CRTC won’t grant Yellowknife FM station, two commissioners dissent

After years of consideration, the CRTC determined that Yellowknife, NWT cannot support another FM radio station. Two commissioners disputed that finding, filing dissenting opinions to the decision Wednesday. 506992 N.W.T. Ltd. has been operating an internet radio service called Cabin Radio since 2017. In 2019 it applied for an FM licence to serve its territorial capital. The commission called for comments two years later. The market is currently served by one English station run by Vista Radio Ltd., one French station operated by Société Radio Taїga, and an Indigenous station run by the Native Communications Society of the N.W.T. (NCSNWT). Vista also submitted an application to operate a second station in the region. In its intervention opposing the new stations, NCSNWT said any new FM station would put stress on the viability of the market. Vista said granting Cabin Radio a licence would have a severe impact on its current station. The economy in the territory is contracting, it maintained, with gross domestic product declining at a greater rate than the nation as a whole. In its analysis, the CRTC stated that commercial radio revenues have declined in Canada since the pandemic. It also noted that inflation is at its highest levels in more than three decades. “Yellowknife benefits from low unemployment rates and high average incomes,” the decision noted. “However, there are concerns regarding slowdowns that may limit long-term growth.” The commission found the city could not support a fourth radio station. It will not consider any new applications for two years. That did not sit well with two western commissioners. Claire Anderson, commissioner representing British Columbia and the Yukon, and Manitoba and Saskatchewan commissioner Joanne Levy each filed a dissent that was appended to the ruling. “I believe the majority decision overly relied upon territorial data rather than data focused on the market at issue (Yellowknife), failed to perform an analysis of Yellowknife’s job market, particularly with respect to whether a large government workforce may stabilize the market during economic instability, and placed significant weight on the financial performance of the incumbent commercial radio station who was both underperforming prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and whose profitability has been improving since 2020,” Anderson wrote. While the economy of the territories may be in decline, the city of Yellowknife has a higher median after-tax income level. It is greater than the rest of the territory and of the country. She also lamented the fact that no new applications will be accepted for two years. Levy chastised the regulator for its delay in the proceedings. “The laudable goal of compressing the process has not panned out,” she noted. She points out that Vista said on the one hand that the economy was bad and on the other applied for its own licence. Yellowknife not only has economic stability but is also a cultural capital, the commissioner stated. A new station could serve diversity of voices. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.

CRTC won’t grant Yellowknife FM station, two commissioners dissent

Broadcast | February 15, 2023

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CRTC won’t grant Yellowknife FM station, two commissioners dissent

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