The bids

The folks behind Rainbow Radio, CKMW, already own and operate AM530 and HITS 103.5FM.

The company has until Jan 10 to scramble for last minute support before the public hearings.

Money-wise, TD Bank would potentially provide $3-million in

financing the capital and operating funds.

In documents, Rainbow Radio also claims a potential audience of about 500, 000 people and the support of a series of big-money corporations (like Air Canada and Labatt).

And CKMW has partnered up with the School Of Media Studies at Humber College to develop an apprenticeship program for broadcast students.

The CRTC’s mandate is to ensure that programming must reflect Canadian creativity and talent, linguistic duality, multicultural diversity, the special place of aboriginal people within society and social values.

Milestone appears to lead the pack when it comes to of reflecting and developing Canadian creativity and talent. It plans to undertake seven initiatives to develop Canadian creative talent, costing a grand total of $48,500 a year. This includes several cash-producing concerts and sales of soon-to-be recorded R&B and urban hip hop CDs.

Share has declared that Daniel Caudeiron would be hired on as full-time director of Canadian talent development (CTD). He’d be making a salary of $50,000 per year.

In Share’s Supplementary Brief to the CRTC, Arnold Auguste wrote: “Mr Caudeiron’s visible minority status, his bicultural identity and his international experience in the Caribbean, the UK and North America has provided him with a unique perspective and unrivaled knowledge of the global dance music genre.”

(According to the CRTC, staff salaries are usually included in the normal cost of doing business and do not qualify as direct expenditures to CTD.)

Share also plans to devote $285,700 a year to assist in

the development of an Aboriginal Voices Radio. That is, should the CRTC not approve the Aboriginal Voices application.

There are 30 groups vying for the two radio frequencies available – 740AM and 93.5FM.

Milestone will make an attempt to target the Aboriginal Community for any job recruitment initiatives.

Public hearings begin Jan 31, but the deadline for getting something in is Jan 10.

Rainbow Radio is at keithm@hits1035.com or www.hits1035.com. The CRTC is at http://www.crtc.gc.ca

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