Here are the requirements. Technically PSIP IDs are not allowed (nor do they include the name of the city) but nobody complains about it. No idea why it is that radio stations insist on keeping this practice alive while their TV counterparts haven't been following the rules for over a decade. CBC Radio also rarely announces their callsigns. The whole practice is dated and serves little purpose when PSIP and RDS exist. 

ED1 wrote:

"The network says “CTV National News” is also providing segments to the early evening local newscasts on Saturdays and Sundays."

So does that mean the national newsroom will be producing national/world news segments for the local stations to air in their shows?

They already do. 

RadioActive wrote:

While I compliment her on her response, one of these things is not like the other. 

"680 prides itself on being live 24-7"

"Updated for the overnights (when we do go to tape)."

You can't say you're live 24-7, and then in the same paragraph admit one of your main segments is on tape. 

Just saying...
 

They're live in the same way the 6PM news is live. You think they should employ someone overnight solely to give the scores of games that ended 6 hours earlier? 

CIDC HD seems to be silent. Anyone experiencing the same? Carrier locks but nothing at all is returned. Analogue is left only..... sounds like someone is making a road trip up to Orangeville tonight

Radiowiz wrote:

You're saying there IS return? But "too little".  What is "too little"?  Are you saying there's greater benefit in just going to the welfare office and living off of that instead? What is your point??? 

I see good money in a classic country format. People who say it is too hard to sell a stand alone station to advertisers have no idea what they are talking about, at least not without being more clear on what "too little" is.

I hope what you mean is, the return on the investment will work out to less than minimum wage once the input of hours of effort are reviewed.

In this hypothetical CHCH/CKOC scenario: they would certainly, without a question of a doubt, lose at least $500k/yr for several years. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say by the time an audience and advertisers arrive (if ever) the band is not 10 feet under, they would at best have an operating margin of 0%, and that's generous given the average last year for Canadian English AM's was around -10%, and Toronto AMs were -5%. Also keep in mind the relatively large up-front capital required to out-bid the religious/multi-lingual groups who no doubt will want to buy CKOC. 

You can live in a fantasy world where regular music and newstalk English AM radio has a future, but it does not, and the only reason it's kept afloat now is by co-existing with other (profitable) FM stations that can share staff and be sold to advertisers as one. 

RadioAaron wrote:

WPE9HAY wrote:

HD2 sound quality (Zoomer Radio) not nearly as good as the HD1 (Classical).
HD2 like inside a rattling tin can ...Is that the best that can be from the original source? 

It’s the best it can be without reducing the quality of the main classical signal, which would be a really bad idea.

If you're only running two HD feeds, you can actually set both of them to 48 kbps, but my guess is they don't have enough spectrum with both 2nd adjacent frequencies on the same tower: 98.7 (their own) and 95.9 (KX repeater). Totally guessing as I don't see why else they wouldn't run it at 48 if they could. 

RadioActive wrote:

I hope they find another gig soon, even if it's not in broadcasting per se, because so few places are hiring anymore. And there surely aren't 1,000 openings out there. 

I honestly believe there must have been another way, but Bell wasn't even remotely interested in exploring what it might be. 

While still sad..... as P1 and RadioAaron noted, there were 910 positions eliminated. The majority of those would've come from the Bell phone/internet side, which we can safely assume is a lot less niche compared to AM radio. 

This will hardly move the needle folks. In fact, it could actually backfire on Corus as eastlink will charge the same rates for fewer channels. I'd estimate less than 1,000 subscribers flip in the first month of this disagreement, if it even goes that long. 

radiokid wrote:

  I do know the CN tower is going through an upgrade and not sure how they will handle HD via their existing tenants and the new master antenna system.   The point of the upgrade on top of getting equipment modernized, is to allow stations on the CN tower add HD if they want.   I'm willing to bet we see most jump on board.  

That's interesting. My predictions.....
Rogers - CHFI-HD 2 and 3 will take over CFTR and CJCL from CKIS. Resulting in lower fees for them at FCP. 
Corus - CILQ-HD2 will repeat CFIQ. CFNY won't have any HD.
CBL-HD 2 and 3 will repeat CJBC-FM and AM.
Bell - No change, CKFM already has both their AMs on it in addition to country
CJRT - No change. Nothing to gain by adding one. Maybe they'll use it for higher audio quality given their format/genre?
CHBM - No change. Nothing for them to put on it. 
CHIN - Probably cram 3-4 sub-channels with various languages on HD.

Hopefully nobody pays for his "insights" 

ckg927 wrote:

I'm just curious: Where does CHCH in Hamilton fit into this conversation, or do very few people watch them any more-in The Hammer or otherwise?

They do fairly well. Not sure if ED1's list is more up to date, but last I saw (in 2016) things went: CFTO (300k), Global (125k), CITY (115k), CHCH (100k) CBLT (50k).

Paul Jeffries wrote:

I wonder if Bloomberg 1050 is on the horizon, given that TSN 1150 was supposed to fly in Hamilton, but didn't?


PJ

Two vastly different markets, and 1150's proximity to 1050 did not help them. Their transmitters were only 50 km's apart, so a lot of listeners could've transitioned from one to the other very easily. 

Hamilton = 1 sports team from "big six" league (do not own the team)
Toronto = 5 sports teams from "big six" league (4 of which they co-own)

haydenmatthews14 wrote:

It is called "Die For You" by the Weeknd and it was recorded in 2016 and released in 2017. Here we are in 2023 and it is still being played many times radio stations like Z103.5, Virgin Radio, CHUM 104.5, Kiss 92.5 etc and across the US. This maybe a reason why. According to the Wikipedia article it says.

"In 2022, the song experienced a resurgence in popularity, due to the online social media application TikTok. Therefore, the song impacted US radio, achieving a new peak within the top ten of the Hot 100. On February 24, 2023, the Weeknd released a remix of "Die for You" with American singer Ariana Grande, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated March 11, 2023."

Yes I know some people might find this song overplayed many times on the radio but when it is played almost all the time I switch it to a different station.
 

Under the current regulations it will continue to be overplayed for 10 years as it's Canadian content. The Ariana Grande version is not, hence why that one is not played here as frequently. I agree.... I reach for the car radio whenever it comes on. 
 

(All numbers approximate - Canada only)

Overdrive 20,000 (excludes radio)
PTI 80,000
Tim & Friends 50,000 (could be more than double if he has a big lead-out i.e. Leafs/Jays)
Around The Horn 50,000

Some math on the back of a napkin shows it would cost over $50k US to send a single MLB radio announcer on the road for a season. Even then, people would complain there's no colour analyst which would add another 20+ thousand. The increased revenue from having someone on the road is $0. It's simple math folks.