CFSI, CIHS and AVR Renewals Hearing

[radiofan]

Preamble
Additional information may be added to the public examination files for the stations as it becomes available. The Commission encourages interested persons to monitor the public examination files and the Commission’s website for additional information that they may find useful when preparing their comments.

This notice of consultation relates to several renewal applications from radio stations that are in apparent non-compliance with the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the Regulations) and/or certain conditions of licence and/or mandatory orders. The Commission notes that the licences for these undertakings will expire on 31 August 2015.

Items 1 to 3
In regard to items 1 to 3, it appears that the licensees in question may have failed to comply with the Regulations and/or certain of their conditions of licence or mandatory orders pursuant to section 12 of the Broadcasting Act (the Act). The Commission notes that some of these licensees are currently subject to short-term licence renewals due to non-compliance issues in the stations’ previous licence terms. Given the severity and frequency of the instances of apparent non-compliance observed in the current licence terms, the Commission calls the licensees to the public hearing to discuss these issues and to show cause why a mandatory order should not be issued or reimposed pursuant to section 12(2) of the Act and why, in certain cases, the Commission should renew a licence or alternatively, should not suspend or revoke the licence pursuant to sections 9 and 24 of the Act.

The Commission will want to discuss with these licensees all measures taken and/or that could be taken to address the concerns raised by these instances of apparent non-compliance.


Read the full release at: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2015/2015-84.htm#bm1

[jon]

Although the company names are different, Sukhdev S. Dhillon is a major player in both CFSI Salt Spring Island and CIHS Wetaskiwin. In the recent past, he was involved in 1110, one of the three U.S. "border stations" targeted by the CRTC for broadcasting into the Vancouver market.

As for AVR, the licenses involved are CKAV-FM Toronto, CKAV-FM-2 Vancouver, CKAV-FM-3 Calgary, CKAV-FM-4 Edmonton and CKAV-FM-9 Ottawa, even though Ottawa has been off the air for many months now.

[skyvalleyradio]

How very sad. Speaking of off air: CFSI-FM-1 @ 102.1 translator is now just a dead carrier & has been that way for at least 2 or 3 months now. Out of respect for the current CFSI programmers & management, I don't have the heart to file an intervention noting this or the rest of this technically challenged broadcaster's output. They don't need any help from me ending this train-wreck: the 1 or 2 advertisers they do have are providing "contra" as trades for services/products. I can't imagine how this station can sustain itself. The economic factors unique to the Goofy Islands have also spelled the end of profitable advertising dollars to all the media here, including the long-established newspaper. A number of people worked their asses off & poured their heart & soul into making a local radio station succeed but these efforts appear to be a dead-end. As noted in the CRTC release, CFSI/CIHS owner Sukhedev Dhillon is also attempting to change the ownership structure without permission. OTOH, the CRTC seems to lack the balls to have made good on their decrees against the border-blasters, so perhaps CFSI can just ignore a revocation order & keep broadcasting.

Meanwhile, a large majority of previous CFSI programmers - myself included, have been on air via webcasting thanks to the efforts of one-time CFSI manager Dave Gordon & local musician Dave Roland who operate "Gulf Island Radio". Check out the REAL Salt Spring radio station: http://www.spreaker.com/show/gulf-island-radio

[skyvalleyradio]

sorry here's the correct link for "Gulf Island Radio"

http://www.spreaker.com/user/vingaton

[Jim Walters]

Hopefully this will be the final straw for AVR.

There is nothing local on any of their stations. Are they still operating with an iPod full of non-native oldies music up at the QM transmitter site?

The list of non compliances they have racked up is longer than an average station's playlist.

I'll bet Harvard and Rawlco are lined up already for the wasted Calgary frequency.

I hope the CRTC has some balls and shuts them down along with Wetakiwin and Salt Spring Island.

[Aaron]

Are they still operating with an iPod full of non-native oldies music up at the QM transmitter site?

Can't speak for Vancouver, but that's exactly what they're doing in other markets.

