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Radio Regulations, 1986 (SOR/86-982)

Regulations are current to 2024-03-06 and last amended on 2015-11-25. Previous Versions

Radio Regulations, 1986

SOR/86-982

BROADCASTING ACT

Registration 1986-09-18

Regulations Respecting Radio Broadcasting

Whereas a copy of the proposed Regulations respecting radio broadcasting, substantially in the form set out in the schedule hereto, was published in the Canada Gazette Part I on March 29, 1986 and a reasonable opportunity was thereby afforded to licensees and other interested persons to make representations with respect thereto.

Therefore, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, on the recommendation of the Executive Committee, pursuant to subsection 16(1) of the Broadcasting Act, hereby revokes the Radio (A.M.) Broadcasting Regulations, C.R.C., c. 379 and the Radio (F.M.) Broadcasting Regulations, C.R.C., c. 380 and makes the annexed Regulations respecting radio broadcasting, in substitution therefor.

Hull, Quebec, September 18, 1986

Short Title

 These Regulations may be cited as the Radio Regulations, 1986.

Interpretation

 In these Regulations,

Act

Act means the Broadcasting Act; (Loi)

alcoholic beverage

alcoholic beverage, in respect of a commercial message, means an alcoholic beverage the sale of which is regulated by the law of the province in which the commercial message is broadcast; (boisson alcoolisée)

A.M. licensee

A.M. licensee means a person licensed to operate an A.M. station; (titulaire M.A.)

A.M. station

A.M. station means a station that broadcasts in the A.M. frequency band of 525 to 1605 kHz, but does not include a transmitter that only rebroadcasts the radiocommunications of a licensee; (station M.A.)

broadcast day

broadcast day means the total number of hours devoted to broadcasting for a period beginning at six o’clock in the forenoon and ending at midnight on the same day; (journée de radiodiffusion)

broadcast week

broadcast week means seven consecutive broadcast days, beginning on Sunday; (semaine de radiodiffusion)

campus station

campus station means an A.M. station, F.M. station or digital radio station that is licensed as a campus station; (station de campus)

Canadian

Canadian means

  • (a) a Canadian citizen,

  • (b) a permanent resident, as defined in the Immigration Act, 1976,

  • (c) a person whose ordinary place of residence was in Canada throughout the six months immediately preceding that person’s contribution to a musical composition, performance or concert, or

  • (d) a licensee; (Canadien)

commercial message

commercial message means an advertisement intended to sell or promote goods, services, natural resources or activities and includes an advertisement that mentions or displays in a list of prizes the name of the person selling or promoting those goods, services, natural resources or activities; (message publicitaire)

commercial station

commercial station means an A.M. station, F.M. station or digital radio station, other than one that

  • (a) is owned and operated by the Corporation or a not-for profit corporation; or

  • (b) is a campus station, community station, native station or ethnic station; (station commerciale)

community station

community station means an A.M. station, F.M. station or digital radio station that is licensed as a community station; (station communautaire)

content category

content category means a content category of broadcast matter that is described in the appendix to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2010-819, dated November 5, 2010 and entitled Revised content categories and subcategories for radio; (catégorie de teneur)

content subcategory

content subcategory means a content subcategory of broadcast matter that is described in the appendix to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2010-819, dated November 5, 2010 and entitled Revised content categories and subcategories for radio; (sous-catégorie de teneur)

contour

contour means a service contour marked for a licensed A.M. station or a licensed F.M. station on the map that pertains to that station and that is most recently published by the Department of Industry; (périmètre de rayonnement)

digital radio licensee

digital radio licensee means a person licensed to operate a digital radio station; (titulaire radio numérique)

digital radio station

digital radio station means a station that broadcasts in the frequency band of 1452 to 1492 MHz (L-band) using a digital transmission system, but does not include a transmitter that only rebroadcasts the radiocommunications of a licensee; (station de radio numérique)

digital service area

digital service area means a service area marked for a licensed digital radio station on the map that pertains to that station and that is most recently published by the Department of Industry; (zone de desserte numérique)

election period

election period means

  • (a) in the case of a federal or provincial election or of a federal, provincial or municipal referendum, the period beginning on the date of the announcement of the election or referendum and ending on the date the election or referendum is held, or

  • (b) in the case of a municipal election, the period beginning two months before the date of the election and ending on the date the election is held; (période électorale)

ethnic program

ethnic program means a program in any language that is specifically directed toward any culturally or racially distinct group, other than one whose heritage is Aboriginal Canadian, from France or from the British Isles; (émission à caractère ethnique)

ethnic station

ethnic station means an A.M. station, F.M. station or digital radio station that is licensed as an ethnic station; (station à caractère ethnique)

F.M. licensee

F.M. licensee means a person licensed to operate an F.M. station; (titulaire M.F.)

