FCC Considers Whether To Let Canadian Company Buy U.S. Radio Station.

[SomeRadioGuy]

WLYK is not a Canadian station. So, it doesn’t have to play CanCon. The point of most of this discussion is that it won’t likely do that because, unlike stations on the other side of the border, it doesn’t have to air content its audience doesn’t want to hear.

I don't know what the numbers are like now, but, in the late 80’s/early 90’s, a greater percentage of Canadian stations was losing money than in the US. The picture wasn’t good for US stations as a majority were operating in the red. I know the regulations have changed a little as Canadian FM's have more format options, but I haven’t heard much about whether that has helped. Given that Canada has also eased ownership limits, I'm guessing it didn’t help much, though.

I lost track of what we were talking about, i thought he was referring to canadian stations in general
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[SomeRadioGuy]

Correct, but the issue is about how much Canadian ownership the FCC will allow. Up until recently, the station was a partnership of several owners, with about 45% Canadian owned. Now they want to increase that to 100. It shouldn't be hard, but the FCC wants to have time for comments. The OP says they want to target Kingston, and will likely continue the current format. As you say, not having cancon is a programming advantage for this station.

Two Australian citizens owned 100 percent of a cluster in AK and TX

 

[davideduardo]

I would guess Canadians would be used to the music though? It seems like all of the ones in the same format play the same artists.

The "Raison d'être" for that station in New York not following Can-Con is because they believe that Canadians would respond to a more varied playlist with more American, British, Australia and other origin music on the English language stations and would mostly be very burnt out on the constant play of mid-chart Canadian artist songs.

All the Canadian stations in a single format play the same songs because there are so few compared to a world-wide possible playlist. Canadians, I am sure the major Canadian group owner thinks, are burnt out on too many and to frequent plays of songs that are not very strong.

 

[davideduardo]

Like most government regulations, it's complicated. The radio minimum is 40%, and it must be achieved between 6A and 6P.

So could they run a US origin countdown with few or no Can-Con and make up for it in other hours of the day by exceeding the quota?

 

[Miss Tuned]

I recall a few years ago the FCC allowing a British and a Polish citizen to take ownership of a station somewhere in upstate NY:

FCC OK's Border's Foreign Ownership Request - Radio Ink

Border Media says it has received approval from the FCC for it’s foreign ownership petition and can now close on WRGR in Tupper Lake, NY from Radio Lake Placid.

radioink.com

The case made to the FCC was that the individuals came from the UK and Poland, countries which are strong US allies - it's not like a group of Russians buying a station. The same would apply here, with a Canadian purchaser.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

I recall a few years ago the FCC allowing a British and a Polish citizen to take ownership of a station somewhere in upstate NY:

FCC OK's Border's Foreign Ownership Request - Radio Ink

Border Media says it has received approval from the FCC for it’s foreign ownership petition and can now close on WRGR in Tupper Lake, NY from Radio Lake Placid.

radioink.com

The case made to the FCC was that the individuals came from the UK and Poland, countries which are strong US allies - it's not like a group of Russians buying a station. The same would apply here, with a Canadian purchaser.

And theyve been building up a small empire of stations and are now part of PlayOut One. Ricki's company Aiir, merged with them.

 

[gr8oldies]

So could they run a US origin countdown with few or no Can-Con and make up for it in other hours of the day by exceeding the quota?

That was what happened when I used to listen a lot to CKWW in Windsor. On American Top 40 (and other syndication like "Live from the 60s" with the Real Don Steele) they seemed to double up on Can Con. For that matter CKLW used to run all Can-Con from 10 to midnight.

 

[Kelly A]

That was what happened when I used to listen a lot to CKWW in Windsor. On American Top 40 (and other syndication like "Live from the 60s" with the Real Don Steele) they seemed to double up on Can Con. For that matter CKLW used to run all Can-Con from 10 to midnight.

That's because the government required it.

 

[gr8oldies]

That's because the government required it.

They required the percentage, yes. CKLW chose to back 2 hours of CanCon. into 10-12midnight to reduce it in other hours.

 

[fybush]

Correct, but the issue is about how much Canadian ownership the FCC will allow. Up until recently, the station was a partnership of several owners, with about 45% Canadian owned. Now they want to increase that to 100. It shouldn't be hard, but the FCC wants to have time for comments. The OP says they want to target Kingston, and will likely continue the current format. As you say, not having cancon is a programming advantage for this station.

This is not factually correct.

The current ownership of the station is entirely US citizens.

The current format is already coming from the prospective new owners under an LMA, and is not the same format that Rogers had been running under the previous LMA.

 

[TheBigA]

This is not factually correct.

The current ownership of the station is entirely US citizens.

