Francophone community radio strong; competing with private radio: ARRF

On the final day of the CRTC’s hearings for its review of the campus and community radio sector, the Association des radios régionales francophones (ARRF) aired concerns about a competitive threat it sees from community radio stations in small francophone markets. “Regional francophone radio has the lowest profits in our industry,” Marc-André Lévesque, treasurer of the association, told the commission Thursday. The ARRF represents 34 regional private radio stations in Quebec and New Brunswick. Contrary to the suggestions throughout the week that the very survival of community radio is threatened—at least in English Canada—Lévesque and his colleagues argued that, in small francophone markets, community radio represents a commercial threat to private radio. Before the commission, Lévesque cited an example in which one of the ARRF’s member stations, CJVA, could not afford to produce local content due to competition from a local community station, Radio Péninsule, in Caraquet, N.B. “Radio Péninsule declared Aug. 31, 2008, revenues of $1.3 million, $647,ooo of which was from advertising,” he said. Mario Paquin, president of the ARRF, also noted: “Community radio stations are in competition with our stations in a lot of markets.” According to Lévesque, the station’s management had to fire 13 employees due to lost advertising revenue. The station went on to rebroadcast content from another radio station in Bathurst. In its written submission to the commission, the ARRF maintained that community radio should offer programming that is different yet complementary to what private stations offer. The ARRF said it supports the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) recommendation presented earlier in the week that community radio stations air a minimum of 30 per cent spoken word content each week—which the community radio stations oppose. Earlier in the week, the campus and community radio sector, represented by the National Campus and Community Radio Association, called for mandatory funding from private broadcasters. The ARRF said it supports the CAB’s position that commercial radio should not be required to fund the campus and community radio sector through mandatory Canadian content development (CCD) contributions under the Broadcasting Act. “We have trouble justifying that our local radio stations should give to a national fund to help support community radio,” Renée Giard, ARRF board member and vice-president of sales with the Groupe Radio Simard, said before the commission Thursday. Lévesque went further, implying that mandatory contributions to the Community Radio Fund of Canada would open to calls for assistance from other groups short on funding. “How many other organizations will ask for financing from private radio?” he said. CRTC Commissioner Marc Patrone asked the ARRF’s representatives whether they would consider giving community radio stations non-monetary support, such as donating old technical equipment or training volunteers. But Paquin said he did not see how such a plan could be applied. The ARRF said that community radio stations have the advantage of multiple revenue streams such as advertising, donations from the community and the CRFC. But private radio, it argued, earns revenue only from advertising. The ARRF recommended that the CRTC adopt a model similar to one used in the United Kingdom, where community radio stations cannot receive more than 50 per cent of their funding from a single source. The ARRF said this would level the playing field in small francophone markets.

Francophone community radio strong; competing with private radio: ARRF

Broadcast | January 21, 2010

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