F.M. station

F.M. station means a station that broadcasts in the F.M. frequency band of 88 to 108 MHz, but does not include a transmitter that only rebroadcasts the radiocommunications of a licensee; (station M.F.)

licensed

licensed means licensed by the Commission pursuant to paragraph 9(1)(b) of the Act; (autorisé)

licensee

licensee means a person licensed to operate an A.M. station, F.M. station, digital radio station or radio network; (titulaire)

market

market means

  • (a) in the case of an A.M. station, the A.M. daytime 15mV/m contour or the central area as defined by the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement (BBM), whichever is smaller,

  • (b) in the case of an F.M. station, the F.M. 3mV/m contour or the central area as defined by the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement (BBM), whichever is smaller, or

  • (c) in the case of a digital radio station, the digital service area; (marché)

medley

medley means a compilation of one minute or more in duration in which artists or musicians combine excerpts from several musical selections within a single performance; (pot-pourri)

montage

montage means a compilation of one minute or more in duration containing excerpts from several musical selections but does not include a medley; (montage)

musical selection

musical selection means any live or recorded music of one minute or more in duration that is broadcast uninterrupted, and includes a medley and a montage; (pièce musicale)

native station

native station means an A.M. station, F.M. station or digital radio station that is licensed as a native station; (station autochtone)

network

network means a licensed radio network; (réseau)

official contour

official contour [Repealed, SOR/2008-177, s. 1]

production content

production content [Repealed, SOR/91-517, s. 1]

quarter hour

quarter hour means a period of 15 minutes, commencing on the hour, or 15, 30 or 45 minutes past the hour; (quart d’heure)

spoken word content

spoken word content [Repealed, SOR/93-258, s. 1]

station

station means a radio programming undertaking or a broadcasting transmitting undertaking; (station)

third language program

third language program means an ethnic program in a language other than English, French, or a language of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada; (émission dans une troisième langue)

Type A community station

Type A community station[Repealed, SOR/2011-146, s. 1]

  • SOR/88-549, s. 1
  • SOR/91-517, s. 1
  • SOR/93-258, s. 1
  • SOR/94-222, s. 1
  • SOR/96-324, s. 1
  • SOR/98-597, s. 1
  • SOR/2000-235, s. 1
  • SOR/2000-239, s. 1
  • SOR/2008-177, s. 1
  • SOR/2011-146, s. 1

Application

  •  (1) These Regulations do not apply in respect of programming that is broadcast by a licensee using a subsidiary communications multiplex operations channel.

  • (2) For the purposes of this section,

    baseband

    baseband means signals in the frequency range of 0 to 99 kHz that are used as input to the transmitter of an F.M. station; (bande de base)

    subsidiary communications multiplex operations channel

    subsidiary communications multiplex operations channel means a frequency band containing one or more subcarriers that is centred at 76 kHz in the baseband during stereophonic or monophonic transmission in the main channel or at 59.5 kHz in the baseband where there is no stereophonic or monophonic transmission in the main channel. (canal d’exploitation multiplexe de communications secondaires)

  • SOR/89-163, s. 1

PART I

Canadian and Musical Content

[
  • SOR/93-517, s. 1
]
  •  (1) For the purposes of this section, ethnic programming period means that portion of a broadcast week during which a licensee broadcasts ethnic programs.

  • (2) For the purposes of this section, Canadian selection means a musical selection

    • (a) that meets at least two of the following conditions, namely,

      • (i) the music is or lyrics are performed principally by a Canadian,

      • (ii) the music is composed entirely by a Canadian,

      • (iii) the lyrics are written entirely by a Canadian,

      • (iv) the musical selection consists of a live performance that is

        • (A) recorded wholly in Canada, or

        • (B) performed wholly in and broadcast live in Canada, and

      • (v) the musical selection was performed live or recorded after September 1, 1991, and a Canadian who has collaborated with a non-Canadian receives at least fifty per cent of the credit as composer and lyricist according to the records of a recognized performing rights society;

    • (b) that is an instrumental performance of a musical composition that meets the conditions set out in subparagraph (a)(ii) or (iii);

    • (c) that is a performance of a musical composition that a Canadian has composed for instruments only; or

    • (d) that has already qualified as a Canadian selection under regulations previously in effect.

