Oh Canada! Very friendly to low power radio

Canada is light years ahead in the area of low power radio and guess what, NAB, their commercial radio industry hasn't imploded yet!

Industry Canada exempts FM broadcasting transmitters from authorization when those transmitters meet the requirement of Broadcasting Equipment Technical Standards 1 (BETS-1). These transmitters are commonly called Low Power Announcement Radios or alternatively real estate radios.

According to BETS-1, “The maximum power output of the transmitter into its antenna, with no modulation, shall not produce a field strength level of more than 100 μV/m as measured at a distance of 30 metres, compared to the USA FCC standard of 250 uV/m at 3 meters. That might seem miniscule, but it could be said in a very crude way that Canada allows more than five times the power.

Learn more with Frequently Asked Questions on Low-Power FM Broadcasting from Industry Canada

One such operator is VankleekFM a privately owned Ultra Low Power FM transmitter located in the village of Vankleek Hill, Ontario.  The owner of the service, Jean Sarrazin, maintains a license with Industry Canada to use the frequency, 88.7 as an unprotected, "local public information service" and describes the operation as follows.

As a low power station the service is exempt from most CRTC content requirements as long as it respects the CRTS's exemption order defined by the following criteria:

1. Operates between 88 -107.5 MHZ,
2. Field strength measurements at 30 metres must not exceed 100 uv/m
3. Meets all technical requirements of Industry Canada,
4. Originates all programming,
5. Does not rebroadcast the programming of another (broadcast) undertaking,
6. Does not broadcast religious or political programming,
7. Does not broadcast the same message on more than one transmitter.

I found a bit more information at an inactive but informative site called Radio XY - English Bay  - kewl, eh?