[skyvalleyradio]

CFSI appears to be toast. Whether it returns to air is anyone's guess. For the last 3 days the main 107.9 FM signal has been off air. Curious, my wife went to the complex where the studio/office is located & noticed a message tacked to the door. It reads: "Closed - No power" and it appears that once again the station hasn't paid it's hydro bill & has been cut off. Meanwhile, at the south end of our island, CFSI-FM-1 is now in it's 4th month of continuous dead air. When I initially set up the 102.1 lease agreement for tower space & interior rack mounting, it included hydro provision & back-up generator; therefore the dead carrier. I know they've been in arrears before on the south end lease, and imagine if this is again the case, the tower owner will soon shut this off. CFSI-FM-1 is now the #1 station with yoga studios, health practitioners & new-born babies: "All silence all the time - CFSI-FM-1 your station for meditation!" Very sad indeed...

[Dave L]

CFSI appears to be toast. ... Very sad indeed...

As always, I enjoy updates from the Gulf Islands despite the bad news. All this unmodulated carrier stuff is frustrating. It's mind boggling how the commission enables these losers. Merely because electrons are flowing through an element, does not mean service is being provided yet the commission doesn't seem to care. In fact, I'm hard pressed to find anyone in recent times who's lost their license for that kind of behavior. Obviously, they fear litigation and muzzling more than actually doing what their job descriptions require.

It's going on a few years that CHMZ 90.1 FM Tofino has been abandoned. UPS equipment installed has failed. Every time the power flickers, the station goes off air... often for weeks on end. The building owner where McBride's studio was located was foreclosed upon, hence everyone locked out. They did refinance however, but McBride got the boot for not paying rent for years. Besides that, being located in the cash buyer's office of an old fish camp down on the waterfront, the negligent absentee maintenance of the studio has given rise to a nasty layer of mold over the equipment and a rat infestation contaminated or destroyed equipment with fecal/urine and gnaw damage.

Twice removed previously from CHMZ, Cameron Dennison has made some kind of paperless back room handshake deal to relocate the studio, but ENTIRELY at his own expense. New location, computers, board, rack, furnishings etc. Meanwhile McBride pockets the nationals and election revenues. I like Cameron. He's well liked in the community and means well, but he's on a fool's errand and much of the investment ought to be utilized on his new family and be better served than enabling Matthew McBride's penchant for f++cking everyone over. It's back on air... on auto... and non-compliant. Mono, low BW and parasitic (both ways). The Telus MW link is intermodding at a resonant TX. Waveform monitoring the near-field RF output displays similar to an image even though it's operating at the correct frequency with peaks and valleys, as opposed to a straight line. In fact, an image is clearly heard on the aviation band at band at 111.5 MHz. A double multiple of the 10.7 MHz intermediate frequency at thirty over in FM narrow mode outside of the near-field for greater than two kilometers from the tower. McBride had Geoff Johnson (who's not an engineer or technician) change out the TX a few years ago, out of the box, without dummy load testing or measuring and correcting the SWR disparity with the existing antenna. Yet they wonder why transmitters are failing.

Other than few border blasters, I don't see much of a crackdown on non-compliance issues in the radio world. Apparently reprehensible isn't egregious enough to warrant discipline. Apparently egregious isn't heinous enough to warrant cancellation either.

The mandate requirement isn't worth the spit it takes to utter it or the cost to us for the people who pretend to understand it. Guys like McBride go before the commission, promising the moon and deliver on none of it. Likewise, he can outright lie about CCD payments or and other operational malfeasance yet the licenses continue to stand.

McBride and Dhillon are egotistical, monopolistic c++kblockers and little else, enabled by an outdated system. They don't give a ratSa$$ about community, only self interest. They failed years ago in every aspect of the business, yet the commission upholds them as legitimate, effectively squeezing everyone else out from doing anything meaningful. Meanwhile, more people will be bilked out of their savings and time for the promise of the ethereal 5% of nothing. This nonsence has gone on way too long. It's past ridiculous and beyond the likelihood of every being anything reasonable. It's evolved into an outright scam and the game's still got some empty seats for new marks.

