Industry Canada LPFM requirements

Below is the information required to obtain broadcast certification for a LPFM station.

Here is the link to the Spectrum Management and Telecommunications section of Industry Canada's Strategis website where all the documents listed below are available:
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/en/home

Here are direct links to each document in Portable Document Format (PDF): Please Note: Acrobat Reader is required to view or print Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Download the Adobe Acrobat Reader of your choice if you require it.

Industry Canada documents related to the LPFM application procedure:
BPR 1 - http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/vwapj/bpr1-e.pdf/$FILE/bpr1-e.pdf
BPR 3 - http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/vwapj/bpr3e.pdf/$FILE/bpr3e.pdf (sections D & E apply to LPFM specifically)

Industry Canada forms required for LPFM:
IC2377 - http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/vwapj/ic2377ba_e.pdf/$FILE/ic2377ba_e.pdf
IC2586 - http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/vwapj/ic2586ea.pdf/$FILE/ic2586ea.pdf
The two forms above must be completed and there is additional information required, see sections D & E in BPR 3 above.

You may also need to complete the following forms. Please contact Transport Canada and/or Nav Canada for more information regarding their forms (contact information is included with the forms):
Transport Canada - 26-0427 - http://www.tc.gc.ca/pdf/26-0427.pdf
Nav Canada - Land Use Proposal - http://www.navcanada.ca/NavCanada.asp?Language=en&Content=ContentDefinitionFiles\Services\ANSPrograms\LandUseProposal\default.xml

If you have any questions or trouble downloading any of the above forms and/or documents contact me.

Diane Larkin Spectrum Management Officer Okanagan-Kootenay District Office 603 - 1726 Dolphin Avenue Kelowna, B. C. V1Y 9R9 Telephone: (250) 470-5014 FAX: (250) 470-5045

Some sage advice - Short term radio license

Hi Cam,

My understanding is that they issue a 28 day exemption, and you can broadcast for any amount of time up to 28 days. You can't apply for a shorter amount of time, so you just use as much as you want of the 28 days. That means you can broadcast for 1 day, 1 weekend, 1 week, or the whole month. Ideally you should tie the broadcast to the event as much as possible, but I think they're fairly lax in terms of how closely you must tie it.

In Nelson we had 3 of these trial periods prior to getting our licence - 1 was just for a weekend, the other 2 we used for the entire 28 days. We did tie them all to events, though fairly losely. I think I recall someone from the CRTC noticing during the 3rd one that we weren't doing enough in relation to the "event" (which was the celebration of the release of our first CD project), so we upped the amt of programming focused on the CD, its artists, related interviews, etc. I think we also only broadcast for half days, 'cause we couldn't find enough volunteers to fill up full days. I think the weekend-long one involved broadcasting live from a festival, and I think the first month was tied to an arts festival that was actually only taking up one week of the month, but we dedicated a good chunk of the programming to focusing on arts during the other 3 weeks too.

Anyway, the rules are here:http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2000/PB2000-10.htm(look for this heading: Exemption order respecting low-power radio: Limited duration special event facilitating undertakings) They're very vague. You could call Zoe or Terry at KCR in Nelson (250.352.9600) to get more details - they were instrumental in setting up all 3 of the special event broadcasts in Nelson so they can tell you what the practicalities were. If even the folks at the CRTC said they won't check without a complaint, then I'd say you're pretty safe, especially if you do your best to provide some scheduled content that's relevant to the event.

Low Power Application Form Industry Canada

http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/site/smt-gst.nsf/vwapj/ic2377ba_e.pdf/$FILE/ic2377ba_e.pdf

CRTC on Special Event Licenses

Limited Duration Special Events Distribution Undertakings

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/1993/PB93-45.HTM

which references this helpful site

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/1990/PB90-111.htm