A public hearing has been set for the highly contentious proposal to erect five radio transmission towers in Point Roberts. The hearing, which will take place at the Whatcom County courthouse on Oct. 27, 29, 30, 31 and Nov. 3, is expected to draw a large crowd from both sides of the border.
BBC Broadcasting Inc. wants to construct five 45-metre (150-foot) steel towers at an undeveloped lot on McKenzie Way, about 330 metres from the Tsawwassen border. The towers are to transmit South Asian radio station KRPI, AM 1550 to a Lower Mainland audience.
Many residents on both sides of the border have been fighting the plan, primarily over concerns about the impacts blanketing interference from the radio waves will have on household electronic devices. Also known as Sher-E-Punjab, the company currently broadcasts using antenna in Ferndale, Wash., but wants to move them closer and have a 50,000-watt all-day signal.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted a construction permit but a conditional use permit is still required from Whatcom County.
Although KRPI transmits from Ferndale, Sher-EPunjab broadcasts from studios in Richmond.
Sher-E-Punjab, a Canadian company, rents the current tower array from BBC Broadcasting Inc., which is registered in the state of Washington. The company that owns the land on which the current towers sit is called BBC Holdings.
Opponents argue BBC Broadcasting is nothing more than "a shell company" and that corporate decision-making lies with the family that owns Sher-E-Punjab.
Sher-E-Punjab, coincidently, is one of several applicants vying for several local AM and FM frequencies available on this side of the border, with AM 600 being the most desired.
The Canadian Radio Television Commission (CRTC) held a hearing in Surrey earlier this year, hearing from Sher-EPunjab's chief operating officer, Gurdial Singh (Dale) Badh, whose father, Ajit Singh Badh, founded Sher-E-Punjab.
The company wants the local AM 600 signal, saying it needs a "repatriation" to a Canadian frequency because the current signal can't be heard in the evenings, a prime listening time for its audience.
Gurdial Badh told the CRTC panel his talk radio station has been able to provide high quality programming to the South Asian community despite the poor signal.
When the CRTC panel wanted to sort through the complicated web of ownership, asking for details about the relationship between BBC Broadcasting and BBC Holdings, Badh noted he's a 20 per cent "minority owner" of BBC Broadcasting and Bhag S. Kehla owns 80 per cent. Kehla owns 20 per cent of BBC Holdings, while Gurdial's brother, Suki, owns 80 per cent.
Opponents argue the arrangement to have Kehla, an American, registered as the majority shareholder of BBC Broadcasting was made because the Canadians wouldn't have been eligible for the current FCC licence, let alone the application to relocate the towers to Point Roberts.
Responding to the FCC, which received an informal objection to deny the company's license renewal, the applicant referred to the opponents as NIMBYs who seek to derail the proposal at all costs.
The CRTC panel sought an assurance from Badh that, should the Canadian AM signal be granted, another broadcaster would not be given a lease of the U.S transmitter to target Canadian audiences, either from Ferndale or Point Roberts.
The Point Roberts property is registered under his and his wife's name.
