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SOWNY » It's About The Music and Storytellers On The New ICON Radio » March 17, 2024 6:10 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 7

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I checked it out for an hour.

Would he ok for a weekend show - but 24/7?   I don't see the value for the local audience?

I'm guessing it will be cheap to run.

SOWNY » Winter PPM » March 6, 2024 11:15 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 26

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RadioActive wrote:

RadioQuiz wrote:

Q107 needs to find John Derringer in their contacts and ring him up before its too late.

The Corus cluster is in rough shape.

I'm not entirely sure but memory tells me that AM640 has never, ever been able to get out of that 1.2-1.4 trough they've been in for years, if not decades. No matter what they try, things never seem to improve. 

Also, it strikes me as very interesting that CJAD in Montreal, with its all talk format, is #1 in its market A12+, with a 28.4% share, which is actually up from the last book. I'm sure CFRB would kill for even half those results. What is Montreal doing that Toronto isn't?

AM640 did well 18-34 SURPRISINGLY, and their TSL has improved.  Still work to do.

CJAD has always sat in about the same spot... they go up a bit and then down, and then up.   The morning show and afternoon show is what keeps them hanging on 25-54.  They used to do well at night too before they went to network shows.
Their newsroom gutting didn't have the same impact as CFRB - perhaps because they are basically located with CTV.

SOWNY » Winter PPM » March 6, 2024 8:59 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 26

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Q107 needs to find John Derringer in their contacts and ring him up before its too late.

The Corus cluster is in rough shape.

SOWNY » AM640 Resurrects Old Corus Weekend Show On Fridays » February 27, 2024 6:26 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 9

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"LETS DISCUSS IT" ran on CFRB 1010 in the 90's and earlier.  Same concept.  What made it great was Andy Barrie and Ed Neeham on the same show.

SOWNY » You Be The P.D.: What Would You Do With These Radio Stations? » February 19, 2024 11:22 am

RadioQuiz
Replies: 10

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km93 wrote:

Definetly not country as in addition to WYRK, you are also competing with KX from Hamilton and Country 89 from Welland. I would need to look at the current ratings and see if HTZ and CHRE are still doing well. 

I would leave them the same unless you have a HUGE ad budget.

Currently -

HTZ is 1, GIANT is 2 and Country is 3.

A few ballots likely could swing anyone up or down.

SOWNY » Trudeau gets pissed at Bell Globe Media for the cuts » February 14, 2024 8:36 am

RadioQuiz
Replies: 7

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RadioAaron wrote:

Tomas Barlow wrote:

This is boardering on Conrad Black levels of worship from this board.  Small stations that are heavily voice tracked are pretty much the norm.  Other than the sheer number of stations there's nothing revolutionary about what he's doing.  I'd argue that Durham Radio, despite their constant predictable attempts to claim signal deficiencies to get through the back door into adjacent larger markets, create more interesting and fully staffed radio than MyFM does.

100%

Did you know BellMedia has two radio stations in Peterborough? One runs a US syndicated morning show. The other VTs mornings and airs it on four other stations; it also runs a cash contest that sounds local, but the winner could be from any number of stations. Their websites don't even list their personalities!

Wait, that's not Bell.

It's a company run by a very convincing salesman who has many here drooling over the dotted line before they even look in the box they're buying.

 

breaking news - radio stations do stuff you don't like.

- forgot to mention their large newsroom

- forgot to mention their huge amount of fundraising for local charities.

- forgot to mention the thousands of people who get news headlines sent to their phones

- forgot to mention their indepth coverage of the Petes.

- forgot to mention they saved the local home show.
.
- forgot to mention they didn't just layoff 4800 people.


Just because you don't like it, doesn't mean the audience doesn't like it.   Radio has changed.  We get it, you don't like them.  Change the channel.   Buy your own station and show us all your brilliance.

SOWNY » Bell Media Cuts 4,800 Jobs, Selling 45 Stations » February 8, 2024 9:13 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 171

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They got the right idea with the format of The Lake, but the execution is awful, and the ratings reflect it.

I don't think you get it.   Clearly they were waiting for FCC approval before investing heavily into Lake and obviously waiting for this deal.  Common sense.   Also ratings in Kingston are a rolling average so the last book didn't really mean anything relevant to changes.

Look at the chess game...  now they have the #1 station with a flanker running guard with no can con... and whatever 98.9 is or will be... you should be impressed... it's a great radio play.

SOWNY » Bell Media Cuts 4,800 Jobs, Selling 45 Stations » February 8, 2024 7:54 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 171

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.
How'd that go for staff in stations they bought in Simcoe, Cobourg, or Welland?

