CACTUS proposes shared local media spaces to reduce costs

To answer the question of funding—the central issue in this week’s CRTC hearings on community radio—the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS) is proposing a plan to reduce costs through shared local radio, television, and new media spaces. Starting Monday this week, the CRTC is holding hearings about its review of community and campus radio. CACTUS is proposing that public spaces be used or built to house mixed media centres, where community radio, television and new media could be produced under one roof. “What we found is that we have a lot of common concerns with the community radio sector,” Cathy Edwards, a spokeswoman for CACTUS, told The Wire Report. Edwards said the proposal would build on existing infrastructure and would not depend on extra funding thanks to the combined resources of both sectors. “Nothing new would be asked of anyone,” she said. The idea is being met with some support. “We need visions like that moving forward,” said Kevin Matthews, executive director of the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA). “We’ve got to build on existing infrastructure and the community radio infrastructure is strong.” But Stephanie Kepman, station manager at the University of Ottawa’s CHUO, said she has some concerns about the idea. Kepman said that if the mixed media centres created new radio stations that worked independently from existing community stations, it would contribute to spectrum scarcity by using up limited radio frequencies. “They completely ignore campus and community radio stations already existing,” Kepman said. Representatives from campus radio stations and the NCRA will be among the speakers at Monday’s hearings. They hope to secure more funding from private and government sources for their sector. “We are an association of struggling not-for-profit broadcasters who are trying to fulfill a public service mandate without enough funding,” Matthews said. The NCRA will make a joint presentation with the Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada and the Association des radiodiffuseurs communautaires du Québec. Together they represent 138 campus and community stations in all provinces and territories. “The most urgent threat to the sector is the chronic underfunding,” said Matthews. One new source of funding for the sector is the Community Radio Fund of Canada (CRFC). The fund was established in 2008 when Astral Media Inc. contributed $1.4 million to be distributed over seven years for a national community radio skills development program. Earlier this year Astral Media contributed another $300,000 to the fund. “Until now, private broadcasters have been giving to the sector through voluntary contributions,” said Melissa Kaestner, executive director of the CRFC. “We would like to see the CRTC put into place a more mandatory mechanism.” The Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), which represents the private broadcasting industry, is scheduled to lead a joint presentation with Astral Media Radio Inc., Corus Entertainment Inc., Rogers Media and CHUM Radio at the hearing Tuesday. The CAB did not return calls, but in its Oct. 16 submission to the CRTC for its review of community and college radio, the association said the “establishment of new obligations will simply weaken a sector that is already threatened.” The CAB says that, “the continued ability of the radio sector to continue its important contributions to the Canadian broadcasting system rests on the Commission recognizing that it must not take steps that will further jeopardize the financial health of this sector.” Currently, private broadcasters pay 0.5 per cent of their annual gross revenue to Canadian Content Development initiatives to provide funding to Canadian musical and spoken word talent. The CRFC proposes a mandatory mechanism for private broadcasters that would include itself—i.e., the organization’s stakeholders—in the list of the government’s Canadian Content Development benefactors like the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR). The CRFC would also like to see the minimum donation benchmark increase to 0.6 per cent of gross annual revenues. Some community radio players would like to see the fund go even further. “We’re hoping the funding becomes less restrictive and less project-based,” Kepman said. Kepman said staff and administrative expenses can account for as much as 50 per cent of a station’s costs. In its first year, the CRFC was able to distribute $160,000 in funding focused specifically on developing young talent at community radio stations. Stations could apply to receive as much as $10,000 for skills development. Kepman said the money, while welcome, did not address the core funding deficit in the sector.

CACTUS proposes shared local media spaces to reduce costs

Broadcast | January 17, 2010

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