Lower quotas mean more revenue for stations, more airplay for artists

Etienne Dumont, a 26-year-old radio host and producer currently working at CHLT 630 Estrie in eastern Quebec, has provided the first stakeholder comment on the CRTC’s Commercial Radio Policy review process. We kindly thank Mr. Dumont for the English translation of his intervention, which is excerpted below. Although it is important to have radio that reflects our culture and gives us an opportunity to discover new artists from our country, I have always believed that the rules and quotas regarding Canadian, and especially French, content are too high for people aged 12 to 29 to be interested in listening to our radio stations, particularly with the arrival of MP3s and satellite radio. There is a line to walk between healthy but Americanized and sick but local radio . With 35% Canadian music and 65% Francophone music in Quebec, we tend more towards the second option. It is essential and quite simple to make today’s radio appreciated by tomorrow’s listeners. First of all, we need to have more radio stations that only offer entertainment, in each and every market. Those stations should be allowed to play an average of only eight minutes of spoken content every hour including news, spots and DJ dialogue. In other words, we need a lower floor of required spoken content in order to give sufficient latitude to radio stations owners and operators. Then, Canadian music quotas have to be lowered to 20% everyday between 6 a.m. and midnight, and francophone music quotas must be lowered to a daily 40%, also between 6 a.m. and midnight. Those must apply to each and every radio station with no restriction. In my opinion, by governing the Canadian radio industry in this fashion, we will avoid the scenario where people 12 to 29 years old only listen to Anglophone music that mainly comes from the United States, on their MP3 players or satellite channels. I generalize somewhat, but I believe I’m giving you a good picture of the actual situation. I think that the problem is worse in Quebec because the quotas are higher. In addition, changing the rules this way will eventually result in an increase in revenues for almost all of the radio stations and their owners. Finally, new radio stations may appear, and some stations may offer formats that were never explored before because of the quotas that can handicap, for example, someone who would like to operate a hip-hop station. Those who think that such rules would make Francophones listen to less music in French are wrong. With 40% Francophone music imposed daily between 6 a.m. and midnight, lots of young people who currently listen to their 100% Anglophone MP3s would likely consider radio a more compelling listening option. The choice is simple: we stay with 65% Francophone music and 35% Canadian music imposed and our industry keeps collapsing under the pressure of MP3s and satellite radio, or we considerably lower our quotas to give a second breath to a sick industry without necessarily harming our Canadian artists. The more people listen to the radio, the more the artists played on the air are heard. In short, fewer and simpler-to-apply rules, more latitude for radio owners and operators, and especially lower Canadian and Francophone music quotas are the ingredients that compose the recipe for success for the radio industry in the 21st century.

Lower quotas mean more revenue for stations, more airplay for artists

News | 02/10/2006 5:00 am EST

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