(CUP) God bless those fine folks at the Canadian Radio-Television and Tel- ecommunications Commission. Their re- cent decision to make MuchMusic take off Ren and Stimpy will make our fine nation safe for democracy once more. Lord knows that we wouldn’t want our children telling “magic nose goblin” jokes at school. The last place you'd find that type of humour is a school yard and it is certainly not ex- pected from the average eight year-old- child.

After a complaint was filed to the CRTC (notice how I said “a” and not “many”), MuchMusic was asked to re- move Ren and Stimpy from its lineup. The reason given was that the show didn’t fit into their programming license. Thank GOD! If MuchMusic was allowed to run Ren and Stimpy, our country would be unsafe for our children to grow up in and would simply self-destruct.

‘This decision has proven to me some- thing that I have felt for a few years: the CRTC is filled with small-minded bureau- crats. This is not the commission’s first act

of stupidity. A few years ago, the station’

that was CKIS FM was caught playing “hard” rock music when they were only licensed to play “soft” rock. When the station asked to change licenses, the CRTC turned them down because they were play- ing too much “hard” rock. A song they

CRTC protects your kids and kills -Ren & Stimpy

singled out as “hard” rock was the Beatles’ “Love Me Do.” Folks, this is an example of our tax dollars at work.

Asecondexample happened about four years agoin Toronto when license applications for anew FM station were being accepted. Two groups applied, one for a country station and one for an inner-city, urban music station. They gave it to the country station even though the city’s last country station changed formats because of low ratings and inner city, as far as Radio Canada is concerned, is ignorant while it dominates the nation’s sales charts. Before I get hate mail from country music fans, you have to remember this is before Garth Brooks happened and country music’s popularity was renewed. Hip-hop, dance and other forms of inner-city, urban music still dominate the music charts and are still being, for the most part, ig- nored.

What the CRTC doesn’t realize is that run- ning a television or radio station is like running a business. Ren and Stimpy ran on MuchMusic because it was popular, and when a show is popu- lar, it attracts advertisers which, in turn, creates revenue. CKIS FM was a popular station when it played rock that attracted advertisers, creating revenue. The group that wanted to start an inner- city, urban music station knew there was a market for it and it could have been a successful business venture. To the CRTC, Ihave to say this: “It’s called capitalism. Look into it.” And that’s more impor- tant than any stupid license.

Ian Ferguson of the Manitoban