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Public Notice
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Ottawa, 30 August 1991
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Public Notice CRTC 1991-89
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AMENDMENTS TO THE RADIO REGULATIONS, 1986
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In Public Notice CRTC 1990-111 entitled "An FM Policy for the Nineties", the Commission adopted a number of revisions to its policies for private commercial FM radio. Certain of these changes required amendments to the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the regulations), including amendments pertaining to AM radio.
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Public Notice CRTC 1991-44 entitled "Proposed Amendments to the Radio Regulations, 1986" called for public comment on the proposed amendments to the regulations. The amendments related to classes of licence, foreground format programming, spoken word programming, advertising content, Canadian musical content and the definition of "market" as it pertains to the prohibition against the simultaneous broadcast on an FM station of the program material broadcast on a jointly-owned AM station (simulcasting).
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In response to the public notice the Commission received 8 submissions from broadcasters, record producers, other broadcasting-related groups, and one individual. Having reviewed the submissions, the Commission is pleased to publish the attached amendments to its regulations, which were registered on 27 August 1991, and will be published in the Canada Gazette, Part II on 11 September 1991. The changes, effective 1 September 1991, apply to the following areas:
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Classes of Licence
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References to classes of licence have been removed from the regulations. This means that the regulations will be applicable -- as minimum requirements -- to all FM stations. On a case-by-case basis, however, the Commission may wish to impose on commercial FM licensees different requirements through conditions of licence.
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The Commission will, for administrative purposes, retain the concept of the types of licence it has used in the past. This will permit the Commission to impose additional requirements on the CBC and on the licensees of Student and Community stations, for instance, to meet different obligations imposed through conditions of licence.
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Foreground Format and Spoken Word Programming
The requirement that FM stations broadcast foreground segments has been removed. It has been replaced with a requirement that all FM stations broadcast, over the broadcast week, a 15% minimum level of Spoken Word programming.
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Advertising Content
The regulation imposing a daily maximum limit on the amount of time that FM stations may devote to advertising material has been removed. Under the new guidelines, commercial FM stations may devote to advertising messages no more than 15% (maximum 1,134 minutes) of the broadcast week. FM licensees will specify in their Promises of Performance the maximum amount of advertising they will broadcast.
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Canadian Content
Under the amended regulations, the Commission has set a 30% minimum Canadian content requirement for FM stations, subject to conditions of licence. The amended regulations will also permit both AM and FM stations to meet their Canadian content obligations on a weekly basis.
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The Commission will also retain the current definition for a Canadian selection.
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One of the submissions raised concerns as to the use of the word "principally" (in reference to an artistic performance) and the definition of "Canadian". The Commission notes that the proposed definition is the same as that contained in Section 13 of the current regulations. Further, since the time this definition was introduced in the early 1970s, the Commission has not encountered any problems serious enough to warrant a revision.
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The Commission outlined in Public Notice CRTC 1990-111 certain expectations regarding the reasonable distribution of Canadian selections over the broadcast day and week. The Commission indicated that it would monitor the distribution of Canadian music to ensure that it is reasonably evenly distributed. The Commission also noted that it is prepared to establish more stringent guidelines if necessary. However, recognizing the need for programming flexibility, the Commission, in assessing the performance of a station, stated that it would generally not object to the broadcast of special block programs with little or no Canadian content provided the broadcaster meets in a reasonable manner the expectations regarding the provision of 25% Canadian content between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. and the provision of a significant level of Canadian content in high-audience periods.
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The regulations had contained a requirement that a minimum of 5% of the musical selections broadcast by AM licensees, throughout each broadcast day, meet at least one of the following two conditions:
- the music is composed by a Canadian; and
- the lyrics are written by a Canadian.
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Under the proposed amendments to the regulations, this 5% requirement was to have applied to FM licensees as well as AM licensees. Initially, such a requirement was considered necessary to ensure that licensees, when broadcasting Canadian popular music, would broadcast at least a minimum level of Canadian-composed songs.
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One submission argued that the Commission should raise the proposed requirement from 5% to 20%. The Commission, upon further review, determined that, as a matter of course, most Canadian Pop and Country musical selections already exceed the latter level: of all those selections that qualify as Canadian content, more than 80% also qualify on the grounds that both lyrics and music were written by Canadians, resulting in an overall Canadian composition level of not less than 24%. This ratio has prevailed consistently ever since the original Canadian content regulation came into force, in effect rendering any requirement in this area unnecessary. The Commission has therefore deleted this requirement from the regulations.
