Broadcasting - Staff Letter addressed to Corinne Crockett (Maritime Broadcasting System Limited)
Gatineau, 10 June 2025
Our Reference: 5000-15
BY EMAIL
Corinne Crockett
Director of Finance
Maritime Broadcasting System Limited
90 Lovett Lake Court, Suite 101,
Halifax, NS, B3S 1B8
Corinne.crockett@mbsradio.com
Subject: Civil Emergency Alert, Nova Scotia, 3 May 2025 – Maritime Broadcasting System Limited
Commission staff notes that on May 3rd, 2025, at approximately 5:26 pm ADT, the RCMP issued a Civil Emergency Alert regarding the disappearance of two children in Pictou County and its surrounding areas in Nova Scotia. The alert was sent to TV, radio, and wireless service providers (WSP); however, a member of the public contacted Commission staff stating that they did not receive the alert on FM radio station CKTO-FM in the Beaver Brook, NS area.
Under the Broadcasting Regulatory Policy 2014-444 and subsection 16 of the Radio Regulations, 1986 (the Regulations), all radio broadcasters must have an operational public alerting systemFootnote 1 on all stations that they are licensed to operate. Licensees are required to broadcast alerts to listeners located in an area targeted by the alerts.Footnote 2 Commission staff notes that the reported area lies within the primary service contour (3 mV/m) of CKTO-FM.
Given the information provided above, Commission staff requests that Maritime Broadcasting System Limited (MBS) respond to the following requests for information, as well as provide any other comments on the facts and situation identified in this letter:
- Please confirm whether CKTO-FM has installed an automated emergency alert distribution system that receives alerts from the National Alert Aggregation and Dissemination (NAAD) System, and distributes alerts to listeners in the area defined as the 0.5 mV/m (secondary) contour of the station.
- Confirm that the Civil Emergency alert issued by the RCMP for parts of Nova Scotia, including Beaver Brook, at 5:26 pm ADT on May 3rd was successfully distributed to listeners within the affected area, as defined by CKTO-FM's secondary contour (0.5 mV/m).
- If the alert was distributed correctly, provide concrete evidence (e.g. station logs, Standard Geographical Classification (SGC) codes programmed into alerting equipment) demonstrating that the alert was automatically distributed on CKTO-FM's broadcast and that it was distributed to an area defined by the secondary contour.
- If the subject emergency alert was not distributed correctly, then please explain the cause (technical or otherwise) and how this issue will be remedied going forward. Include descriptions of root causes and the specific fixes, including timelines, to address them.
The National Public Alerting System (NPAS) enables emergency management organizations (EMOs) across Canada to warn the public about imminent or possible dangers to life and property such as floods, tornados, hazardous materials, fires, and other disasters. The CRTC requires that applicable wireless service providers, cable/satellite/internet protocol television providers, and radio and television broadcasters, collectively known as last-mile distributors (LMD), participate in the NPAS. The Commission considers that the full participation of the broadcasting industry is important for the NPAS to be effective in safeguarding and warning Canadians in emergency situations. Thank you, in advance, for your cooperation in ensuring the effectiveness of the NPAS.
A copy of this letter and all related correspondence will be added to the public file of the licensee. Please repeat the question before responding.
The Commission requires all confidential documents to be submitted electronically by using the secured service “My CRTC Account (Partner Log In or GCKey)” and filing the “Broadcasting online form and cover page” located on that web page.
Please submit your response no later than Thursday, 03 July 2025 by 5:00 p.m., Vancouver time. If you have any questions or require additional time, please contact Mr. Thomas Forsey at (819) 997-4956 or via email at thomas.forsey@crtc.gc.ca.
Sincerely,
Michael Crupi
Manager, Network Technology
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission
- Date modified: