....and meanwhile, In Other NW Radio News.......

[Bongwater]

- Former KVOS-TV/KPUG-KNWR announcer and newsman Joe Bates was killed last Saturday after falling off a ladder. http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/08/30/1593871/whatcom-county-spokesman-former.html

- A rivalry between KVRI station owner Maninder Gill and Surrey business contractor Harjit Singh Atwal turns gangsta when Gill allegedly shot Atwal in the leg at a wedding. http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Ra...arges+after+Surrey+wedding/3461437/story.html

 

[TVradioguru]

So someone falls off a ladder while someone else shoots a guest in the leg at a wedding. Where is this again, Bellingham? Oh yes, that makes perfect sense now!

 

[Bongwater]

So someone falls off a ladder while someone else shoots a guest in the leg at a wedding. Where is this again, Bellingham? Oh yes, that makes perfect sense now!

Of course it's Bellingham! Anarchy, chaos, panic and disorder! And that's just KAFE!

Come watch the mutants emerge from our Superfund swamps! Dodge the falling debris from the crumbling facades of Bellingham's post-apocalyptic downtown! Gingerly step down Bellingham's famous skeleton choked sidewalks!

Yes, the living really do envy The Dead here. You can always hear a cover of "Dark Star" or "Casey Jones" wafting from any pub with a stage nightly here.

Oh the humanity.......

But seriously, Joe Bates was a pretty well known guy in Bellingham media.

And for the record, the shooting happened in Surrey, BC between two Indian-Canadian businessmen at a wedding, one of them owned KVRI or controls it.

 

[Seattleradiodude]

So someone falls off a ladder while someone else shoots a guest in the leg at a wedding. Where is this again, Bellingham? Oh yes, that makes perfect sense now!

Of course it's Bellingham! Anarchy, chaos, panic and disorder! And that's just KAFE!

Isn't there a "Washington" board for that? "Seattle-Tacoma" is usually reserved for "Seattle-Tacoma"

 

[bossbill]

The Washington board sometimes goes two months between postings. Less used than the Oregon board.

 

[Dan Sys]

While on the topic of KVRI, I've always wondered how and why the FCC lets them get away with selling air time to Radio India 24 hours a day with programming directed solely towards Surrey, B.C. These guys are pretty well deemed as "radicals" in Canada and the above mentioned shooting is just another chapter in a long series of controversial events that have seem them getting on the wrong side of the law. Seems odd to to me that U.S. government with all its paranoity about terrorism would allow something like this to happen. The same applies to KRPI 1550 Ferndale to a lesser degree.

I would also like to know how these stations are serving their respective cities of license? I don't know what the Punjabi population in Whatcom County is, but I suspect it's miniscule.

 

[scott salvatori]

radio india??????punjabi?????hispanish. nice!! for them people. in the mean time if you wanna hear merle, tammy, loretta, vern, dolly, johnny, or anything that resembles red, white, and blue, American country music. sorry, we cant do that here.

dont get me started!

 

[Bongwater]

While on the topic of KVRI, I've always wondered how and why the FCC lets them get away with selling air time to Radio India 24 hours a day with programming directed solely towards Surrey, B.C. These guys are pretty well deemed as "radicals" in Canada and the above mentioned shooting is just another chapter in a long series of controversial events that have seem them getting on the wrong side of the law. Seems odd to to me that U.S. government with all its paranoity about terrorism would allow something like this to happen. The same applies to KRPI 1550 Ferndale to a lesser degree.

I would also like to know how these stations are serving their respective cities of license? I don't know what the Punjabi population in Whatcom County is, but I suspect it's miniscule.

If the FCC even cared about it, they would forbid an American station owner to allow a foreign businessman to virtually control an entire American radio station from another country. That's just a loophole around the no-foreign-owners-of-American-stations rule that worked so well, even I and many others were convinced this guy actually owned KVRI.

No, they're too concerned with tiny 1 watt pirate FM transmitters playing Lady Gaga. Go figure.

But it all comes down to brokered $$$ from across the border. That's the whole reason KVRI was set up in the first place. Their entire signal is beamed north - you only get a mediocre signal from KVRI in Bellingham. Whatcom County doesn't figure in anything on 1600 kHz. Or 1550 kHz.

And seriously, how many Canadians are NOW going to go on PUBLIC FCC record to complain about KVRI?

It might sound totally unethical and maybe even should be illegal to you and me and if it does, we can just goosestep our way back to North Korea, my fellow commies. And take our unprofitable "ethics" with us.

That's just capitalism, American style......

 

[bossbill]

Things haven't changed that much. When I worked at the sister station, KARI, in 1966, we sold block programming to Canadian preachers who smuggled their tapes across the border. Ninety percent of our revenues came from across the border.

And how about the Mexican border stations that for years broadcast to the "foreigners" on this side of the river, and later were actually operated by United States corporations in violation of the market ownership limits.

