Canadian Regulators Pull an FM License Over Indecency

Could it happen here?
Top-ranked CHOI(FM) in Quebec City will lose its license, said Canadian regulators this week, citing a long pattern of offensive comments by its morning hosts. The Globe and Mail newspaper described this as a first for the country’s regulators.
Owner Patrice Demers promised a court fight to save the station, which has 35 staff. “I will probably lose $25-million because I stood by my hosts and gave them freedom of speech,” Demers told the newspaper. The station’s license expires Aug. 31.
It is the sixth time the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has not renewed a license and the first because of offensive content. The station had been the subject of proceedings in the past and its license was only renewed for two years instead of seven in 2002.