Turtle Island Native Network
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CRTC approves AVR in Vancouver but with 'challenging' terms and conditions
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/Decisions/2001/DB2001-314.htm

June 5th, 2001

Aboriginal Voices Radio (AVR) gets licence for Vancouver - BUT
AVR has been left to fight over the scraps as CRTC gives nod to Frequency
Feeding Frenzy by commercial and political interests.

The CRTC approved an Aboriginal Voices Radio license for Vancouver but
technical uncertainties remain, as commercial interests obviously got the
best frequencies.

Focus Entertainment Group a commercial urban music format got the best FM
license. Aboriginal Voices corporate partner NewCap was shutout again
(their loss in Calgary was AVR's financial loss) and that again denies
Aboriginal Voices the millions of dollars in much needed start up funding.

In an obvious power and politics-motivated decision Rogers Broadcasting was
awarded an FM license for its Abbotsford operation, essentially giving it a
Vancouver audience on a silver platter.

Aboriginal Voices Radio must now try to work with the leftovers, including
perhaps an AM license rather than FM.

The CRTC's decision seemed to ignore the fact there already were 18 English
language stations in the Vancouver market and its decision pitted the CBC
against Aboriginal Voices Radio --- and Simon Fraser University against
Aboriginal Voices Radio in forcing them to fight for the leftover and
questionable frequencies.

Here is a quote from CRTC commissioner Jean-Marc Demers who dissented on
the Vancouver decision.

"The majority decision, by allocating the frequency 94.5 MHz to a
nineteenth English-language station in Vancouver, places the CBC in a
position where, to serve the Francophones of British Columbia, it must use
the frequency proposed for a native station, which the CBC has not even
requested. This is called "robbing Peter to pay Paul." With respect, the
majority’s decision to take away the frequency 90.9 MHz that AVR has
applied for and give it to the CBC is not a very generous act. As an agency
of the Canadian federal government, in the exercise of its authority the
Commission should make decisions that take the initiative of applicants
such as the CBC and AVR into account and that reflect the great national
examination of conscience that resulted from the work and the Report of the
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (the Dussault/Erasmus Commission) of
1996."

For more on Aboriginal Voices Radio see
http://www.turtleisland.org/news/news-radio.htm


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