 

[Bongwater]

Things haven't changed that much. When I worked at the sister station, KARI, in 1966, we sold block programming to Canadian preachers who smuggled their tapes across the border. Ninety percent of our revenues came from across the border.

And how about the Mexican border stations that for years broadcast to the "foreigners" on this side of the river, and later were actually operated by United States corporations in violation of the market ownership limits.

Agreed and exactly the point. What the previous poster illustrated was why in this age of terrorists and organized/white collar crime are we allowing this with our stations?

But rule of law and ethics be damned. It all comes down to $$$ in the end. It doesn't matter where it comes from, just find a loophole and make it work. Or if you're well connected enough, MAKE ONE. That's just capitalism baby...

But personally, I think if we're serious about a (YAWN!) War On Terror, shouldn't we be, ummm....a little more focused on things like these?

Any US border station could just as well be blasting back sensitive information for terrorists back over the border to cells in Canada and none of us, not knowing a word of Arabic, would be the wiser. My point is if we're serious about cutting off terrorism at it's knees, sacrifices have to be made. And one of them is not allowing foreign control of American radio/TV stations. And ENFORCING that.

 

[TVradioguru]

radio india??????punjabi?????hispanish. nice!! for them people. in the mean time if you wanna hear merle, tammy, loretta, vern, dolly, johnny, or anything that resembles red, white, and blue, American country music. sorry, we cant do that here.

dont get me started!

Indeed, don't let you get started with potential of racist or intolerant comments about other cultures.

If station KXYZ makes a business by programming music, news or other culturally diverse programming to an audience who pays the bills, who are you or I to say? Aren't there enough country stations around the US and Canada? The answer is yes.

The same could be said for a station that carries only paid or paid-block programming; there are plenty of stations out there programming otherwise. To even suggest that the FCC should restrict certain (non-offensive) programming because you don't care for it is, in my view, absurd.

 

[SRP]

Careful, Guru, you're trying to have intelligent radio discussions on this board - which are routinely squashed by some of the "regulars".

 

[TVradioguru]

Good point SRP, what was I thinking? Maybe that's the issue..I was thinking!

 

[Bongwater]

Good point SRP, what was I thinking? Maybe that's the issue..I was thinking!

Careful Guru.......

 

[scott salvatori]

i dont recall suggesting the FCC ban programming i dont like. i get the sense your one of them extreme racial sensitive types thats been fine tuned, and engineered by the liberal college education system, and media, to see a case of racism under every stone you turn over. sorry boy, i dont kowtow to your extreme, thin skin, pain and feelings thinking.

race aint no issue with me bubba TV and radio guru. just a legit comment about how one cant tune into any radio format in this 13th largest radio market, and hear American red, white and blue real country music. yet, you can hear a number of foreign language, and foreign music in abundance. including the little known culture of punjambi someone brought up at this thread.

my opinion is only a keen observation of the facts. but, im for a free market. if some owner wants to niche program, to the left handed lesbian dwarf crowd that speaks swahilee, i say go for it. but, it dont mean i wont poke fun at it, and lambaste the fact that i cant here merle!

 

[Bongwater]

I don't have much of a problem with Asian formats. Or Spanish to a degree (just be glad you're not in L.A., Scott ) Hell, I even listen to Radio Hankook (KSUH and KWYZ) once in a while when I'm down that way. I don't speak much Korean either. It's just something different to hear.

And I still say KQMV-HD3 (All Vietnamese) STILL whips the pants off whatever that is on it's main signal.

My point is border stations. I think there's a bad loophole with KVRI/KRPI and it has nothing to do with Punjabis. But the basic fact they can use 1600 and 1550 for programming to Canada in spite of the fact there are plenty of open AM channels in the Vancouver/Surrey area

Maybe the Canadians know something we don't......

 

[TVradioguru]

My point is border stations. I think there's a bad loophole with KVRI/KRPI and it has nothing to do with Punjabis. But the basic fact they can use 1600 and 1550 for programming to Canada in spite of the fact there are plenty of open AM channels in the Vancouver/Surrey area

That "loophole" as you refer to it, has been in use since radio began. An example, and someone you probably hold in high regard, (as I do) Wolfman Jack, broadcasted from a Mexican station, XERF in 1964. XERF was considered a SoCal radio station which sold most of its advertising across the border into the US.

Unlike in the US with the FCC, the CRTC regulates programming. In BC and Canada proper, one can't simply change format to a foreign language genre' as with the US.

Look, if a small, un-rated US market licensed station is able to make money by programming to an audience across the border, why shouldn't they be able to? Are you that opposed to business success? Or is it the only successful radio operations are the ones who are financial flops in your world? Just curious.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

I'm not so sure some of those 60's Mexico stations weren't just beaming into the US but into Canada and Norway, etc. they had some of those things cranked up to about 5x the US power legal limit!

