CKMN-FM

After having failed in a previous application in 1988, La Radio Communautaire du Comté on November 7th received approval from the CRTC for a 5-year licence to carry on a French-language FM community radio station at Rimouski, QC, with an auxiliary studio at Mont-Joli, on 96.5 MHz with an effective radio power of 6,400 watts.

The licence was for a Type B FM community radio service: Type B services were licensed where at least one other non-CBC station was operating in the same language in all or part of the market. At this time, Mont-Joli had no local radio service. Of 140 hours programming weekly, 70% would be produced in Rimouski and 30% in Mont-Joli. The Commission noted that its community radio policy allowed the licensee to vary its broadcast hours by up to 20% without having to apply for a licence amendment.

CKMN-FM was launched, with its planned studios in both Rimouski and Mont-Joli.

In May, the station reported some problems with its logger tapes for the CRTC, which prompted the Commission to review the station’s performance in that year. The station advised that, due to its attempt to hire volunteers having been unsuccessful, it had been unable to maintain its promised 30% programming origination from Mont-Joli, and that because of the high costs of a direct feed from Mont-Joli to Rimouski, it had discontinued live broadcasts from Mont-Joli in January. It was, however, recording five hours per week of programming in Mont-Joli, for broadcast from Rimouski.

The station also acknowledged that, between February and September, its critical financial situation had forced it to reduce its staff to a minimum, and as a result the amount of local news programming had been severely reduced.

In renewing CKMN-FM’s licence in August for a four-year term, the CRTC expressed grave concern with the station’s performance, but eased some conditions of licence in recognition of CKMN-FM’s financial problems. The Commission advised the station that it would monitor the station’s performance closely over the new licence term.

On August 31st, the station received a seven-year licence renewal, with some adjustments to its music requirements. The station had committed to broadcasting 126 hours of local programming in each broadcast week, with approximately eight hours of that programming each week being recorded in the Mont-Joli studios. The Commission urged the station to restore live originations from Mont-Joli as soon as its financial situation improved.

On November 28th, following the introduction of a new Community radio policy, the CRTC approved some amendments to the existing CKMN-FM licence, substituting some Conditions of Licence for the former Promise of Performance.

On March 31st the station filed a letter describing for the Commission the steps that had been taken to avoid any future problems with logging procedures. On April 15th, the Commission issued a Public Notice noting the station’s earlier non-compliance with regulations concerning ‘logger tapes and musical selections”, and reminding the licensee that it was required to comply with the provisions of the regulations at all times.

In a decision dated June 28th, the CRTC said that given the licensee’s subsequent remedial actions, it would renew CKMN-FM’s licence from September 1st through August 31st 2009, a short-term renewal to allow the CRTC to assess the station’s ongoing compliance with Regulations.

On April 5th, following a hearing on December 19th 2005, the CRTC licensed a new FM French-language radio station in Rimouski, CJFP-FM, despite an intervention in opposition by CKMN-FM. The Commission did not accept CKMN’s contention that the granting of this licence would ‘have an undue effect on CKMN-FM’s advertising revenues’. It was the Commission’s belief that the advertisers supporting a community station like CKMN-FM were a different group from those likely to buy time on CJFP-FM, a commercial station.

On August 31, the CRTC renewed the licence for the French-language community radio station CKMN-FM Rimouski and Mont-Joli to August 31, 2015. This short-term renewal would allow for an earlier review of the licensee’s compliance concerning the filing of annual returns. The Commission also issued a mandatory order pursuant to section 12(2) of the Broadcasting Act requiring the licensee to comply at all times with section 9(2) of the Radio Regulations, 1986 relating to the filing of annual returns.

On July 29, the CRTC renewed CKMN’s licence to August 31, 2018. The short-term renewal would allow for an earlier review of the licensee’s compliance with the Radio Regulations. Given the seriousness and recurrence of the instances of non-compliance and the fact that this was the third consecutive licence term in which CKMN had been found in non-compliance, the Commission also reimposed a broadcasting order requiring the licensee to comply at all times with section 9(2) of the Regulations relating to the filing of annual returns.

On December 14, the CRTC renewed CKMN’s license to August 31, 2020. This short-term renewal would allow for an earlier review of the licensee’s compliance with regulatory requirements. In addition, the Commission issued mandatory orders requiring La radio communautaire du comté to comply at all times within the licence term for its station CKMN-FM with sections 8(1), 8(2), 8(5), 8(6), 9(2) and 9(3)(b) of the Radio Regulations, 1986.

On August 27, CKMN received a short-term licence renewal to August 31, 2023 due to ongoing issues of non-compliance.