Open-Line Radio

Programs Rapped

VANCOUVER (CP) — Uncontrolled open line shows came under heavy fire from various groups at the spring hearings here of the Board of Broadcast Governors.

Some groups said one Vancouver openline program resulted sometimes in “group defamation” and in moves that in effect “agitate for lawlessness."

Members of the board said that while wanting to maintain proper standards, they were faced with the question of free speech versus the need greater controls.

Mrs. Marie Chandler, president of station CJOR, Vancouver, asked the BBG to judge her station's application on the basis of present promises and future performance, rather than on some past errors.

She said the station has hired a new manager and has lately drawn up a policy statement which all on-air employees had signed. The policy provided greater control by station management over openline subject matter, and included the right of reply and strict adherence to the Broadcasting Act.

She said CJOR will insist that all of its announcers and broadcasters comply with the rules set out in the policy statement.

Complaints about CJOR's three open-line programs in which listeners air their views and in which the moderator telephones persons in authority and interviews them, came from the benchers of the Law Society of British Columbia, the Greater Vancouver Full Gospel Ministerial Fellowship, the Greater Vancouver Evangelical Association and in letters from 60 radio listeners.

In an unusual move, the board played a recording of portions of some of the CJOR programs, in which, among other matters, a homosexual and a lesbian explained in physical terms how certain acts were performed.

The recording also included portions of a program in which a CJOR announcer broadcast a marijuana party during which he said be "got high" by taking the drug for the first time.

Mrs. Chandler said that the person involved and the program which he conducted were suspended for a time. Both had since been reinstated, under greater control.

She said the matter was one of control over what subjects are discussed and who is permitted to speak on the programs. .She said she and her new station manager would exercise complete final control.

T. E. H. Ellise QC, representing the benchers of the Law Society of B.C., said the organization did not object to the type of program but rather the comments on it that resulted in "mass defamation'' and in "conviction by innuendo."

He said any organization including lawyers and the courts, were subject to "fair and honest criticism," but not to some of the "irreparable" damage that had been done to such groups as lawyers and magistrates by generalized comments aired on CJOR's "Hotline" program.

He added, however, that if the policy statement was carried out as CJOR had promised, the society could see no objection to continuance of the programs under proper supervision.

BBG Concerned

Dr. Andrew Stewart, chairman of the BBG, said the board was concerned with the problem of open-line programs on Canadian radio stations but wondered at what point more regulation encroached on free speech and what effect on the public misinformed comment an open-line programs had.

The Greater Vancouver Evangelical Association said the "Hotline" program in particular, was "detrimental to the well being of the community" because of one-sided discussions, which young minds absorbed, on such subjects as birth control, pre-marital sexual relations, homosexuality and others.

The group quoted one CJOR broadcast, in which a person telephoning the program, advocated that a 16-year-old un-married girl should have "no restraints on her sexual appetites if she so wishes."

The group said that speakers on broadcast had "agitated for lawlessness, gambling and promiscuity.

The Full Gospel Ministerial brief agreed with this and asked that either greater control be exercised over the program or CJOR be denied renewal of its broadcasting licence.

In hearing other applications for licence renewals, the board made a pointed suggestion to private radio and television stations to produce more live, local programs of benefit to their communities.

Winnipeg Free Press, March 24, 1965

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News radio station still on the air

TORONTO (CP) — Officials of Canada All-News Radio Ltd., (CKO) Toronto, dismiss pessimistic rumors the chain is doomed, despite sagging audience ratings and disappointing income from advertisers.

After one year of operations, the radio chain has opened seven all-news stations, received two poor ratings from the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement and closed its studio in London, Ont.

B. B. Torchinsky, president and chairman of Agra Industries Ltd., Saskatoon, said CKO's spending in the current fiscal year will be more than $3 million, with a projected income of $1.5 million and a deficit of $1.5 million.

He said local retail advertising revenue has been the mainstay of CKO but the amount of national advertising has been disappointing.

Agra officials believe that barring downturns, CKO will be profitable by its fifth year of operation.

"CKO is going to make, or break, on all-news, a concept I'm more than ever convinced will work," said Torchinsky.

On the optimistic side, the Toronto station has won the broadcast rights to Toronto Maple Leaf games for two years, outbidding Toronto radio station CKFH, whose chairman is Foster Hewitt, recognized as the voice of hockey in Canada during the last five decades.

CKO also has begun live broadcasts of National Football League games.

CKO's stations operate in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal. Except in Montreal, all stations are FM bands.

Torchinsky said the London station was a casualty of disappointing revenue and its closing was a cost saving measure while CKO concentrates on other stations.

Other stations are planned to open in Winnipeg, Regina, Halifax, Saint John, N.B., and St. ohn's, Nfld.

Agra Industries holds 50 per cent of the preferred stock and 15 per cent of the common stock. Tele-Capital of Ste.-Foy, Que., owns seven per cent of the preferred stock and five per cent of common stock.

The remaining stock is held by founders David Ruskin, network president, lawyer Jerry Grafstein and Israel Switzer, CKO vice president of engineering.

Advertising executives seem to buck CKO's concept of all-news radio but admit little interest exist in the chain because of poor ratings.

George Murray, vice president, media, Ogilvy and Mather (Canada) Ltd., Toronto, said media directors suffer from a lack of imagination and guts when it means using a vehicle like CKO for advertising.

While the audience ratings are not good, all-news radio has done well in the United States, he said.

He added that if the investors do not lose their confidence, the chain is likely to do well in Canada.

"Eventually, they'll probably thrive," he said. "But they'll have to ride it out for awhile."

Winnipeg Free Press, Sept. 12, 1978

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Canadian Pacific to Start Broadcasting From West

For the first, time since its entry into the radio broadcasting field, the Canadian Pacific railway will originate a Friday night hour of music from the Pacific coast, sending out a programme from station CKWX Vancouver.

Carried from Pacific to Atlantic on the Canadian Pacific's national hook-up, this programme will be on the air from 6 to 7. (P.S.T.) Friday night and be broadcast from leading stations across the Dominion. This will be heard from station CKY, at Winnipeg, from 8 to 9 o'clock central standard time.

Manitoba Free Press, Winnipeg, Wednesday, September 10, 1930.