CKAC union appeal might jeopardize Astral-Corus radio swap

Corus Quebec is bringing in a high-profile lawyer to fight an appeal to the federal government by two employee unions, which want a CRTC decision approving a radio station swap between Corus and Astral Media overturned. Lucien Bouchard, the former Conservative member of Parliament who resigned to lead the Bloc Quebecois opposition and later became Quebec premier, will represent Corus Quebec in the matter, the radio broadcaster announced March 9. Value of the radio stations transferring to CorusCKAC-AM$5,000,000CFOM-FM$3,850,000CHRC-AM$300,000CJRC-AM$350,000CHLT-AM$450,000CKTS-AM$450,000CHLN-AM$400,000CKRS-AM$650,000TOTAL:$11,000,000Source: Analyse des aspects financiers de la décision CRTC concernant l’acquisition de la station CKAC Montréal par Corus Entertainment Inc. ; March 1, 2005. The report contains this table of the value of the radio stations as assigned by Corus.The worker’s union at CKAC, which has 56 employee members including 20 journalists, and the Conseil provincial du secteur des communications, representing 7,000 workers in the communications field, filed the appeal, arguing that the CRTC decision to allow the radio swap is against the interests of Quebec and the goals of section 3 of the Broadcasting Act. Under the radio swap, approved by the commission in January (CCR Update, Feb. 7/05; CCR, Jan. 28/05), Corus proposed to transform CKAC over a three-year period into a spoken-word station primarily oriented to sports and health from its current popular news and talk-radio format. CKAC would drop its open-line programming that deals with controversial political topics, according to Corus. Corus Quebec contended that CKAC’s change in format would make its programming complementary to existing radio programming in Montreal, including the all-news stations CHMP-FM and CINF (Info690), which the radio broadcaster also owns. The radio station’s newsroom will be shuttered and 17 of 20 Montreal journalists will be laid off, according to the unions. But in a March 7 note to all staff employed at the seven AM and one FM stations that Corus will acquire in the swap, Corus Quebec president Pierre Arcand states, "Thanks to this transaction, and quite contrary to what has been said, the total number of Quebec journalists working for Corus Quebec or Astral will rise from 65 to 70." Under the radio swap, Astral gains possession of five radio stations from Corus. Parti Quebecois leader Bernard Landry is on board with the unions, stating last month, "This dismantles a team of information professionals at CKAC and it diminishes the presence of information professionals in the regions of Quebec." He also stated that he had written to Prime Minister Paul Martin and Quebec Premier Jean Charest to ask them to work to reverse Corus’ decision to change CKAC’s radio format. Interestingly, Canadian Heritage minister Liza Frulla is a former CKAC executive. In its appeal filed March 2 with the Governor in Council, the unions also contend that the CRTC based its decision on "erroneous information or in the very least incomplete details about the financial situation at CKAC." Therefore, the unions argue the regulator placed a disproportionate amount of weight on the economics of the situation rather than the crucial question of diversity of sources and information as spelled out in section 3 of the Act. The unions state in the appeal that the CRTC did not verify the statistics presented by Astral and Corus. "The appellants submit that the numbers presented by Corus and Astral, and accepted by the CRTC, are too alarmist and don’t take into account the (true) financial situation at CKAC," writes Julius Grey, a lawyer with Grey Casgrain, the law firm representing the unions. The appeal includes a March 1 report, conducted by accountants Demers Beaulen, that presents a much more optimistic financial picture of the Montreal AM radio station. The report signed by Michel Hamelin discusses the recent decline in the AM radio station’s fortunes, and concludes that it is "at least in part due to the politics of Astral and Corus." The report concludes that CKAC’s full potential has not been realized since 2001. The unions also note that while the CRTC recognizes the importance of maintaining an independent and original source of news on private radio in Quebec, the commission paradoxically doesn’t put in place any mechanism to ensure its continuance. The appeal argues that 75% of news distributed by Info690, the radio station that will in theory replace CKAC as the major news headquarters for Corus’ other stations, comes from the Canadian Press. Arcand states in his note to the employees, "We do, however, regret that this action (the appeal) prolongs the uncertainty that many were very happy to see disappear consequent on the (CRTC) authorization of the transaction…In the course of my career in radio, I spent some time as general manager of CKAC. I invested all my energies and my passion for radio into making it what at that time was the most listened-to station in Montreal. And it is because of my deep affection for CKAC that we wish to take it over and put in the money necessary to allow it to once more achieve the highest audience rating." Astral has been trying to unload the radio stations that are part of the swap for three years.

CKAC union appeal might jeopardize Astral-Corus radio swap

Broadcast | March 11, 2005

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