The CRTC is switching to an online format for a radio broadcast licence hearing originally scheduled to be held in Gatineau, Que. last month. The virtual hearing will now take place on June 16 and look at five radio stations that “appear to be in serious non-compliance with their regulatory requirements, certain conditions of licence or mandatory orders issued by the Commission,” the CRTC said in a press release. Many CRTC proceedings were delayed, rescheduled or had their deadlines extended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. CRTC chairman Ian Scott, vice-chair Caroline Simard, and commissioner Alicia Barin will preside over the three-day hearing involving the Parrsboro Radio Society, La radio communautaire du comté, CPAM Radio Union.com Inc., Groupe Médias Pam Inc. and a numbered company that holds the licence for CFOR-FM Maniwaki....
The CRTC is asking for comment on renewals of licences held by 10 broadcasters. It said in a notice Thursday that some of the radio stations seeking renewal were previously found to be in non-compliance with their regulatory requirements and were renewed for short-term periods as a result. “The Commission notes the serious and, in some cases, recurring nature of those instances of apparent non-compliance in the current licence term,” it said. That includes Parrsoboro Radio Society’s CICR-FM in Parrsboro, N.S., as well as CFOR-FM, a commercial radio station in Maniwaki,...