No staff were let go.  News people have been added.  Welland still has a full on-air line up on both stations.


Their "The Lake" has been on the air in Kingston for 11 months and still has no local announcers.

Lake has announcers all day.

SOWNY » Bell Media Cuts 4,800 Jobs, Selling 45 Stations » February 8, 2024 7:04 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 171

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-Don't expect the likes of MyFM of Vista to turn the clock back on the reality of the business. These stations aren't going to suddenly have their live and local dayparts or newsrooms back.

MBC has a news people in all their markets and I was told will be adding news people back to Brockville and Kingston and no changes to staff.  So whatever all current live shows stay.

SOWNY » Corus London » January 4, 2024 7:50 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 17

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Curious.  Did you ever find another gig where you were paid for 8 hours but didn't have to work them all?

Where do I apply?

SOWNY » Radio Giant Audacy Prepares To File For Bankruptcy » January 4, 2024 12:48 am

RadioQuiz
Replies: 42

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So who is a likely buyer.  50 is alot of stations.    Maybe a few dogs in there too.

SOWNY » Radio Giant Audacy Prepares To File For Bankruptcy » January 3, 2024 7:53 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 42

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What stations?   Is there a kijji listing?

SOWNY » CHAM, CKOC, CKWW Sold » November 27, 2023 3:31 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 78

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Here's the play -

Rent out blocks of time to guys from the SOWNY board to recreate 1050 Chum or their favourite time period of AM radio.

Profit.

SOWNY » Classic 1220 Adding New Shows » November 20, 2023 8:30 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 13

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I can confirm I have heard spots on Lake FM in Kingston.  I can also agree the music / jocks and imaging are really solid.     My guess is the strategy is to keep it really clean to intro the audience.    I do recall a friend saying they had some transmitter upgrades being done.

SOWNY » Bell Media to Buy Major Outdoor Billboard Company for $410M » October 23, 2023 7:23 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 4

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Here's the plan.

- fire the people that currently make it a success asap.

- bring in some inexperienced managers.

- turn 410 million into 200 million.

SOWNY » Monday Dawns But Still No Sign(-On) Of CFAJ 1220 » September 18, 2023 3:21 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 38

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This is showing all signs of a disaster!  Now you're paying staff to NOT be on the air playing music on an AM station.   Just when I thought it couldn't get more bizarre.

SOWNY » Your Hometown Radio Begins September 11 » September 7, 2023 12:39 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 46

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Running from a box at the tower. Easy and relatively cheap.

Adding people, people costs and studios and all that jazz - way harder and way more expense.

Time to deal with those people?  Yikes.

Bottomline... which ever way you run that station the majority simply don't care about music on AM.  Add in Grimsby on FM, Giant of FM with local stuff, and BOOM and BOUNCE... who will say.... but I need to hear it on AM?   


Radiowiz wrote:

RadioQuiz wrote:

Should be fun to watch. I remain convinced AM 1220 will generate nothing other than a huge hydro bill.

Really? I think they'll manage just fine. It costs a lot of money to run a radio station and nothing to turn on the radio, but anyone who can go 3 years with no ads at all and somehow stay on the air can surely do just fine with an oldies formatted station, ads  and all.  
 

SOWNY » Your Hometown Radio Begins September 11 » September 6, 2023 10:21 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 46

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I chatted with a buddy -

The building is for sale.  They want a new facility that is not in the middle of no where


Kk is not accurate.   She quit because they asked her to play nice with the rest of the staff.   2 people did retire because they were the age to retire.  Nothing else.

Stef and Danny hated KK.  They took over before the new owners.  Never bought in. Left when the ratings dropped.

On the good side Al Joynes is handling weekends and has been an positive addition.

Should be fun to watch.   I remain convinced AM 1220 will generate nothing other than a huge hydro bill.



Brad wrote:

Well KK quit around last November. A co-worker always listened to her, and when I told her she quit a few weeks earlier, she started listening to Christmas music, so I believe it was around November. She had a post on her Facebook page about how all the women at the station have quit, been replaced, or otherwise.

I am not an insider, but it sounds like things aren't good since they got the new owners.

Their building on Forks Road in Welland is for sale, so that's another unknown situation.

Chuck LeFleur and Brian Salmon were the longtime Giant FM hosts. Chuck retired, although I still saw his name on news stories on their website, but there was recently a job posting for a news person so maybe he's gone now.

Brian then got paired with a girl named Katie, but that team didn't last long. Katie joined Giant FM from sister station Country 89. Brian then got moved to Country doing middays, and Katie was gone. Then suddenly Stef moved from Country 89 to Giant and Danny Zzzz who was doing evenings got paired with her. They weren't there long. I'm going to say less than a year, now Stef and Danny have moved to Classic 1220.

