More than 50 busloads of protesters travelled to Ottawa from Quebec on Tuesday as part of a ballooning campaign to keep Canada's most controversial radio station on the air.
CHOI-FM's notorious shock jock Jean-François (Jeff) Fillion and about 5,000 station supporters rallied on Parliament Hill, chanting "Liberte, liberte" over the deafening sound of a rock band.
Armed with a petition signed by 154,000 CHOI fans, the group aims to prevent the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission from axing the station in three weeks time.
Charlie Angus, MP for Timmins-James Bay, threw his voice into the protest by urging Heritage Minister Liza Frulla to immediately suspend the CRTC's decision and calling for a comprehensive review of the federal regulator's mandate.
Jean Couture of Quebec is covered with CHOI-FM radio stickers as he joins in the rally Tuesday on Parliament Hill. (Tobin Grimshaw/CP)
Internet Links
"The CRTC is an unelected board with the power to decide what voices have the right to broadcast," Mr. Angus said before the crowd on Parliament Hill.
"When the commission deems a specific point of view or voice has no right to be heard in Canada, this must be taken with the utmost diligence and it must be able to withstand the scrutiny of the Canadian public," he said.
Earlier attempts at lobbying Ms. Frulla to reverse the CRTC decision have been fruitless, however, as Ms. Frulla, citing Article 28 of the Broadcasting Act, asserted that it is not up to the federal government to decide whether the station can stay.
The CRTC ruled last month not to renew CHOI's broadcasting license because of a long-running pattern of offensive comments made by its morning hosts, including Mr. Fillion, who hosts the 6 to 10 a.m. slot and André Arthur, of the smaller sister station CKNU, who co-hosted with Mr. Fillion a now-defunct 30-minute segment.
"It's an incremental process — this didn't just come out of the blue," Marc Raboy, professor of communications at McGill University told CBC Newsworld on Tuesday.
"The CRTC negotiates, it cajoles, it meets with all the parties concerned, it goes through a series of procedures. In this case it's the broadcasting industry's own standards council that also called the station to task.
"The station, as all stations do, made a commitment to adhere to the industry's code of ethics, and in this case the CRTC deems that CHOI didn't live up to its code of ethics," Mr. Raboy said.
Radio broadcast licences normally last seven years but CHOI was only granted a two-year renewal in 2002 because there had been 47 complaints. That license is set to expire on Aug. 31.
When bad behaviour continued, generating 45 new complaints, the CRTC decided to yank the station's license citing CHOI's "inflexible behaviour, its lack of acceptance of its responsibilities and the lack of any demonstrated commitment to rectify the situation."
It is only the sixth time since its creation that the CRTC has not renewed a licence. But until now, no station had been banned solely for airing crude comments.
"Particularly in the case of an over-the-air station that is accessible to everybody — it's not a subscription service — the CRTC has to consider the interests of the whole community," Mr. Raboy said.
CHOI-FM is Quebec City's most popular radio station with up to 380,000 listeners. Mr. Fillion's show alone has 80,000 listeners and he was the top morning man. If the decision not to renew the licence is upheld, station owner Patrice Demers stands to lose a $25-million business.
Mr. Demers said his company would seek an injunction this week in federal court to delay the scheduled shutdown.
"Granted, in this case there is an audience for CHOI — there's no doubt about that," Mr. Raboy said. "But the record shows that there is a history of abusive comment on the air and I think this is precisely the CRTC's role."
However, displeasure over the ruling has crescendoed in the past few weeks, generating headlines and angry letters to the editor in several newspapers.
NDP leader Jack Layton, Conservative leader Stephen Harper and Quebec Premier Jean Charest are among the critics. Mr. Harper called the CRTC decision unprecedented and heavy-handed. Mr. Charest wants Quebec to be better represented within the federal agency.
