Ontario campus radio stations feeling threatened by provincial legislation

A recently passed bill overhauling Ontario’s education system could be the death knell for several campus stations, observers note. The Supporting Children and Students Act mostly deals with elementary and secondary schools, but one provision affects the way university fees are collected. That section of the law permits students to opt out of paying fees that support activities they do not endorse. That includes campus media. The government of Premier Doug Ford attempted to bring in the changes in 2019 under what was called the Student Choice Initiative. But universities fought back and the government lost a court challenge. That left a gap in the province’s plans. “What they did was they changed the legislation to close that loophole, which got them out of it, and they’re doing it again a second time,” Barry Rooke, executive director of the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA), told The Wire Report. The NCRA is working with Canadian University Press (CUP) to minimize the impact of the new law. Rooke is concerned too many rebates of university fees could cripple the radio stations. “Most campus stations operate on around 80 per cent from the student fees for how they run their organizations,” he explained. The other 20 per cent is realized from advertising, sponsorships, and local fundraising. There have already been ramifications for campus stations due to the new law. Most of the ones that were set up to teach journalism students about broadcasting have cancelled that role, leaving the stations to operate simply as day-to-day broadcasters. At McMaster University in Hamilton, campus officials forced the merger of the radio station and the university newspaper. London’s Fanshawe college has shut down its teaching component at campus station CIXX-FM. “In April 2025, Fanshawe announced the suspension of future intakes for 40+ programs starting this September,” corporate communications officer Kyle Rooks emailed The Wire Report. “The Broadcasting – Radio and Media Production program – which supports CIXX-FM – was among the programs suspended.” The current crop of students in the broadcasting program will stop working at the station next April. Fanshawe cannot financially support CIXX-FM beyond that. “We are in the process of engaging with an interested member of the London community who has voiced an interest in Fanshawe's broadcasting license and remain committed that students will complete their program while continuing to be taught and evaluated based on course and learning outcomes,” Rooks continued. Another casualty of the defunding trend is CHUO-FM at the University of Ottawa. Last year a campus referendum endorsed ending support for the station. Despite frantic efforts for additional funding, the station went dark in mid-December. The NCRA is worried that what is occurring in Ontario could spread to other provinces. “That is always a concern especially with a couple of the provinces that do have sort of more of that viewpoint that we’ve seen,” Rooke maintains. “Alberta is an area that’s been talked about, and when the Student Choice Initiative popped up the government back then in Alberta also made comments saying, ‘wow this is a great idea. Let’s go take this on.’” The failure of the initiative in court curtailed those sentiments, he noted. Not all is bleak for campus stations. Ottawa radio station CKCU-FM, affiliated with Carleton University, celebrated 50 years of operations in November. It was one of the first campus stations licensed by the CRTC. For years it has been supported by a community funding drive. This year it surpassed its goal, raising nearly $195,000 from local interests. ppark@thewirereport.ca

Ontario campus radio stations feeling threatened by provincial legislation

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By Paul Park
|January 9, 2026

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Ontario campus radio stations feeling threatened by provincial legislation

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