SOWNY » Your Hometown Radio Begins September 11 » September 6, 2023 7:19 am

RadioQuiz
Replies: 46

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Billboard should say.

Never heard of them.
Never will.

This should be a business case study of doing everything wrong.   It has inspired a new idea - can we bet on the over/under of how long a business will last?  Someone call BetRiver

SOWNY » Your Hometown Radio Begins September 11 » September 5, 2023 9:09 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 46

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I tuned in, but all I can hear is the sound of money being burned.

Glad it's not mine.

SOWNY » Mike Bendixen Back In T.O. Radio & You'll Never Believe Where » August 30, 2023 10:14 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 31

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End of the day - AM640 is going to get better.  Some of the changes Amanda made were cool ideas, and worth a try.   The bottomline is that good radio station is like a strip mall- you need really strong anchors.   Greg Brady and Oakley are pretty solid, and the news dept does a nice job.   If Mike can get them all clicking better together - it could be a winner.  Mike has access to a pretty nice talent pool of well known radio entertainers that will immediately improve 640's biggest weakness - the depth of their bench.  It will be fun to watch. I wish everyone success.

SOWNY » Radio station for sale - well kind of. » August 7, 2023 4:01 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 5

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Looks like MBC is building new facilities for 91.7 Giant FM and Country 89.

That building has many radio miles on it!

https://www.realtor.ca/real-estate/25402243/860-forks-road-welland

SOWNY » Big Changes Coming To Peterborough Station After CRTC Ruling » August 4, 2023 2:28 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 5

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It's an interesting story.

They actually put their staff meeting on Facebook live when they discussed the changes, why they were doing it.   This was about a month or two into the pandemic?  Should still be there.

If you read the submissions on the CRTC website - it was pretty clear they had not done anything without the commission being in the loop.

If nothing else, they now have the all clear to do what they want.  It won't change their signal issue.

I like the station as it is now.

SOWNY » More Weirdness From CFAJ-AM 1220 » July 16, 2023 7:24 am

RadioQuiz
Replies: 6

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I respect chasing the dream... but the only model that would work long term is if people volunteered their time.   This is not a sustainable model.  If you took a paying gig here, you either don't understand how radio works as a business/medium OR you're cool with stealing the owners money.

SOWNY » CFRB Is Doomed In The Ratings As Long As They Do This » June 2, 2023 8:23 am

RadioQuiz
Replies: 31

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Agree.  This may be the worst line up in the history of CFRB.  To be fair they are playing with half a team now and no clear leadership.

Here's what I don't get?   

The only success they have on TSN is Overdrive.   The model works.   Why do they not carbon copy that to 1010?   

Find a good anchor with 2 good cohosts.  Do it on the radio and simulcast on CP 24 for an hour or two?   Seems like a no brainer.

SOWNY » CFRB's John Moore Narrowly Avoids Being Attacked At TTC Subway Station » April 5, 2023 1:02 pm

RadioQuiz
Replies: 6

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Love John Moore.    However, Elvis Duran the morning guy at Z100 told a similar story today too.   Is there some radio spinster at work here?

SOWNY » Disastrous Deal Done: It's Official. Rogers Gobbles Up Shaw » April 1, 2023 7:16 am

RadioQuiz
Replies: 42

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In the end - which big corporation owns these assets is not relevant.  Its just a big company trying to get a return for shareholders so we can expect a non consumer approach to everything they do (even if they try or have a fancy vision statement).

What matters is the regulation, which in Canada we have been traditionally poor at.  We should be able to have a real simple mission that Canada should not pay the highest rates for services in the world.   Likely being the lowest is also not achievable.    I'm sure ChatGPT could tell us what would be fair and reasonable compared to the G8.  Then we should regulate the shit out of that.

SOWNY » Host of The Rush wants your opinion » March 30, 2023 11:51 am

RadioQuiz
Replies: 24

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She doesn't want "our opinion".  She wants someone to tell her she is right.

To suggest to be "more like Jerry or John" is an insult to their talent.  They have decades in the trenches and are multilayered in their skill.  They are way more than "just their temperment".

If she truly wants to be successful she will learn what most fail to understand - her only job is to get more people to listen more often and for longer stretches.   It's not about right vs left or right vs wrong... it's about TSL.

SOWNY » Rogers Could Debut "RadioGPT" In Canada As Soon As Next Month » March 23, 2023 11:38 am

RadioQuiz
Replies: 13

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The challenge becomes IF all the people that write the news and information are let go... where does the AI get the news to steal, rewrite, voice and insert?

On the flip side -

AI will never complain, spill coffee in the cruiser or hit on the promo team.

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