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Aboriginal Voices Radio loses licenses

mvcg66b3r

mvcg66b3r

The CRTC has rescinded the station licenses for Aboriginal Voices Radio’s five stations in Canada.

AAA/World Music “Voices Radio” 106.5 CKAV-FM Toronto, 106.3 CKAV-FM-2 Vancouver, 88.1 CKAV-FM-3 Calgary, 89.3 CKAV-FM-4 Edmonton and Silent 95.7 CKAV-FM-9 Ottawa will be required to sign-off by the end of the day on July 25. The Commission stated that its decision to revoke the licenses “based on AVR’s repeated and serious non-compliance with its regulatory obligations over four consecutive license terms as well as the Commission’s complete lack of confidence in the licensee’s ability to broadcast in compliance with those obligations going forward and therefore meet the unique needs of Aboriginal people.”

The CRTC will issue a call for applications for the licenses in those markets in the near future with priority given to those broadcasters seeking to target Canada’s Aboriginal community. The full order can be read here.
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https://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/93465/crtc-rescinds-voices-radio-licenses/
 
Gawd, I hope this doesn't mean one of the big guys will apply for an Aboriginal station.
Thankfully, at least in the Toronto market, they can't because there's a Two AM, Two FM ownership max.
 
This service was briefly carried on one of XM's Canadian channels. I never could figure out what was aboriginal about it. The music was by mainstream artists, for the most part.
 
CTListener said:
This service was briefly carried on one of XM's Canadian channels. I never could figure out what was aboriginal about it. The music was by mainstream artists, for the most part.
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Exactly! That was one of the things I highlighted when I submitted an intervention in opposition to the license. They said they would try to play 10% aboriginal artists in the future should they be allowed to continue. The station was a joke, just a laptop hooked to a transmitter. I'm glad it's going away and I won't miss it. Here in Ottawa, it will clean up the FM dial somewhat in the middle of the city by not spewing it's splatter across the entire dial. 1 down, 2 more pests to go.
 
The Aboriginal channel that used to be on both Sirius and XM was moved to Sirius only and combined with the ATN Asian Radio channel when Sirius Canada & XM Canada merged. Essentially, the South Asian audience wasn't big enough to justify its own channel (when the Canadian providers already have a small number of channels allotted). And, the fine print on the Aboriginal channel requirements stated:
"The licensee shall distribute an Aboriginal channel. An “Aboriginal channel” is a channel at least 60% of the programming of which in a week consists of audio programming that is directed toward Aboriginal persons and includes original or previously broadcast programming by, about or including Aboriginal persons. This channel may consist partly or wholly of programming from other broadcasters."

So at this point, from what I can tell, Sirius/XM Canada seems to no longer be claiming any association with AVR, and instead has automated music with a variety of English Canadian and Aboriginal Canadian artists (mostly English Canadian) playing from 3 AM to 6 PM ET daily (62.5% of the broadcast day). However, they are carrying the excellent (IMO) National Aboriginal Music Countdown, which is apparently syndicated to a network of terrestrial stations across Canada, at 10 AM - 12 Noon Saturdays, 4 PM - 6 PM Tuesdays, and 8 AM - 10 AM Thursdays. Presumably as long as the automated music is programmed, selected or otherwise produced by someone who is Aboriginal, it would seem to comply with the letter of the regulation. I would love it if Sirius/XM Canada would pick up a few more music intensive shows; perhaps an Aboriginal Hip Hop mix show or something? Also, if they could offer the NAMC on demand in their web player, I'd like that.

During the remaining hours, 6 PM - 3 AM (37.5% of the broadcast day), they still carry the most popular shows from ATN Asian Radio. A schedule is available at http://www.atnasianradio.com/ . The schedule seems to show programming on from 3-4 AM, but I believe that the Aboriginal programming begins at 3 AM, however I have not stayed up that late in a while to check. To stay under the allowed 40% of non-Aboriginal content, presumably ATN couldn't have more than 9.6 hours out of 24 hours, so it seems that it should cut off at 3 AM.
 
The station went silent sometime this morning in Ottawa again for good. Some clarity has returned to the FM dial in the inner city as a result. This is one station I'm glad to see go.
 
mimo said:
The station went silent sometime this morning in Ottawa again for good. Some clarity has returned to the FM dial in the inner city as a result. This is one station I'm glad to see go.
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They're still on the air in Toronto @ 106.5 FM!
 
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