Christian radio stations protest sharing airtime with other faiths
Christian radio stations, fed up with sharing their airtime with other religions, are appealing to the Canada's broadcast regulator to axe its 14-year-old balance requirement.
"It's an unfair and unjust expense to single-faith broadcasters to ask them to provide diversity on their stations when diversity is provided in the system," says Don Hutchison, legal counsel for the the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC).
The EFC is hoping to get a word in edgewise on behalf of Christian broadcasters at a public hearing Canadian Radio-telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is holding in September. The EFC has already handed the CRTC a five-page proposal explaining why they feel the balance requirement is outdated.
The CRTC's balance rule requires any single-faith radio station to devote a percentage of its broadcast time to airing alternate views. Exactly how it meets the requirement is up to each station, but if the CRTC isn't satisfied with the station's proposal, it won't grant a licence.
Bob Du Broy, vice-president of CHRI, a Christian music station in Ottawa, wants to launch Word FM, a new Christian spoken-word station in the area, but he's afraid including other religious voices on his frequency will spook his Christian listeners. Since music isn't subject to the same rules as talk radio, CHRI can offset its current spoken word content with only an hour a week of other-faith programming.
It fills this hour with a weekly reflection on the Torah and a daily five-min¬ute spot featuring the sacred days of other faiths such as Islam, Buddhism and Shintoism.
"Any more non-Christian content becomes a speed-bump and listeners may tune out and not come back," says Du Broy. Although his audience seems to like the Torah reflections, Du Broy says he's received complaints from parents worried the other non-Christian programming is "too well-produced and could seduce children into other faiths."
Meeting the balance requirement will be an even taller order for Word FM. Du Broy figures the station will need to share the microphone for an hour-and-a-half a day to satisfy the CRTC. In his licence applica¬tion Du Broy is including programs such as "Ancient Faith," featuring a Jewish rabbi or Muslim imam comparing notes with a Christian pastor on a chosen topic.
Religious radio has been subject to scrutiny ever since the on-air squabbling of fiery preachers prompted a royal commission to ban religious stations from the airwaves in the 1930s. In 1993 the CRTC allowed religious stations back on the air so long as they included alternative views.
"The Broadcasting Act states that the broadcasting system in Canada has to provide different views on matters of public concern," explains Martine Vallee, the CRTC's director of television policy and applications. "If there's a broadcast dedicated exclusively to one religion it will be predisposed to a certain point of view."
But Du Broy says the restrictions are hurting the radio business—Canadian listeners near the border are tuning into American Christian radio stations that aren't governed by the same rules.
"Now that we've demonstrated that we can be responsible broad¬casters over 14 years later it's time to lift the restrictions," says Du Broy. "We've shown maturity. We're not offending people. We're not showing hatred."
In it's submission to the CRTC the EFC argues that balance comes from other religious stations on the air.
But Vallee says the requirements are there to keep balance in a market with a limited number of frequencies. Of the 69 single-faith radio stations with licences in Canada, all but one are Christian.
Vallee says she can't say whether the CRTC will reconsider its policy.
"Sometimes we reexamine our policy when something is brought to our attention that's of public concern," she says. But the CRTC would have to go through a series of public hearings to decide if the policy needed to be changed.
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