The CRTC has made an example of Astral-owned CKTF-FM and Cogeco-owned CKOI-FM. The federal regulator announced it will be restricting the use of musical montages on the Quebec-based radio stations.

The CRTC has made an example of Astral-owned CKTF-FM and Cogeco-owned CKOI-FM. The federal regulator announced it will be restricting the use of musical montages on the Quebec-based radio stations.

The CRTC has ruled that montages — compilations of excerpts of a number of songs played without interruption, while are counted as a single piece of music when calculating content obligations — may make up no more than 10 per cent of stations’ programming per week. CKTF-FM and CKOI-FM were using montages in up to 18 per cent of programming, and the montages were comprised almost entirely of English-language and non-Canadian content, according to the CRTC release.

The idea behind montages is to allow an audience to sample selections or discover new artists, not as a way for stations to work-around Canadian and French-language content obligations, as The Globe and Mail suggested.

“There is a widespread trend on the part of some French-language broadcasters to use montages inappropriately,” CRTC vice-chairman of broadcasting Tom Pentefountas said in their statement. The CRTC will be collecting data and looking further into the challenges associated with promoting French-language content in the coming months.

CKTF-FM operates out of Gatineau, QC and its top 40 programming can be heard by tuning into 104.1 FM. CKOI-FM is a Montreal-based station, playing hot adult contemporary programming on 96.9 FM.