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US Stations Targeting Canadian Audiences

R

RF101

Canadian firms cannot get a tax deduction for advertising on US outlets that operate as "border blasters". This law is codified and somehow passed muster with NAFTA and the current "United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA)". How do Canadian businesses get around this law? (Today it's mostly ethnic stations but in the past several stations in Bellingham, Detroit and Plattsburgh targeted audiences to the north - both radio and TV.)


The law says:

"Line 8521 – Advertising : "You can deduct expenses for advertising, including advertising in Canadian newspapers and on Canadian television and radio stations. You can also claim any amount you paid as a finder's fee"........ "You cannot deduct expenses for advertising directed mainly at a Canadian market when you advertise with a foreign broadcaster."

See for yourself:

Line 8521 – Advertising - Canada.ca

Line 8521 – Advertising
www.canada.ca www.canada.ca
 
WTOR's stream is available via EAwaz.com . A top of the hour English ID is thrown in to make it official. Any other stations from the US targeting metro Montreal or Toronto? I know EMF just bought some properties in the borderlands,
 
Besides WTOR, I do not know many stations left that broadcast from one Country, serving the other.
I think Fox FM might still be serving Cornwall Ontario from the American side, but I'm not sure.
Totally priceless the stunt they tried to pull one time-targeting Ottawa.
They flew a plane over downtown Ottawa with a banner that read "GO LEAFS GO!! Listen to CHEZ 106" lol priceless.
They even bent over backwards to sound like an Ottawa area radio station also, even though they were clearly American. (their legal station id/calls gave it away)
 
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Wasn't there a religious station targeting Vancouver from the US? It would have had looser religious content regulations than Canada, which does not allow anti-LGBT sermons.
 
gr8oldies said:
Wasn't there a religious station targeting Vancouver from the US? It would have had looser religious content regulations than Canada, which does not allow anti-LGBT sermons.
Click to expand...
Since when? The only thing close to that I know of was in 2011 when the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council banned playing the unedited version of Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" because it contains the homophobic F-word -- a decision which they reversed a few months later due to "public outrage", although they maintained that the word is "inappropriate for broadcast on Canadian airwaves":

www.rollingstone.com

Canada Lifts Ban on Dire Straits' 'Money for Nothing'

Song was removed from airwaves for anti-gay slur
www.rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com
 
kevtronics said:
Since when? The only thing close to that I know of was in 2011 when the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council banned playing the unedited version of Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing" because it contains the homophobic F-word -- a decision which they reversed a few months later due to "public outrage", although they maintained that the word is "inappropriate for broadcast on Canadian airwaves":

www.rollingstone.com

Canada Lifts Ban on Dire Straits' 'Money for Nothing'

Song was removed from airwaves for anti-gay slur
www.rollingstone.com www.rollingstone.com
Click to expand...
Sure, an effort to do something about that, but in wonderful multicultural Canada, if you hear Middle Eastern music (or whatever foreign language) it's okay to say (in a song) PUT THE NEEDLE ON THE RECORD!!! lol Nothing done about that one. 80's & rewind stations play the full version (not edited) all the time.

 
gr8oldies said:
Wasn't there a religious station targeting Vancouver from the US? It would have had looser religious content regulations than Canada, which does not allow anti-LGBT sermons.
Click to expand...
I'm not fully aware. Are you referring to the networked company that recently bought several radio stations, including two that used to target Montreal from the American side? (And might still...?)
 
Are you actually saying that Detroit stations targetted Windsor Ontario? That sounds like a really good way to diminish the stations' monetary value!
 
semoochie said:
Are you actually saying that Detroit stations targetted Windsor Ontario? That sounds like a really good way to diminish the stations' monetary value!
Click to expand...
I wasn't talking about Detroit, but since you mentioned it, drop a format on the Canadian side and the American side will be damn fast to pick it up! lol
 
KWPZ Lynden/Bellingham WA is a class C that gets decent ratings in the Vancouver PPM market; the signal does pretty well cover the metro. You will regularly hear Canadian commercials on the station. They are CCM and provide something that apparently is otherwise lacking in the market. And even without the write off, apparently some Canada based advertisers are willing to pay.

Also serving Vancouver and Victoria are border blasting US stations at 1110, 1550, and 1600. All three of these serve the S Central Asian diaspora on the lower mainland and Vancouver Island. Must make sense to do this- 1110 just recently completed construction on a new directional array and a substantial upgrade in power heading towards Victoria. When was the last time you heard about an AM broadcaster in the US upgrading their transmission facilities?
 