CRTC just doesn't get it, neither does Industry Canada, so long as these clowns are still allowed to operate the way they do.

[skyvalleyradio]

Dave - thanks for the equally dismal broadcasting news from the west coast

Twice removed previously from CHMZ, Cameron Dennison has made some kind of paperless back room handshake deal to relocate the studio, but ENTIRELY at his own expense. New location, computers, board, rack, furnishings etc. Meanwhile McBride pockets the nationals and election revenues. I like Cameron. He's well liked in the community and means well, but he's on a fool's errand and much of the investment ought to be utilized on his new family and be better served than enabling Matthew McBride's penchant for f++cking everyone over.

I suspect similar goings-on at CFSI. It is the volunteers & struggling management at these broadcasters that are the true unsung heros making their best efforts at selling advertising & providing entertaining/informative programming. These two station owners have a history of using/abusing/taking advantage of their station operators, when instead, they deserve huge THANK YOUs for keeping these Titanics afloat.

The Telus MW link is intermodding at a resonant TX. Waveform monitoring the near-field RF output displays similar to an image even though it's operating at the correct frequency with peaks and valleys, as opposed to a straight line. In fact, an image is clearly heard on the aviation band at band at 111.5 MHz. A double multiple of the 10.7 MHz intermediate frequency at thirty over in FM narrow mode outside of the near-field for greater than two kilometers from the tower. McBride had Geoff Johnson (who's not an engineer or technician) change out the TX a few years ago, out of the box, without dummy load testing or measuring and correcting the SWR disparity with the existing antenna. Yet they wonder why transmitters are failing.

Yikes!!! This is a perfect example of not spending enough on a competent technician or engineer or at the least, retaining the services of Dan Roach or someone similar. Operating a "micobroadcaster" isn't necessarily a 'plug-n-play' operation as a few of these cheap owners seem to think.

Other than few border blasters, I don't see much of a crackdown on non-compliance issues in the radio world. Apparently reprehensible isn't egregious enough to warrant discipline. Apparently egregious isn't heinous enough to warrant cancellation either.
CRTC just doesn't get it, neither does Industry Canada, so long as these clowns are still allowed to operate the way they do.

Good points, Dave. So far, the CRTC's edicts don't seem to have any teeth. I still hear South Asian programming on KRPI 1550 & KVRI 1600 in spite of threats of criminal proceedings. The defiant operators have probably been advised by their lawyers that punitive measures are doubtful. Industry-Canada has no interest in cracking down on shoddy technical performance either. I understand at least one local pilot/plane owner complained about the dead carrier on 102.1, but didn't receive a reply or acknowledgement from IC. Lack of enforcement is also happening in the US. I read a few days back that the FCC is doing major staffing cuts. These include de-staffing the Bellevue, WA facility from full-time to "on-call" use of office & equipment on an 'as-needed' basis. As an AM DXer I'm truly amazed at the number of US stations that DON'T 'power down' or change to "Night pattern" as licensed. Similarly, there always seems to be at least one US 'daytimer' that never shuts down at sunset as directed. Also noted, US stations that don't bother with "legal IDs' @ :60 +/- While making for some fun DX logging, it says little about the priorities of regulating the airwaves in either country. I understand Dhillon now has ownership in KIGS 620 Hanford, CA and when I last heard it about a month back, was airing South Asian programming, so we'll see how long this lasts.

[skyvalleyradio]

UPDATE: the hydro bill has been paid & CFSI is back on air on 107.9 FM along with the webstream (102.1 remains 'dead carrier') An internal letter from the interim station manager to programmers indicates her immediate resignation from that position & her final on-air show will be this weekend. The letter also states that the remaining programmers at CFSI have either done their last show or are about to this coming week. The blame for this has been squarely placed on the inaction & neglect of it's 'absentee owner'. It's assumed a week from now, the last person out the door will leave the badly ailing on-air computer in "Automation" mode. The end?

