Federal Government Helps Black Radio Station

 Liberals like to talk: Conservatives deliver results. Kudos to the Conservatives and those in the community who finally have secured a radio station. The CBC was uncooperative if not hostile to this application for a competitor. Shame on the CBC and the MPs in Toronto who failed to help.

Fitzroy Gordon PM Stephen Harper

  This government has been very supportive, which is truly a gift. We continue to welcome the government’s efforts to engage the black community on issues that are inevitably of importance to the growth of all in the GTA.- Sway  August 2010

A new radio station aimed at serving Toronto’s black community took a giant step forward Friday after years of struggle including an ongoing fight with the CBC, which sought to block the station.

CARN-FM, that stands for Caribbean and African Radio Network, was originally approved to broadcast in 2006 but first needed to find a frequency on Toronto’s crowded radio dial. A signal was identified at 98.7 but given how close that signal sits to CBC’s Toronto flagship station 99.1, the CRTC told CARN they needed to work with the state broadcaster.

“We would have had this radio station a long time ago if it wasn’t for the CBC,” said Fitzroy Gordon, the man behind CARN-FM. “CBC fought me every step of the way.”

CBC opposed CARN using the 98.7 signal, claiming that its own internal testing showed the proposed station would interfere with CBC’s signal.

Gordon hopes to bring news, talk and sports programming to the airwaves that will serve the interests of Toronto’s black community. On the music side of things he hopes to offer something different than the current hip-hop and top 40 that dominates.

“The basis of the music will be the old R & B style. Aretha Franklin, the Supremes will be brought back. From yesterday to today with R & B. We’ll have soca, jazz, reggae,” Gordon said.

Jason Kenney, the federal minister responsible for immigration, citizenship and multiculturalism blasted CBC for their attempts, over several years to block CARN.

“This is an effort by black leaders in the GTA to get programming on the air that will attract young listeners in the black community with a positive message,” Kenney told QMI in an interview.

"The CBC did everything they could to throw obstacles in their path. I find it somewhat ironic given CBC’s lecturing on multiculturalism that they did everything they could to stop a legitimate expression of multiculturalism,” Kenney said. “In this case at least it was all about a very narrow read of their own corporate interests.” - Brian Lilly  Canoe News

Where are those TORONTO MPs from the Liberals and NDP and why were they not involved in helping this community radio station against the CBC?