On this short video from Pat Holiday's Musicom Academy, despite the clickbaity title, he talks about the Detroit and Windsor markets, CKLW having had a sales office in Southfield, Michigan, and Detroit stations having no presence in Windsor, but still having big audiences in Windsor. If you're not familiar with Pat Holiday, he was a longtime jock and PD at CKLW, and eventually GM in Toronto, as well as working US markets.
 
The New Chico said:
KWPZ Lynden/Bellingham WA is a class C that gets decent ratings in the Vancouver PPM market; the signal does pretty well cover the metro. You will regularly hear Canadian commercials on the station. They are CCM and provide something that apparently is otherwise lacking in the market. And even without the write off, apparently some Canada based advertisers are willing to pay.

Also serving Vancouver and Victoria are border blasting US stations at 1110, 1550, and 1600. All three of these serve the S Central Asian diaspora on the lower mainland and Vancouver Island. Must make sense to do this- 1110 just recently completed construction on a new directional array and a substantial upgrade in power heading towards Victoria. When was the last time you heard about an AM broadcaster in the US upgrading their transmission facilities?
Click to expand...
When American stations air Canadian ads & aim high for a Canadian audience they also do not have to worry about 35-40% Canadian content rules.
The music could be 100% American and the CRTC can't do anything about it.
Does the FCC have any American regulation on the music content?
Heck, if the demand is there (and FCC allows it) an American station could literally copy the sound of a UK station and get away with it...100% UK music and all! Hinting at an all UK dance station or a hit music station that plays a lot of the hits from the UK...or ANYTHING that sounds very different than a station that would normally air 35-40% Canadian hits.
 
Yeziknoradio said:
When American stations air Canadian ads & aim high for a Canadian audience they also do not have to worry about 35-40% Canadian content rules.
The music could be 100% American and the CRTC can't do anything about it.
Does the FCC have any American regulation on the music content?
Heck, if the demand is there (and FCC allows it) an American station could literally copy the sound of a UK station and get away with it...100% UK music and all! Hinting at an all UK dance station or a hit music station that plays a lot of the hits from the UK...or ANYTHING that sounds very different than a station that would normally air 35-40% Canadian hits.
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In the UK, one of the Jack sub-formats is "Union Jack" which is all British hits.
Re: CanCon, no the CRTC can't do a thing about US stations broadcasting into Canada, but the CRTC made life hell for Canadian stations that had built US audiences. The video I posted above tells us when The Big 8 was still doing top 40 or hot A/C, the Detroit stations did zero promotion in Windsor (even at-the-time new WLLZ) yet ratings (as a percentage) in Windsor mirrored Detroit.
 
gr8oldies said:
In the UK, one of the Jack sub-formats is "Union Jack" which is all British hits.
Re: CanCon, no the CRTC can't do a thing about US stations broadcasting into Canada, but the CRTC made life hell for Canadian stations that had built US audiences. The video I posted above tells us when The Big 8 was still doing top 40 or hot A/C, the Detroit stations did zero promotion in Windsor (even at-the-time new WLLZ) yet ratings (as a percentage) in Windsor mirrored Detroit.
Click to expand...
Metro Windsor has about 10% of the population of metro Detroit. That means that ad rates for Windsor are going to be much lower, and not worth it for stations that can sell the Detroit market.

This is sort of like the Los Angeles market, adjacent to (but not international border) the Riverside San Bernardino market. Most of the LA stations don't even buy the Riverside San Bernardino market ratings as there is no sales opportunity in that much smaller market.
 
In northern NY there are some stations that cater to audiences on both sides of the border, with weather forecasts in both farenheight and celcius and some Canadian advertising. One station that comes to mind which completely targets Canada is WLYK in WLYK Cape Vincent, NY. It targets the Kingston, Ontario market and is even programmed by Canadian broadcaster Rogers.
 
They don't necessarily spend a majority of their time broadcasting from Canadian studios, but a large amount, if not a majority, of viewership and funds for PBS television stations Buffalo/Toronto Public Media (WNED-TV) and Prairie Public Television (KFME-TV, etc) originate from Canada.
 
victorres43 said:
The transmitter for CFLZ is closer to Buffalo than either Niagara Falls or St Catharines...
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They got in trouble with the CRTC when they were Zee 101 for not serving Niagara Falls Ontario properly. (not serving place of licence)
They also tried too hard to be a Buffalo NY hit music station and failed.
 
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