Jody Thornton wrote:

So?  Did anything happen?

Yes, they FINALLY had their launch today!  Tuned in at around 9am this morning and heard the morning show live with Stef & Danny Zzzz along with Chuck Lafleur.  Sounded great.

RadioAaron wrote:

He'll have more to work with when they bump it up to 95.3

If you are suggesting that 95.3 is being flipped to simulcast 640 then this would be a BIG mistake causing a severe impact on 900 CHML which ranks at the #3 position in Hamilton's 2022 ratings with a 4.3 share.  Most importantly, Corus would certainly get in trouble with the CRTC as doing this would be a backdoor entry by abandoning their market of license from Toronto to Hamilton.  This was not the case with their Q107 flip in Calgary as both CFGQ-FM and CHQR are in the same market.

Due to its signal, 95.3 is the only Hamilton station which ranks in the Toronto ratings but for some reason, Corus is not taking advantage of this.  Rather than fighting a losing battle competing against CHUM, Virgin and KiSS, they need to go against weaker signal stations Flow 98.7 and Z103.5 (which now has a 7.1 share) by changing their format from Hot AC to Rhythmic CHR and come back to their true Energy 108 roots with a mix of Dance/Pop and Hip hop/R&B.

Ever since 93.5 flipped away from Urban CHR, there has been a void for Hip hop/R&B music in the Toronto market.  98.7 did somewhat adapt to this change but does suffer from an impaired signal in the east GTA with interference from CBC Peterborough also on 98.7 where 95.3 still has an excellent signal.

This was the last letter from Ben Reid before the flip posted yesterday at 6:29am:


Judging from the response on social media, there's LOTS of people who truly loved 102.7 The Pole and are dissapointed that it turned into The Lake as you can see from these comments on their Facebook page:



From what we are seeing so far, they should seriously consider keeping the Pole, at least during evenings and possibly weekends as well.

I would also come up with a catchier and less common name for the station than "the Lake", pehaps call it "the Mast".

RadioActive wrote:

When I asked if that "immediate" 10% reduction applied to them, they said they didn't know yet but would be informing customers when a determination is made. 

I realize the info is new so they're still processing it, but it all depends on what that "some" word means. The last time the CRTC issued an edict on reducing Internet rates, TekSavvy (and some of its then competitors) immediately announced major rate reductions for their subscribers. 

The rate reduction does apply for wholesale access costs of all independent Internet providers such as SkyChoice and TekSavvy that offer some services in certain areas that they can't provide natively using big telecom's "last mile" facilities.  However, one must keep in mind that indie ISP's have been eating the costs of offering these services for quite some time, so we should not expect the full 10% reduction to be passed on to us consumers. 

10% is not that much at the end of the day and I suspect that most of these providers will need most of this amount just to secure themselves financially and prevent being forced to sell out like the 8 independent providers who already got acquired over the past 12 months by Bell, Videotron and TELUS.

Another important thing to consider is that any CRTC decision including this one can be appealed all the way to the Supreme Court so no provider will lower rates until all appeal options have been exhausted.  Based on past experience, it is almost certain that today's decision will be appealed at least once which will result in a delay until heard.  Any provider would be foolish to prematurely reduce their rates before all appeal options are exhausted and potentially lose millions like TekSavvy did when the CRTC made their previous decision to lower rates which never got implemented due to appeals and got overturned back in 2019.

Danny Petty wrote:

Adding (as opposed to removing) another layer here... This is what currently greets Pole patrons on the station website. Not sure who/what they're specifically referring to, but obviously someone with skin in the game?

If you read carefully, they are obviously referring to Rogers who used to own the station previously.  I suspect that many people are unaware the station was sold and still believe it is owned by Rogers and as a result, they may be getting a bit of flack in response to the new format.
 

Station is back, just played "Girls Girls Girls" by Mötley Crüe.  Perhaps Mr. Fybush is busy with one of them. 

radiokid wrote:

Energy 953 screams to me as this was a cost containment approach, as ratings wise Energy has not been what they had hoped for in the Toronto Market.  Their adult leaning chr/hot ac is really covered and way too may in the market especially for a rim shot.     I do wonder what the future brings.

The problem with Energy 95.3 is that they tried to go "head to head" with Virgin 99.9 and to a lesser extent, Kiss 92.5 and CHUM 104.5 when they first rebranded from Fresh radio and got Tucker & Maura for their morning show. 

Big mistake trying to compete with those stations coming from out of market, as vertically integrated Bell and Rogers have a much larger marketing budget to promote their stations than what Corus could ever dream of.

They would be much better off having a more focused format by returning to their Energy 95.3 & 108 roots as a true Rhythmic CHR station and compete against Z103.5 and Flow 98.7 instead.  Energy 95.3's strength is in its signal, which has much better coverage than Z103.5 or Flow 98.7.  I would propose a 50% Dance/EDM and 50% Hip Hop/R&B format, along with an extensive marketing awareness campaign.  This should work out well, especially following 93.5's recent format change.
 

Wow, did not know that 102.1 The Edge was also involved which makes this a big switcheroo.  I guess they had to maintain John and Ryan at Q to avoid alienating listeners too much but also had to add Shawna as the new female co-host to replace John Derringer. 

