly had enough border blasters in Mexico that were run from the US!
1340 is of course a graveyard frequency that will remain forever 1kW non directional as all 1340s are. I guess it exists to feed a Bellingham FM translator. 1110 feeds an Oak Harbor FM translator, FWIW. If either tanslator has any listeners at all I would be surprised.
As far as I can tell, there is no ownership overlap between the 1340/1110 guys and the 1550/1600 guys. They are of course both "border blasters" with actual HQ in Surrey BC. Turnabout is fair play- we certainly had enough border blasters in Mexico that were run from the US!
You observation that "Obviously, some folks are listening" and that "they're making some amount of money or they wouldn't keep it on" are fact-free. There are numerous small market stations in the US that lose money but remain on the air hoping for a better tomorrow.
If I recall, one of the reasons (or "excuses" if you are a skeptic) for consolidation was the survey that showed half of all radio stations did not make a profit.
I have gone back to the FCC financial report tabulations from the 50's and 60's, and even back then nearly half of all stations were not profitable.
But having done some due diligence on stations for bankruptcy valuations, I realize that "not making a profit" is not the same as "losing money". There are many owner operator stations, particularly before the creation of the LLC, where the owner was the sole proprietor of a station or stations but via a corporation. The corporation made no money, but all the profits were paid as salary and bonus to the owner. This avoided double taxation on the shareholder and the company. But the station, apparently breaking even, really made nice money which all went to the owner as salary.
I’m actually surprised they didn’t attempt to make a station targeting BC before this. I figured the FM translators were a backup strictly for a buyer/client who desired to “play radio” for the US side. Despite what occurred a few years back, which was the supposed reason for the former foreign language format disappearing, it’s totally fine for a Canadian business to advertise on a US station (it just isn’t tax deductible anymore).
In addition, I do believe there’s an exception for a station owned/operated by Canadians with a Canadian studio. There’s a US station that broadcasts to Kingston, ON. It is owned/operated by Rogers (I think) from studios in Kingston. For advertising and ratings purposes it is treated as a Canadian station that happens to be able to follow much more lax FCC regulations. They may voluntarily do CanCon and run logger tapes to make the government happy, but I’m not sure. That is the exception, not the rule.
The CP mentioned for 1110 would have put them in Point Roberts (a very small exclave of the US actually attached to BC known for its cheap gas for Vancouverites.) It’s not much more than a square mile of land...the locals in Point Roberts absolutely hated the idea of hearing Hindi music through their toasters and the suburban Canadians right across the border had a kitten! It wasn’t in their backyard, but it was close enough they didn’t want it there anyway.
In addition, I do believe there’s an exception for a station owned/operated by Canadians with a Canadian studio. There’s a US station that broadcasts to Kingston, ON. It is owned/operated by Rogers (I think) from studios in Kingston. For advertising and ratings purposes it is treated as a Canadian station that happens to be able to follow much more lax FCC regulations. They may voluntarily do CanCon and run logger tapes to make the government happy, but I’m not sure. That is the exception, not the rule.
The CP mentioned for 1110 would have put them in Point Roberts (a very small exclave of the US actually attached to BC known for its cheap gas for Vancouverites.) It’s not much more than a square mile of land...the locals in Point Roberts absolutely hated the idea of hearing Hindi music through their toasters and the suburban Canadians right across the border had a kitten! It wasn’t in their backyard, but it was close enough they didn’t want it there anyway.
If they were making money, they wouldn't have flipped formats.
Considering the format flip was just reported today, it's entirely possible Bongwater was the first to notice, and therefore the only listener, ha ha.
Ha ha, I often am when stations flip. At least they're out of the gate with somebody tuned in.....
But I don't have the day or time they flipped formats. It's easy to miss that one in the boredom of their previous format.
I believe it was an issue of taxation and commercials that doomed KVRI. Plus an unusual twist in our law that has changed. When it was declared that US radio commercials are not a tax deductible expense in Canada, it dried up a lot of advertising on niche US stations (other rulings had already neutered cross-border television). In addition, since then US broadcast law has permitted foreign nationals to fully own a US broadcast property.