Meanwhile, webcaster "Gulf Island Radio" is gearing up for a new website plus moving forward with additional streaming alongside the on-demand/podcasts currently available. It's operators hope to add new programming from those now leaving the station, who'll join other ex-CFSI programmers in this new venture.

[jon]

The responses to the CRTC's questions to AVR were published by the CRTC today. They are from AVR's legal firm.

The main gist of the legal firm's arguments seems to be that the issues of non-compliance that they acknowledge as truly being non-compliance are because of what they term "the discriminatory elements" of the CRTC's "Native Policy" which forces AVR to be non-profit, and will be resolved as soon as the CRTC allows AVR to be a for-profit organization.

You can download the actual documents here: https://services.crtc.gc.ca/pub/DocWebB ... ype=Notice
Once downloaded, you will have to add ".zip" to the file name.


There was also a recent intervention by former CKUA announcer, Richard Moses, who has been a big part of CFSI:

To the Commission:
My name is Richard Moses. I am the co-founder, with Gary Brooks, of CFSI Radio on Salt Spring Island. I need not tell you of the problems besetting this small radio station since the license was granted in 2007, first under the auspices of Mr. Brooks, now, perhaps even worse, those of Sukhdev Dhillon. I would call to your attention in particular the past two tumultuous years as detailed by our Acting Manager, Radha Fournier, in her recent intervention.
A month or so before the station went on the air I was fired by Mr. Brooks (for, I suspect, "talking back") and memories of this event led to my devising a possible, though specious, action by the CFSI staff. I could see the headline in our weekly newspaper: "RADIO STAFF MEMBERS FIRE OWNER; Dereliction of Duty, Willful Neglect of Responsibility Charged."
Of course, I realized such a thing was impossible, but that is what seemed to be warranted. It would certainly garner some attention and we had plenty of evidence---all in carefully kept records.
Before I could mourn my failure to arrest the attention of other staff members with this unique plan, March was upon us and two things happened: 1) Mr. Dhillon showed up with paycheques for the four paid staff members---the first we had received this calendar year, and 2) the summons to a CRTC hearing arrived---the second for this amazingly popular station in less than two years!
But we had already set in motion a Plan B for what we hoped would be corrective actions. First, Mr. Dhillon would hire a Sales Manager. We had found the ideal fellow: a local merchant, experienced, eloquent, available and somewhat needy yet willing to work on commission only. For two years we had been hearing from our owner: "make some money". Here was a chance to get the station on its feet. The reaction of the owner was a refusal even to discuss it. The second requirement was to provide the Acting Manager with a chequing account with which she could pay bills and staff, handle emergencies and the like. There was nothing in the budget for these things. In fact, come to think of it, there was no budget---never had been a budget. Again, no response from the owner. And there went Plan B---but not without a failure to pay the electric bill and, on a recent Monday morning, a complete power cut to the station. But, hey, we were back up by Friday.
The result was Plan C. We had to do something, take some action. After two years of "putting up with it" with no sign of change or relief, the new plan, worked out in late February, was this: the Sales Manager must be hired and the bank account must be established before March 31, 2015 or we would "walk". We would, in effect, be shutting down all live programming at the radio station. In the five or six weeks before April there was no response, no discussion, let alone a Sales Manager or a bank account. Plus: with the hearing coming up, there was a chance to let the Commission know that, by golly, we were unhappy and something had to be done. On March 31, We walked.
Ah, but that was still not the end of things. In the week following the delivery of those paycheques, all but one bounced.
You will not be surprised, therefore, if I attach my name to this intervention calling for the radio license held by Sukhdev Dhillon to be revoked. A renewal of this license would behoove no one and would further damage this station's efforts to rescue itself.
I would also request your assistance, if that is possible, in finding a new owner for CFSI.
Thank you.
Richard Moses
Program Director
CFSI Radio