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Future staticky for KICK-FM

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 01/23/2012 5:40 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

The future of KICK-FM is in doubt.

The Red River College student radio station was given notice Monday by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that an updated campus radio policy will affect its broadcasting status because the CRTC won’t license stations that exist purely for educational reasons anymore.

"Today the CRTC informed KICK-FM that, under the new campus radio policy, we will no longer be allowed to train students for a career in radio. As you may know, our raison d’être is training students from Red River College’s Creative Communications program…It is doubtful that RRC will want to continue funding a radio station that does not work within its educational department. Therefore, it seems unlikely at this point in time that KICK-FM will remain on-air," said a statement posted on the station’s Facebook page.

In an email, KICK general manager Rick Baverstock said a phone call from a director at the CRTC left him no doubt Ottawa wants no student training at the station, which has been broadcasting in Winnipeg for eight years at 92.9 FM.

"We were advised to go to the Internet to broadcast. Obviously, without being useable as a training facility, the college will not want to fund the station any longer, although no decision has been made," he said.

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