In the case of WLYK, I’m pretty certain the CTRC has kept their hands off in recent years. The station is now majority owned by Canadians, and broadcasts/sells ads from Canada. Above all, they pay Canadian taxes on the profit! I think the issue the CTRC had is with foreign companies (US owned) receiving the profits from commercials sold to Canadians (and paying little Canadian tax on it!). If all transactions are being conducted in Canada, by Canadians, the Canadian government should have no problem with it assuming it’s operating in compliance. In addition, non-commercial formats are a different beast entirely.
What I’m trying to say is don’t be surprised if these pair of stations get sold to a real, live, Canadian down the road. The FM translators will either be shut off or sold (they were an insurance policy in case they couldn’t target BC). It’d be easier to sell em to a retiree wanting a fun project on the US side, but the real money is getting to target that lower mainland and Victoria audience.
Not belabor the point, but a Sole Proprietorship is different from a Corp, an S corp, or an LLC. Before LLCs, there were Subchapter S (now just called S Corps) Corporations, in which any corporate profits flowed directly to the shareholders, thus no double taxation. No matter whether the sole shareholder takes a salary or not,revenue minus expenses equals profit (disregarding depreciation, amortization, other details). Salary paid to the owner is subject to the employee FICA plus employer FICA. IRS is keenly aware of sole shareholders that work in the business to avoid double FICA by not showing wages. Having said that, it wouldn't make financial sense to hide the business "profits" by paying oneself a salary or wage equal what would otherwise be S Corp profits, since the FICA would cost something like 15 % of payroll. On the other hand, if the sole shareholder pays oneself no wage or salary and actually works in the business, The IRS would not look kindly on that. This is an oversimplification, but what you suggest makes no sense unless the sole shareholder hides revenue with cash transactions, which in itself is not legal.
Rogers doesn't own the station outright, it's a leased time agreement with its American owner. There's really nothing the CRTC can do about it as the station isn't under their jurisdiction. They play at least 20% Cancon so show that the company wouldn't eliminate the practice entirety should the regulation ever go away.
The CRTC is also particular in regard to how foreign language radio stations are programmed (thus, illustrating the advantages conferred to a station broadcasting from the United States). Here is a note on CJRJ 1200 AM (taken from Wikipedia):
"The station is required to provide programming in at least 17 different languages, targeted at no less than 11 different ethnic groups, with 95% of this programming to be in "third languages". 73% of this programming must be in the Punjabi and Hindustani languages. An additional term of the license, as per an intervention by Fairchild Radio Group, is that CJRJ will not target Vancouver's Chinese community."
With this information in mind, it seems possible for KWLE/KRPA to have some success if they can put a fair to decent signal into Victoria.
"The station is required to provide programming in at least 17 different languages, targeted at no less than 11 different ethnic groups, with 95% of this programming to be in "third languages". 73% of this programming must be in the Punjabi and Hindustani languages. An additional term of the license, as per an intervention by Fairchild Radio Group, is that CJRJ will not target Vancouver's Chinese community."
With this information in mind, it seems possible for KWLE/KRPA to have some success if they can put a fair to decent signal into Victoria.
Actually, the CP in question keeps 1110 right in Oak Harbor, with a lobe aimed right at Victoria. You are thinking of the folks up in Ferndale at 1550 KRPI, who wanted to go 50/50 from 100 yards south of the border on Pt. Roberts before all NIMBY heck broke loose.
The CP for 1110 Oak Harbor is alive and well. If you can take their latest filing at it's word, they couldn't get an easement to build their second tower to the NW of the first one, so now they need to cut down a bunch of trees to build it to the SE instead, thus needing some sort of an EIS. This is a very recent amendment to the filing, like in the last week. So, as they say, stay tuned. 9kW straight at Victoria across less than 20 miles of salt water should boom in just fine.
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