Recently turned down by the CRTC for a new FM radio station in 100 Mile House, the proponents have changed their focus to the Internet.
After the CRTC has made it very clear it will not issue a second radio licence for the South Cariboo, Gerhard Loeffeler says they had to look at Plan B and shift their focus from the air-waves to the Internet.
Modern technology allows them to produce the same live local radio broadcast and get it to the listener through the Internet instead of “terrestrial” radio, he adds.
“The nice thing about it is the CRTC has no say about Internet radio."
The latest statistics show more than 93 per cent of the population has an Internet connection, he says, so why not offer a true local and live radio program using 21st century technology.
“There are actually standalone Wi-Fi radios available that allow the listener to turn on a radio as they are used to, and the only difference is the signal comes from the Wi-Fi Internet router in a home or workplace instead of the airwaves.”
The Wi-Fi radio program could be received with every Wi-Fi capable device, such as an iPod, smart phone, laptop, computer or even a portable or stationary Wi-Fi radio, Loeffeler says, adding it would come in a crystal clear stereo quality, clearly exceeding those of regular radio.
Virtually, everybody with an Internet connection could listen to the program from anywhere in the world at any time for free, he notes.
Loeffeler says a new Internet provider for the South Cariboo is planning to turn 100 Mile House into a Wi-Fi hotspot in the next few months, and this would allow everybody to receive a free high-speed Wi-Fi radio signal even if they’re only driving a car through town.
“New car models even come with Wi-Fi capable radios that could catch the signal in such a Wi-Fi hotspot.”
He notes the Cariboo Radio team is currently exploring how this kind of new service would be received by South Cariboo residents and has set up a survey that can be entered at www.caribooradio.com.
"It takes only a couple minutes to complete, but it is very important for the decision to implement this newest way of radio service into our area. We would like to see at least a thousand replies to make up our mind."
It is up to the citizens to decide if they want, and support, such a new radio station, Loeffeler says, as it is the only way to have another choice of true local radio broadcast.
"It would be wrong to set up such a new service if people would not accept it."
He encourages all residents to fill out the short, confidential survey to have a say in the future of local radio.
Noting this would be the first of its kind in British Columbia, Loeffeler says there are a lot of pure music stations on the Internet but no fully live local and Internet-only radio stations.
“Everything else is just streaming versions of terrestrial radio stations.”
As the new Wi-Fi radios are slowly hitting the shelves in Canada, he notes the Cariboo Radio team would bring in a large number of “very affordable radios” and plans to subsidize every first radio per family.