Community Radio calling on MP's to start sharing advertising dollars and 100 million paid by Google

Tuesday, 16 July 2024 07:00

By Tonya Organ

Executive Director Barry Rooke says Google is on board with paying $100 million dollars to local outlets and he’s hopeful the money will be dispersed soon.

The National Campus and Community Radio Association is asking listeners to write their Member of Parliament. Executive Director Barry Rooke says the push is on for federal advertising dollars for this not for profit sector. He says there are 125 licensed radio stations under the NCRA umbrella, including bayfm. Rooke says radio has changed and is an older medium, one way people in a community can share stories. He says government spent 100’s of millions of dollars in Canadian advertising each year up until ten years ago when 90 percent of advertising dollars started going to Google and Meta, or Facebook and Instagram. Bill C18 was designed to protect local content but Meta immediately blocked news from their platform. Rooke says Google is on board with paying $100 million dollars to local outlets and he’s hopeful the money will be dispersed soon. Rooke says Quebec and Ontario governments have changed how they buy advertising putting a percentage in community radio stations. He says the NCRA is asking for 8 percent of advertising dollars. Commercial broadcasters are asking for 70 percent of the advertising dollars.