Hello,

On January 23rd we posted a story on our Facebook fan page regarding a directive the station received from the CRTC. Allow me to outline what has transpired.

In 2002, CKIC-FM was awarded a license to operate an Instructional Campus radio station, based at Red River College, whose primary objective was to train Creative Communications students for careers in commercial radio. We signed-on in December, 2003.

In 2010, the CRTC reviewed its Campus Radio Policy and made some substantial changes from the previous policy. Among the changes, the new policy removed the distinction between Instructional Campus stations (like KICK) and Campus stations (like UM-FM and CKUW). All campus-based stations will henceforth fall under one type of license: the Campus/Community license. Existing Instructional Campus stations (like KICK) were encouraged in the policy to continue training students, while at the same time broadening their base of community participation.From the new policy:

29. The Commission notes the specific role that stations currently licensed as campus instructional play in training broadcasters who will work for commercial radio stations. The Commission encourages these stations to pursue this goal within the new campus station framework, or through alternative means of broadcasting.

KICK-FM was happy with the new policy, which would come into effect with the renewal of our original license. We applied for a license renewal with the CRTC in 2011, and systematically promised to uphold the terms of the new policy.

Instead of a renewal, we were given an extension on our original license, while the Commission considered our renewal. We still operate, and will continue to operate under that license, at least until it expires at Midnight, August 31, 2012. No programs or training will be affected during the term of the existing license.

Prior to Christmas, 2011, myself and several members of the CreComm Radio Inc. Board of Directors (owner/operator of the CKIC-FM license) were called into an “off-the-record” meeting with a local CRTC Commissioner, to discuss the ramifications of the new policy on KICK-FM. The Commissioner told us that we were to focus on community involvement rather than student training, despite what the new policy document says, as quoted above. We asked for clarification: How much student training versus community volunteers would we allowed to broadcast under the new policy? The Commissioner agreed to seek clarification on this matter from Ottawa.

On January 23, the Commissioner called me with the answer. She said that Ottawa felt that she had “sugar-coated” her message to us at the meeting, that there is to be “no training of students for a career in commercial radio” and that if we insisted on training students, our “license renewal will be denied”.

When I asked the commissioner why there had been a change from the policy, as quoted above, without any official amendment to said policy, she gave me two reasons:

a) The CRTC has had a lot of issues with Instructional Campus stations recently, including the revocation of licenses of CJWV-FM, Winnipeg (FLAVA 107) and CKLN-FM, based at Ryerson in Toronto. (Both were clearly out-of-compliance with the regulations, and deservedly lost their right to broadcast.)

b) It was “a new Commission” with a new Commissioners, a new Chair, and a new direction.

So, our options seem to be the following:

1) Insist on training students, and have our license renewal denied. End result: go off-the-air.

2) Stop training students, focus on community volunteers, and perhaps lose our funding from the College, as we’d no longer be an educational component of the Creative Communications program. End result: go off-the-air.

3) Transfer the station to the internet, develop new KICK apps to increase ease-of-listening, and focus on training students in broadcasting and new media. End result: valuable training would continue in a positive direction and encompass the new methods of disseminating content in a digital world.

Next week, the BOD of CreComm Radio Inc. will meet to discuss our options, which we will eventually present to Red River College. We will keep you posted on developments.

As always, thank you very much for your continued support of Winnipeg’s Indie Station, 92.9 KICK-FM.

Rick Baverstock

Station Manager