McBride Stations on the Agenda

[Dave L]

The McBride Stations are on the agenda at today's CRTC hearings in Gatineau.

https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/consultation/audience.htm

[Dave L]

Today's event was mainly the Super Channel hearing.

Tomorrow, (Wednesday) will be the McBride stations.

[Dave L]

https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/transcripts/2019/tb1906.htm

[skyvalleyradio]

Thanks for posting that transcript Dave. Whew! That was a tough read-through. My conclusion: McBride 1 CRTC 0
Business as usual from what I see.

[Dave L]

Thanks for posting that transcript Dave. Whew! That was a tough read-through. My conclusion: McBride 1 CRTC 0
Business as usual from what I see.

What they tell the town, what they said to each other and what they told the commission are entirely different things, apparently.

I could cut this crock of hooey to ribbons, but I'll restrain my comments until the decision is announced.

[LG73]

I would hope after over a decade of exposure to McBride McBullshit the CRTC has had enough and will put an end to this nonsense. He has a lame excuse for everything. His word means nothing. He promised the CRTC to pay some of the owed CTD money by Aug. 31st 2019 then reneged because of the hearing.

McBride claims reports of CKPM-FM being off-air continuously since April 2018 are "misinformation."

If that was really the case then why didn't CKPM-FM proudly announce a return to the airwaves on their Twitter, FaceBook or website? Where are the airchecks, logger tapes, program logs etc. showing any broadcasting on 98.7 FM since April 2018? Where are the invoices to advertisers for ads allegedly broadcast on CKPM-FM after April 2018?

McBride may have some health challenges as alluded to in the hearing but that doesn't excuse spewing out complete and utter bullshit to the commission. Tough to have any sympathy for the guy when it's one lie after another.

[DJ Specs]

The fact the CRTC let him get away with this shows the CRTC is useless and needs to be abolished. What a joke!

[slowhand]

What has not been mentioned is how Consistent that the CRTC will want to be with their decision to cancel the license of the Salt Spring Island station.

[Dave L]

It's done.

For the most part, I think it's the right decision. It was my position to grant Dennison the license based upon McBride's revocation and vacation of the frequency.

At the end of the day came to an agreement, a decision and a way forward. They took my intervention seriously, having weighed seemingly pivotal by some measure in each of the cases.

None are more aware of the burden of this undertaking than Cam and Kim, so I'll skip admonishments for congratulations and anticipation of good things to come.

They'll do a good job.

[skyvalleyradio]

Well well I'm impressed: the CRTC commisioners actually didn't fall for all that bullshit & lame excuses from someone whose been in broadcasting enough years to know all the regs. The "golly gee we didn't know how to interpret those rules" lines didn't cut it & the licenses for the phantom radio stations got yanked as they should have. It seems the commission listened to the interveners & objections to the Pemberton & Port Moody license renewals. The right decision was made to allow CHMZ & CIMM another chance to provide reliable radio on the west coast as they should. A big round of applause for Cam Dennison who is the only glue that's been holding the coastal stations together the past 5 years. Congratulations Cam! Finally, the west coast communities will get a stable set of radio stations to serve both local residents & many visitors to the area.

[Dave L]

The right decision was made to allow CHMZ & CIMM another chance to provide reliable radio on the west coast as they should.

I read through all four decisions. The commission's summary of McBride was substantially derogatory. The commission also hinged this on CCD and other music industry contributions. If I read it correctly, the purchase price was adjusted in a retroactive effort to bring the station into nearer (for lack of a better term) compliance. The fees were paid for two years of McBride's operation, but never after at any station. There's grumblings that Port Moody and Pemberton got screwed while Tofino/Ukee got what they want, but neither Port Moody nor Pemberton stepped up to cover CCD's either. So fair is fair, I guess. The Port Moody frequency is vacated and available. Pemberton will be fine. It was considered a while ago, but we long since moved on. Whistler/Pemberton is a musician/media talent rich place and perhaps one of the Whistler studios might go that direction.

Finally, the west coast communities will get a stable set of radio stations to serve both local residents & many visitors to the area.

It's already noticeable. Though not finalized, the air and social media seem uplifted. BTW, the tourist station is just about to begin the installation phase. CHLL 102.1 MHz @ 25 Watts. The new tower on Mt. Ozzard is almost completed. Once they've migrated the stuff from the old tower, they'll plant the stick on the legacy tower and feed a hard line to the rack. (How nice is that!?) Mobile signal test this week. Fingers crossed, launch April/early May.

And another BTW, the Island Trunk System has been live into Tofino with very good uptime IP link to Nanaimo. VE7RNA Mt Bretton was down for dead batteries a while, but is back up, but you can probably hit Nanaimo to on VE7DJI Mt Benson. I've been checking in recently on CVARS morning net and Wednesday evening Provincial Emergency Program Net. I (sort of) keep an ear to it.

And yet another, we really miss VAE Tofino Coast Guard Radio. Especially from a community support standpoint. There were a lot of good techs, traffic and safety positions who contributed a lot to amateur radio. The engineers have been good to us though, really terrific. We were fortunate to get in on that upgrade at the right time.

73

[skyvalleyradio]

Great news that CHLL the new tourist station is soon ready to go - that will be a real asset to providing info to visitors to the west coast along with two stable radio stations. 25 watts from Mt Ozzard should cover the main intersection where the Tourist Info center is, most of Ucluelet & well into the park. I know many mariners are missing the Coast Guard radio services & I was lucky enough to meet some of the team there plus get a tour when it was still in full operation. One of members was just arriving for a shift one day as my wife pulled into the parking lot hoping for a walk along the Wild Pacific Trail past the lighthouse. This CG crew member noticed the "VE7" license plate on our vehicle, introduced himself & asked if I wanted to see the control center. I didn't hesitate! Glad all went smoothly with the install Dave

[Dave L]

The deal is done. Cam is in Matt is out.

While all this was being finalized, Cam stepped up well to serve the community during Covid-19 pandemic.

From a thought local perspective on a daily basis brought mayors, members of parliament, health professionals, first nations and community interests to the forefront.

We needed that. It's refreshing.

On the other mountain, the Coast Guard postponed the installation at Mt Ozzard, but expect the installation of tourist radio station CHLL 102.1 MHz to go live by August.


Happy Canada Day, my friends.