I'm often bummed the over-border thing doesn't work to OUR advantage. Many CDN stations were once better programmed than ours' ... though in recent years almost EVERYONE has homogenized to lowest common denominator.

At least THEIR version of "Jack" started with (and still has) a personality element, though!

 

[Dan Sys]

Mr. Gill (Radio India) did apply for a South Asian FM station for Vancouver back in 2005. It was denied by the CRTC. I dug up the original application documents on the CRTC site this afternoon and couldn't find anything that indicated he would cease operations at KVRI if granted the FM on this side of the border. Could be why the application was rejected?

Guru: Multilingual stations fall into the "specialty format" class up here and do require CRTC approval to make changes. This rule does not apply to the majority of stations with more mainstream formats though.

 

[Bongwater]

This. Is. Radio Clash. On Some Radio Board..........

My point is border stations. I think there's a bad loophole with KVRI/KRPI and it has nothing to do with Punjabis. But the basic fact they can use 1600 and 1550 for programming to Canada in spite of the fact there are plenty of open AM channels in the Vancouver/Surrey area

Look, if a small, un-rated US market licensed station is able to make money by programming to an audience across the border, why shouldn't they be able to? Are you that opposed to business success? Or is it the only successful radio operations are the ones who are financial flops in your world? Just curious.

Yes Guru. I am opposed to ANY radio success whatsoever. "Next on Radio Bongwater, the station you once knew as KWJZ, the entire Greek national anthem, a KHIT classic from 1985, and "Don't Worry Kyoko" Yoko Ono. You'll also hear a Cambodian classic in this LONG half-hour set of continuous music for your workday.... on 98.9 Radio Bongwater..."

Get real.

Dan pointed it out: Radio India did file into the CRTC for a license and they got rejected by the CRTC. Possibly for the fact you can't run both an American border station and a full blown Canadian station in Canada that easily and the CRTC rules are damn clear on that, unlike the FCC and their rules for US-Mexican stations, which are far murkier. And possibly for other reasons. I don't know how they came to that conclusion either. Maybe Dan can look that up on his side of it.

But back to the topic that started all this. This guy who allegedly shot this guy in the leg, Maninder Gill is still innocent until proven guilty (even in Canada.) But IF convicted, that qualifies under US law (at least in Washington State) as an upper-end felony and if you go and do something hardcore like that, you can't own or control a radio station. Period.

So if I were the American owner of KVRI, I would keep an eye on this. Because regardless of the border, it's embarrassing.

Nor am I saying Canadian programs shouldn't air in the US (If I owned KNDD, The Ongoing History Of New Music with Alan Cross would be a MANDATORY nightly program. There used to be an online archive of every show he had - including SUPER rare music, but that was taken down.)

My point is having 24/7 programming for people on the other side of the border seems a bit off. Nobody in Vancouver has yet suggested they fire 600 AM back up and blast it's mighty southward signal as a Northern Puget Sound station - clear to Seattle, even though it was strong enough to be one, snag Limbaugh from much weaker KGMI, that kind of thing.

But they're not. And maybe for a GOOD reason. Yet, sadly, 600 kHz is still silent (except for CJWW. Or a super-weak ghost of KOGO nightly.)

I also think 600 also had a FAR better signal than 1600 and CAN even pluck a few Seattle listeners and with all that going for it (CHRX even had a few Seattle listeners), I'm wondering why they can't move their operations to 600 kHz. After all, I would imagine Radio India would be instantly be a shoe-in already for that frequency.

But something else keeps them at 1600 kHz.

And if anyone recalls how Canadian ads were cut off from KISM and KNWR back in the '80s, the mind only boggles at this arrangement (and let's just say I can already probably imagine the late Joe Bates' opinion on this. A lot of cars got sold in Vancouver because of him.)

You would think the CRTC would have at least already told them what wasn't cool about this deal. But it's still there.....

Whatcom County can use a few alternatives to the Saga Conglomerate. KUGS, KMRE-LP, KWPZ, KARI and ("You're driving along the scenic, Mount Baker Highway. Howling along to "Radar Love" by Golden Earring on KZOK. Then suddenly....") KAVZ-LP are nice. But they don't fill in a few other local voids.

Would they listen to AM? I may be wrong and think Saga broadcasts KGMI, KPUG and KBAI as non-profit, hopeless tax write-offs. But KGMI at least has some good LIVE and LOCAL talk programming. You don't get to be "The Number One Small Market News/Talk Station In America" by playing dumb. i may be wrong, but there might be something else at work here too.

I hear that slogan a lot on KGMI. Anyone got PROOF? Because if they do, KIRO-FM needs to hire some people - QUICK.

But really, Whatcom County NEEDS it's radio stations. ALL of them.

I already know I'm a clueless, know-nothing computer desk chair expert (like some - not saying ALL - SOME people who actually work in the radio business are these days) from Bellingham.

But that's all I know......