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One submission requested that the Canadian content level for pre-1955 recorded music be reduced to 2%, claiming that little music qualifying as Canadian content is available from that period, and that broadcasters are discouraged from using such music because they have to compensate during the remainder of the broadcast week to meet their 30% Canadian content requirement. The submission argued that the future of programming targeted on seniors would be jeopardized as a result. The Commission has deferred its consideration of this request.
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Subsequent to the release of its December 1990 Policy Statement, the Commission has decided that it will permit licensees of stations with commitments to broadcast levels of 35% or more instrumental music, to vary their instrumental content between 35% and 100% without having to submit an application, provided they meet the appropriate level of Canadian content. To give effect to this, licensees will have to apply to have the following conditions attached to their licences: that the licensee, during each broadcast week where the number of instrumental musical selections amounts to 50% or more of all musical selections, devote 15% or more of the musical selections from content category 2 to Canadian selections and schedule those selections in a reasonable manner throughout each broadcast day; and,
that the licensee, during each broadcast week where the number of instrumental musical selections amounts to at least 35%, but less than 50%, of all musical selections, devote 20% or more of the musical selections from content category 2 to Canadian selections and schedule those selections in a reasonable manner throughout each broadcast day.
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Simulcasting
The Commission has decided to retain in the regulations the clause permitting simultaneous broadcasts that are necessitated by public emergency.
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Licensees seeking authorization to simulcast on the grounds that it will ensure continued service to a community, or licensees wishing to continue simulcasting hitherto permitted them by virtue of their falling in a class of licence that allowed it, should submit an application for a change to their conditions of licence.
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The Commission notes that, as was the case previously, the regulation against simulcasting will not apply to the CBC. An order of the Commission exempting the CBC from the prohibition has been issued today. Definitions
The definition of a market, as it pertains specifically to the prohibition against simulcasting, has been deleted. Under the amended regulations, the prohibition against simulcasting applies in situations where the 3 mv/m contour of a licensee's FM station overlaps any part of the daytime 15 mv/m contour of its associated AM station.
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As well, the definitions of the content categories and subcategories have been amended to reflect the simplified system adopted as a result of the policy review.
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Compliance
In addition to the changes to the regulations outlined above, the Commission wishes to draw attention to a change in the manner in which the Promise of Performance relates to the actual licence.
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As a result of changes made to the FM Policy, the Commission has moved from the former approach of requiring "substantial compliance" in a relatively large number of areas of programming to a regime of absolute compliance in a relatively small number of areas of programming. This is reflected in a much-shortened Promise of Performance. Accordingly, the new phrasing on the back of the current licence form will be removed and the following phrasing substituted:
It is a condition of licence that the licensee comply with each section and subsection of the Promise of Performance, subject to the conditions of licence set out in the most recent renewal decision or, in the absence thereof, the initial licensing decision, and that the licensee obtain the prior approval of the Commission before broadcasting any programming that constitutes a variation from any section or subsection of the said Promise of Performance.
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On occasion in the past, sometimes for the purpose of raising funds for charities, stations have varied their normal programming by including the broadcast of request music for a substantial part of a broadcast week. This has made it difficult for licensees to comply with their commitments regarding, for example, the broadcasting of hit selections.
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The latter part of the above condition, therefore, is to provide a mechanism to allow licensees to broadcast this and other types of short-term special programming of a nature clearly beneficial to the community served. Stations considering the occasional broadcast of such programming, which might jeopardize the fulfilment of their conditions of licence during a broadcast week, must set out, in a written request to the Commission well in advance of the broadcast, the exact time blocks during which the special programming is to be broadcast, the conditions that might be breached as a result, and the reasons why compliance cannot be assured through programming adjustments during the remainder of the broadcast week. Stations will be required to respect their conditions of licence during programming broadcast outside these time blocks. This Public Notice is the final stage in the Review of the FM Policy undertaken in 1989. The Commission wishes to thank all those who participated in consultations, submitted comments, or appeared at public hearings.
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Allan J. Darling
Secretary General
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