Caribbean African Radio Network Wins Broadcasting Licence

Caribbean African Radio Network Wins Broadcasting Licence

By Ryan B. Patrick
Pride Entertainment Writer
April 12, 2006

TORONTO, Ontario -- There will soon be a new Black-oriented radio station broadcasting on Toronto airwaves.
It was announced this Monday that the Caribbean African Radio Network’s (CARN) commercial radio application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has been approved.
The bid was spearheaded by CARN president Fitzroy Gordon – the popular Jamaican-born radio personality, television host and newspaper columnist. Gordon says the new CARN FM station will provide a dedicated community voice – via 24 hour daily programming – for the more than 500,000 Caribbean and African residents in the Toronto area.
The specialty commercial station would serve the community by covering local and international news and events, and also by providing a much needed social dialogue on issues of concern affecting the Black community, Gordon said.
This marks the second time CARN has applied for the licence – a similar bid was denied in 2002.
“It hasn’t sunk in it,” Gordon told Pride News Magazine hours after the news was announced.
“I’m going to give thanks and praise to the Maker for this wonderful day.”
Gordon, a well-known member and supporter of the African Canadian community, has been working to establish a Black-oriented radio station since 1998.
“I decided that I wanted to do something special, from a broadcasting point of view, for my community. I wanted to see a station that was designed to serve the Caribbean and African community, 24 hours a day, where we could have talk shows and forums that would edify our youngsters and hear their views,” he added.
But there are specific stipulations on the new broadcasting licence.
Gordon must now incorporate CARN as a corporation and submit, within three months, an amendment to the application that proposes a suitable FM frequency for the new station.
The CRTC (the body which regulates the Canadian broadcasting industry) turned down CARN’s original request to operate at FM frequency 98.7 MHz (with an average effective radiated power of 508 watts) on the grounds it was too close to an established signal, namely CBC Radio 99.1 FM.
The new license will be fully granted once CARN proposes an FM frequency that the CRTC deems acceptable and technically feasible.
“It will be up to the engineers, and Industry Canada (the technical arm of the CRTC) will be working on it…to finalize the best frequency to serve our community,” Gordon says.
Once these conditions are met to the CRTC’s satisfaction, Gordon says he expects the station to be up and running by fall of 2007.
The new station is to be owned 45 per cent by Douglas Kirk of Burlingham Communications Inc. (a White-owned company) and 55 per cent by Caribbean and African Radio Network Inc., which in turn, is to be held 70 per cent by Global Communications International Inc. and 30 per cent by Delford L. Blythe of Blythe Business and Consulting Inc.
Gordon noted that the soon-to-be-formed board will consist of prominent members of the Black community.
The recent CRTC ruling reveals that there was solid opposition to CARN’s radio station bid, most notably from the African Canadian Social Development Council (ACSDC) and, interestingly enough, Milestone Radio Inc., owner of urban music station FLOW 93.5.
The ACSDC had expressed concerns that the application did not “adequately serve the radio and ownership interests of the continental African Canadian community in Toronto.”
Milestone Radio objected on the grounds that CARN would negatively impact FLOW 93.5 and also claimed that FLOW, along with the Toronto campus/community radio outlets, are satisfactorily meeting the listening needs of the community.
Gordon countered that the new station would serve the larger Caribbean and African population of the Greater Toronto Area, regardless of geographic heritage.
And as for FLOW 93.5, Gordon says that CARN attends to a specific need that he feels FLOW is currently not addressing.
“We’re going to do for our community what FLOW said they would have done and did not do,” Gordon says, adding that FLOW markets itself as an “Urban and Hip Hop” station that caters to a specific youth audience.
“A lot of people were reluctant to provide support for CARN because they were angry that FLOW did not carry through on their [community] mandate,” Gordon says.
But overall, the community response was positive and its overwhelming support really helped win this licence, Gordon notes.
“We received thousands of support letters from the public sector, private sector and the churches.”
CARN FM will target a broader demographic and provide family-based programming, and intends to fill a niche by offering a range of ethno-cultural diversity programming – including international news, music and sports – not currently covered by FLOW, Gordon says.
Indeed, the CRTC commission itself concluded that the proposed CARN station would have very little commercial impact upon existing Toronto radio broadcasters.
Once launched, CARN FM will broadcast daily programs dedicated to Caribbean and African local and international news, talk, sports, music entertainment and religion.
A typical broadcasting day, Gordon says, will include Gospel music in the early morning, hourly local and international newscasts, live sports broadcasts, talk shows, and “World beat” Caribbean and African music.
Spoken word programming would comprise 10 per cent of all CARN programming and the station will also include a minimal amount of “mainstream” music including R&B and Hip hop from artists of Caribbean and African descent.
Sports news would focus on the coverage of cricket, soccer and track and field events.
Featured programming would also cover issues including health, lifestyle, investments, law, immigration, and women’s issues.
Another key component of the radio service would be programming that focuses on a range of topics of interest to youth.
CARN is mandated to operate within the “Specialty Format” meaning that at least 50 per cent of weekly programming be specifically focused on World Beat and Non-classic religious music.
This includes a range of musical styles including: reggae, rock steady, and ska, from Jamaica; calypso and soca from Trinidad and other Caribbean islands; highlife from Ghana; Shona from Zimbabwe, juju from Nigeria; pan jazz from Trinidad; afro beat from Nigeria; bend skin from Cameroon and Chutney from Guyana and Trinidad.
It is this specialty format requirement that will distinguish CARN from other commercial radio services in Toronto, and ensures that CARN will always stick to its community mandate, Gordon says.
CARN will represent a new radio station with a clear vision and a proactive mission for the local Caribbean and African population and all Canadians in general, Gordon suggests.
“I am guaranteeing my people that I will not sway from my promise. My word is my honour,” he adds.