102.1 The Edge has been struggling in the ratings for a few years now so it makes sense that they would move Tucker and Maura's morning show over there to try and prop them up, but I'm unsure how well they will perform with a non-CHR format.

I guess the big question now is what happens with mornings at Energy 95.3 (and also PM drive at 103.1 Fresh Radio London)

RadioAaron wrote:

This is a clue, but not the answer:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CnkmvSJI-va/

Hmmm, it all makes sense now...  Maura will be joining Q107 for Maura, John and Ryan in the morning.  I wonder who will replace her as Tucker's co-host?

RadioActive wrote:

Hmm. So does that mean that potentially, one day, they might be asked to give up that frequency? I'm not sure I'd want to spend all that money setting this up, knowing it may not be permanent.

They will probably apply for a power increase down the road once they become more established in order to expand their coverage and protect their frequency at the same time.

Watched on last Friday and it was a real eye opener to say the least where the 3 large telecom providers make it very difficult for existing customers to get a lower priced plan once you are signed up with them.

Fortunately, there are smaller providers such as Skychoice where one does not have to jump through hoops to get a good deal.  They currently have a 3 month free promo until the end of the month with 6 months of cell phone service for the price of three on any of their plans which is probably the best deal out there for Canadian wireless.  More info on their website at https://www.skychoice.ca/section/45

Signed up myself and service is great, especially in 5G coverage areas in the city.  Rogers towers are used but occasional roaming to Bell/Telus is included at no extra cost for areas with no Rogers coverage.
 

RadioAaron wrote:

But the answer to being overly-broad (and they're not as broad as when they launched if you've listened lately) is not to be overly niche. EDM cannot move the ratings needle.

You would be surprised how much potential listenership that EDM could have, especially in a major city such as Toronto.  Did you watch that YouTube video I posted to see how large the crowd was at an outdoor indigenous EDM act?  To be honest, with only a 0.1 or a 0.2 share, there's nothing to lose in trying.  The key to success with an EDM station however is extensive presence at live concerts and nightclubs featuring this type of music.

Bottom line is that given their signal deficiencies, they can't afford to compete against any of the other CHR stations in the market.  If Miami, FL can support a full time EDM station (WZFL 93.5fm) with less than 500k residents then certainly Toronto at almost 6 times the population could do the same.

rje1 wrote:

All due respect to the great Mr Charles....Elmnt FM is a train wreck of a station. Terrible signal and a format that's way too all over the place. 
 

The signal issues in Toronto are largely caused by nearby Buffalo's WYRK also transmitting on 106.5 FM at 50,000 watts which causes both contours to overlap as per the image below.  This causes issues, especially in areas near Lake Ontario due to enhanced signal propagation causing CFPT's lower wattage signal being overpowered by WYRK.

The impact of this interference on newer radios has been somewhat mitigated when CFPT also started broadcasting in HD Radio, at least now CFPT's signal is no longer totally being taken over by WYRK's HD signal in certain parts of Burlington and Oakville near the lake.

I do agree that Elmnt FM's format is too overly broad which makes it too hard to compete given its signal deficiencies.  I would strongly suggest focusing on a more niche format.  Electronic Dance Music (EDM) would be perfect given the fact that no other Toronto based station currently focuses on this format.  The Elmnt FM name would also already be suitable and could be maintained.


 

RadioActive wrote:

OK, but I think their chances of winning this thing are slim to none.

I wouldn't be so sure about that.  According to Freedom Fibers who are helping them out with their public legal fund, they were actually sued first by Bell back in 2020, most likely due to them marketing their fixed wireless Internet service as WIFIBE.

So this appears to be a counterclaim for them to defend their brand and with all that happened as a result of COVID, it is certainly reasonable that they were delayed in doing so up until now.

On their website, they describe WIFIBE as wireless fiber Internet provided by their network of fiber fed towers, so it is certainly reasonable that they would abbreviate it as WiFi Fiber or WiFibe in their branding.

Basically, as it stands now, any telecom provider risks getting sued by Bell if they use all or part of the word "Fiber" in their branding.

 

RadioActive wrote:

"Many have been posting comments claiming they've experienced the same issue (poor sound), with some complaining that they've even completely lost signal when driving in certain parts of the city, on top of all of the other reasons they oppose the merger.

At the very least, Stingray should be a good Samaritan by making a deal allowing CKFG to broadcast on 93.5 HD2 as they just fired up their shiny new HD radio transmitter for themselves.  This should almost fully resolve reception issues but only for people with an HD radio in their vehicle.

Ironically if you look closely at the BlogTO link that was posted, the listener that posted an Instagram video of them tuning in both stations actually has an HD radio in their vehicle.  Her reception comparison of both stations is actually a bit unfair as she's comparing an HD Radio signal with a station that currently does not broadcast in HD radio.

Direct link to Instagram video below:

https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/v/t50.2886-16/274080743_512172400336919_2746240254823267215_n.mp4?_nc_ht=scontent.cdninstagram.com&_nc_cat=111&_nc_ohc=4rLF2BdPkBoAX8RcMNi&edm=AJBgZrYBAAAA&ccb=7-4&oe=624EC6D3&oh=00_AT9KWn1gaJ4Frsw-3-mtwadFlytNADP7u9VHUsydMNfp3Q&_nc_sid=78c662