  • (3) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, an A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee shall devote, in a broadcast week,

    • (a) if the licensee is licensed to operate a community station or campus station, at least 12% of its musical selections from content category 3 to Canadian selections broadcast in their entirety; or

    • (b) if the licensee is licensed to operate a station other than a community station or campus station, at least 10% of its musical selections from content category 3 to Canadian selections and schedule them in a reasonable manner throughout each broadcast day.

  • (3.1) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, an A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee that is licensed to operate a commercial station shall, in a broadcast week, devote

    • (a) at least 25% of its musical selections from content subcategory 31 to Canadian selections and schedule them in a reasonable manner throughout each broadcast day; and

    • (b) at least 20% of its musical selections from content subcategory 34 to Canadian selections and schedule them in a reasonable manner throughout each broadcast day.

  • (4) If 7% or more of the musical selections broadcast by the licensee during an ethnic programming period are Canadian selections and are scheduled in a reasonable manner throughout the period, the requirements of subsections (3), (3.1) and (7) to (9) apply only in respect of the musical selections that are broadcast during the part of the broadcast week that is not devoted to ethnic programs.

  • (5) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, an A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee that is licensed to operate a campus station, commercial station or community station in the French language shall, in a broadcast week, devote at least 65% of its vocal musical selections from content category 2 to musical selections in the French language broadcast in their entirety.

  • (6) An A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee may, in a broadcast week, reduce the percentage of its Canadian musical selections from content category 2 referred to in subsections (7) to (9) to

    • (a) not less than 20% if, in that broadcast week, the licensee devotes at least 35%, but less than 50%, of all of its musical selections to instrumental selections; and

    • (b) not less than 15% if, in that broadcast week, the licensee devotes at least 50% of all of its musical selections to instrumental selections.

  • (7) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence and subject to subsection (6), an A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee that is licensed to operate a station other than a commercial station, community station or campus station shall, in a broadcast week, devote at least 30% of its musical selections from content category 2 to Canadian selections and schedule them in a reasonable manner throughout each broadcast day.

  • (8) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence that refers expressly to this subsection and subject to subsection (6), an A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee that is licensed to operate a commercial station, community station or campus station shall, in a broadcast week, devote at least 35% of its musical selections from content category 2 to Canadian selections broadcast in their entirety.

  • (9) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence and subject to subsection (6), an A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee that is licensed to operate a commercial station shall, between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., in any period beginning on a Monday and ending on the Friday of that week, devote at least 35% of its musical selections from content category 2 to Canadian selections broadcast in their entirety.

  • (10) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, an A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee that is licensed to operate a commercial station in the French language shall, between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., in any period beginning on a Monday and ending on the Friday of that week, devote at least 55% of its vocal musical selections from content category 2 to musical selections in the French language broadcast in their entirety.

  • (11) For the purpose of this section, a montage is deemed to be a Canadian selection broadcast in its entirety if

    • (a) the total duration of the excerpts of Canadian selections from content category 2 is greater than 50% of the total duration of the montage; and

    • (b) the total duration of the montage is four minutes or more.

  • (12) For the purpose of this section, a montage is deemed to be a musical selection in the French language broadcast in its entirety if

    • (a) the total duration of the excerpts of vocal musical selections in the French language from content category 2 is greater than 50% of the total duration of the montage; and

    • (b) the total duration of the montage is four minutes or more.

  • (13) Except as otherwise provided under a condition of its licence, an A.M. licensee, F.M. licensee or digital radio licensee that is licensed to operate a station in the French language – other than a commercial station, community station or campus station – shall, in a broadcast week, devote at least 65% of its vocal musical selections from content category 2 to musical selections in the French language and schedule them in a reasonable manner throughout each broadcast day.

  • (14) [Repealed, SOR/2011-146, s. 2]

  • SOR/91-517, s. 2
  • SOR/92-609, s. 1(F)
  • SOR/93-517, s. 2
  • SOR/96-324, s. 2
  • SOR/98-597, s. 2
  • SOR/2000-239, s. 2
  • SOR/2008-177, s. 2
  • SOR/2011-146, s. 2
 

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