That could be, but before that, Rogers had a 20% interest and another Kingston company had 20%. And yes, the current AC format is not from Rogers.

 

[davideduardo]

That could be, but before that, Rogers had a 20% interest and another Kingston company had 20%. And yes, the current AC format is not from Rogers.

What I see is from the January filing:

David W. Mance, John C. Clancy and Craig S. Harris, (Collectively 80%) and Rogers Media Inc (20%) are salling their shares in Border International Broadcasting Inc, licensee of WLYK-FM/Cape Vincent, NY, to 1234567 Corporation for $325K.

 

[TheBigA]

What I see is from the January filing:

David W. Mance, John C. Clancy and Craig S. Harris, (Collectively 80%) and Rogers Media Inc (20%) are salling their shares in Border International Broadcasting Inc, licensee of WLYK-FM/Cape Vincent, NY, to 1234567 Corporation for $325K.

And the buyer is based in Canada, thus this FCC application for 100% foreign ownership.

 

[tall_guy1]

Couldn't CamCon up there not be hugely detrimental? You would think Canadian artists would have more of a draw up there.

 

[TheBigA]

Couldn't CamCon up there not be hugely detrimental? You would think Canadian artists would have more of a draw up there.

Radio stations are not in the artist development business. So it might help Canadian artists, but it doesn't help radio.

 

[Kent]

Couldn't CamCon up there not be hugely detrimental? You would think Canadian artists would have more of a draw up there.

While determining exactly what causes Canadian radio's struggles is tough to nail down, the evidence would seem to support that CanCon is a disadvantage.

Something else to remember is that many hits by Canadian artists don’t count as Canadian. If the song is not a live recording, it must fulfill at least two of these conditions: Canadian songwriter, Canadian composer, and Canadian singer. Live recordings must only meet one of the above conditions if performed in Canada. Seems also like older songs only have to meet one of those criteria, but most of those songs have aged out of playable material for radio. Most of Shania Twain's music, for example, doesn’t count as Canadian, even though she was born and raised in Canada because few to none of her songs were written or composed by a Canadian. So, many of the songs we would think of as being Canadian aren't Canadian for radio play.

 

[TheBigA]

Most of Shania Twain's music, for example, doesn’t count as Canadian, even though she was born and raised in Canada because few to none of her songs were written or composed by a Canadian.

Actually she co-wrote all of her hits, but her co-writer was husband Mutt Lange, who isn't Canadian, and they recorded her hits outside of Canada with non-Canadian musicians.

 

[tall_guy1]

While determining exactly what causes Canadian radio's struggles is tough to nail down, the evidence would seem to support that CanCon is a disadvantage.

Something else to remember is that many hits by Canadian artists don’t count as Canadian. If the song is not a live recording, it must fulfill at least two of these conditions: Canadian songwriter, Canadian composer, and Canadian singer. Live recordings must only meet one of the above conditions if performed in Canada. Seems also like older songs only have to meet one of those criteria, but most of those songs have aged out of playable material for radio. Most of Shania Twain's music, for example, doesn’t count as Canadian, even though she was born and raised in Canada because few to none of her songs were written or composed by a Canadian. So, many of the songs we would think of as being Canadian aren't Canadian for radio play.

None of the Canadian songs I ever hear ever seem "off putting" though. Would someone up there really get annoyed hearing the Strumbellas or Walk off the Earth or perhaps Alessia Cara mixed in?

 

[TheBigA]

None of the Canadian songs I ever hear ever seem "off putting" though. Would someone up there really get annoyed hearing the Strumbellas or Walk off the Earth or perhaps Alessia Cara mixed in?

Once again, we're talking here about a US station governed by US laws and rules. Cancon will not apply, so it's not an issue.

 

[Kent]

Actually she co-wrote all of her hits, but her co-writer was husband Mutt Lange, who isn't Canadian, and they recorded her hits outside of Canada with non-Canadian musicians.

For some reason, I was thinking Mutt wrote and composed all of her hits. If she and Mutt co-wrote and co-composed them, her songs would qualify as Canadian under the so-called “Bryan Adams Rule.”

None of the Canadian songs I ever hear ever seem "off putting" though. Would someone up there really get annoyed hearing the Strumbellas or Walk off the Earth or perhaps Alessia Cara mixed in?

Here’s the problem for Canadian programmers. How many hits did those artists have? Depending on when your station was licensed and possibly when your format was launched, anywhere between 1/4 and 40% of your playlist must consist of Canadian music. Plus, what do you do once that music burns? I can only think of one Strumbellas song that gets any airplay in the US, and the only format where I ever hear it is AAA. That’s why CanCon is such a nuisance and why having a US licensed station would be a programming advantage.