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Ottawa, 8 June 1993
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Decision CRTC 93-194
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Radio Communautaire de Châteauguay Inc.
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Châteauguay, Quebec - 922174800
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Licence renewal for CHAI-FM
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Pursuant to Public Notice CRTC 1993-8 dated 16 February 1993, the Commission renews the licence for Type B community radio programming undertaking CHAI-FM Châteauguay, from 1 September 1993 to 31 August 1996, subject to the conditions specified in this decision and in the licence to be issued.
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This term will enable the Commission to assess at an early date the licensee's compliance to the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the regulations) and the FM policy regarding French-language vocal music.
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Subsections 8(5) and 8(6) of the regulations require each licensee to retain, for a period of at least four weeks from the date of broadcast, and furnish to the Commission upon request "a clear and intelligible tape recording or other exact copy of all matter broadcast".
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In this regard, the Commission requested the station's logger tapes of the programming broadcast during the week of 3-9 November 1991. The licensee reported that, owing to human error, several blocks of time were missing from these tapes. The licensee also indicated that 8 hours and 30 minutes of programming were missing from the logger tapes for the week of 5-11 April 1992 due to both a power failure and human error. The Commission notes that these incidents of non-compliance are not the licensee's first. In Decision CRTC 88-725 which last renewed CHAI-FM's licence, the Commission also noted instances of non-compliance with respect to the regulatory requirements concerning the provision of logger tapes.
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The Commission notes further the licensee's non-compliance with respect to the level of French-language vocal music broadcast during the weeks of 3-9 November 1991 and 5-11 April 1992. Content levels observed for this category were 58.9% and 63.65%, respectively, rather than the required level of 65%. The licensee explained that the non-compliance was due to the fact that it broadcasts 15 hours per week of English-language programming.
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The Commission views with great concern the licensee's failure to comply with these regulatory requirements. It intends to monitor the licensee's performance during the new licence term, and directs the licensee to take all necessary measures to ensure that it complies at all times with the provisions of the regulations relating to logger tapes and those of the Policy on French-language vocal music.
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The Commission approves the licensee's proposal to reduce the station's level of English-language programming from 15 hours a week to 9 hours.
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The Commission denies the licensee's proposal to reduce its level of French-language vocal music from 65% to 60%. In support of its request, the licensee indicated that, because part of the station's program schedule is aimed at Anglophone listeners who have no interest in French-language vocal music, it must therefore broadcast large blocks of this music during its French-language programs. In the Commission's view, the small amount of English-language programming broadcast by the licensee does not justify a departure from the Commission's policy. The Commission notes that the station will devote a minimum of 6.95% Category 3 music (Traditional and Special Interest) as a percentage of overall music programming.
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The Commission approves the application to amend the present condition of licence relating to advertising by replacing it with the following:
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It is a condition of licence that the licensee broadcast no more than 6 minutes of advertising in every hour of broadcast, and that it broadcast no more than an average of 4 minutes of advertising per hour of broadcast up to a total of 504 minutes of advertising per week.
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This amendment is in accordance with the community radio policy for Type B stations, announced in Public Notice CRTC 1992-38 dated 29 May 1992.
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In Public Notice CRTC 1992-59 dated 1 September 1992 and entitled "Implementation of an Employment Equity Policy", the Commission announced that the employment equity practices of broadcasters would be subject to examination by the Commission. It considers that community radio stations should be particularly sensitive to this issue in order to reflect fully the communities they serve. It encourages the licensee to consider employment equity issues in its hiring practices and in all other aspects of its management of human resources.
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The Commission acknowledges the intervention submitted by the Association des radiodiffuseurs communautaires du Québec in support of this licence renewal application.
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Allan J. Darling
Secretary General
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