{"id":664030,"date":"2026-05-12T08:03:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/664030\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T08:03:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T08:03:13","slug":"the-wolf-is-in-the-house-radio-industry-leaders-warn-crtc-at-radiodays-north-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/664030\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The wolf is in the house,’ radio industry leaders warn CRTC at Radiodays North America"},"content":{"rendered":"

The panel \u2013 which also included CRTC VP of Broadcasting Scott Shortliffe; Music Canada CEO Patrick Rogers; and Susan Wheeler, VP, Regulatory, Broadcasting, at Rogers Communications \u2013 painted a picture of a sector struggling under the weight of \u201cobsolete\u201d regulations while revenue vanishes into the pockets of unregulated foreign streaming giants.<\/p>\n

\"\"Stingray Radio President Steve Jones<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had our hopes set high before for meaningful change,\u201d Jones said, referencing past promises of regulatory reform. \u201cWe still hang on, and we still fight on, but the business model doesn\u2019t work in some markets anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wheeler added that the crisis is particularly acute outside of major cities.<\/p>\n

\u201cForty-four per cent of the radio industry stations are operating at a loss,\u201d Wheeler noted. \u201cThat\u2019s not sustainable. Those small markets\u2026I can\u2019t see a path forward for them without some type of consolidation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones expressed frustration that the \u201cweakest part of the system\u201d is still expected to fund the cultural \u201cplumbing\u201d of the country, while the strongest players bear no obligations.
\nThe Cancon debate<\/p>\n

A point of contention remains the 35% Canadian content airplay quota. While radio stations must ensure over a third of their music is Canadian, data shows that when Canadians choose their own music on streaming services, they only select homegrown artists about 10% of the time.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cWe are now in a different competitive landscape where we need more control over the programming product,\u201d Wheeler argued, suggesting that the rule makes it harder for radio to compete with the personalized algorithms of streamers.<\/p>\n

However, Rogers, speaking on behalf of music industry trade association, Music Canada, defended the quota as the foundation of Canada\u2019s global success.<\/p>\n

\u201cTen per cent represents a huge success story,\u201d Rogers said, arguing that the system built the careers of stars like Justin Bieber and The Weeknd. \u201cMy only desire\u2026is that I just wanted an extension on the house. I wanted to make sure there was a streaming section of the house that made sure the plumbing made sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortliffe urged patience, promising that the commission is laying the groundwork for a \u201cbold\u201d new framework.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m inside the house, and I can see what we\u2019re laying the groundwork for,\u201d Shortliffe said, highlighting the elimination of license renewals as a move to free up staff to focus on more impactful policy changes. \u201cIn the audio field, we\u2019re not afraid of being bold. Hold us to account.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The panel \u2013 which also included CRTC VP of Broadcasting Scott Shortliffe; Music Canada CEO Patrick Rogers; and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,45993,245204,75,341,1893,245205,995],"class_list":["post-664030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crtc","tag-departure-festival","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-radio","tag-radiodays-north-america","tag-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=664030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}