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January 4, 2024 2:18 pm  #1


Corus London

Does anyone know why Fresh 103.1 is running the same (exactly the same) Top 50 countdown of 2023 with Toni Ross in the morning show time slot for the past week or more?

They stopped playing Christmas music on the 26th (thankfully) but this is ridiculous. As soon as I realize it's the same countdown show with the same stories I change stations. I haven't heard that the morning team has been fired or that a format change is coming... it's just very strange to me as a listener. 

 

January 4, 2024 4:25 pm  #2


Re: Corus London

Website still gives credit to Mark in the morning, so at least that's not deleted. Not sure what's going on over there...  https://1031freshradio.ca/show/fresh-mornings/


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

January 4, 2024 4:39 pm  #3


Re: Corus London

Well I can safely say that Corus isn't updating websites with speed right now. Jeremy White finished his show just before Christmas on Energy in Hamilton, and he is still listed. Turn Up show is still on all the sites it was aired on and they did the final show on New Years Eve. With all the layoffs they may have laid off the web guy too. Or they just haven't had a chance to update things yet. 
Also just remember the Corus stock is in the crapper so most likely they are cutting corners to save money. Take a look at the new Country station in Winnipeg. The morning show host at Country Winnipeg is the afternoon host of CISN country Edmonton, the afternoon show in Winnipeg is the morning show co-host on Country 105 Calgary and the midday host is the same midday host as the one that does middays in Calgary, Edmonton and London. So basically they let go of hosts in September, and launched a new station on the 27th without hiring a new host. Also to point out both FM96 London and Y108 Hamilton have the same on air lineup until 6pm every day. 
 

 

January 4, 2024 6:01 pm  #4


Re: Corus London

I left the industry in 1986, so looooong before the introduction of voice tracking. I wasn't really around a radio station until my son was attending Canadore College in North Bay, where he did a co-op at a FM station there. He became friends with a guy who did afternoon drive there, and I was given the opportunity to sit in the last hour of his show and then , he had to do a voice  track show for the next day on another station within the company in another town. I had asked if he got paid extra for this and the reply was it was part of his salary , and also had to do a VT show for a third station that would air on the weekend. It took me back to when in the late 70's , I was hired by a Maritime station to be the morning host. After my first shift, I was summoned into the general managers office and informed that my salary was based on working an 8 hour day and after my on air and production duties, i was expected to remain in the building to fulfill whatever tasks were asked of me, including writing commercials, assisting the news room and even to empty waste baskets and clean up the offices etc if anything was spilled. LOL, I said no thanks and resigned on the spot. As they say, I didn't let the door hit me on the way out. 

 

January 4, 2024 7:50 pm  #5


Re: Corus London

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?

 

January 5, 2024 11:08 am  #6


Re: Corus London

I had worked at several radio stations prior to accepting that position, and never had to be in the building for an 8 hour day. You realize I'm talking about the 70's ? I don't know what it is like now. The morning host was considered the top dog in those days, other than doing remotes, and or community or promotional stuff, that level of hierarchy did not clean floors etc. So by your thinking, a John Moore  or any other professional radio morning host should do so ? If so, then a contract would need to specify that. The one I had did not. 

 

January 6, 2024 12:51 pm  #7


Re: Corus London

RadioQuiz wrote:

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?

Only place I got paid for 8 hours but didn't have to be in the building for the full 8 hours was at CBC Yellowknife in 1974.  It was a NABET job and they openly violated the NABET contract by having you work 6-7 hours with no breaks, as the only person in the building, and paid you for 8 hours to ensure you didn't complain to the union.

 

January 6, 2024 1:57 pm  #8


Re: Corus London

In 1977 my first job after college was at CKPR in Thunder Bay.  We didn't need to be in the office or studio for 8 hours.  My on air shift was 6-10pm and usually I wouldn't come into work until 5 or shortly after.  I would normally be out of the building by 10:30pm.  Occasionally there was more production assigned and I would do this after my shift but not that often.  In the summer time unless I wanted to stay after my shift to experiment in production or work on ideas, I was out the door by about 10:15  And this company was not unionized. 

Even the office staff at CKPR TV and radio could go home early if their work for the day was completed and many employees would.  All office staff had 90 minutes for lunch plus regular breaks.  Announcers also worked five days per week and only six if we were short staffed or covering for holidays. 

My last job before retirement was in the newspaper business.  I was in sales and we had flex hours, our department was unionized.  The normal working day was 8:30 to 4:30pm.  However you could come into work later or leave early, again if what you set out to do that day that was done.  You didn't have to tell anyone or check with your supervisor, but as a courtesy most staff would let them know if they were going to be in late the next day or leave early.  Naturally if there was a sales meeting or something special at 8:30 you normally would be expected to be there. 

At times you would work late or come in early if you were working on a special project or had a lot going on.  This system worked well and overall likely evened out regarding hours actually worked.  However sales often isn't a straight 8 hour job anyway, and the flex hours were helpful.

 

January 6, 2024 3:43 pm  #9


Re: Corus London

So  my experience is not that far from the norm of the time period. As stated, I don't have knowledge of how the industry works in today's world. The young man from North Bay is now working at the country FM in Oshawa from what my son has told me, they are still friends. I will have to ask what extra duties are involved in his employment now that he is in the GTA market. 

 

January 6, 2024 3:48 pm  #10


Re: Corus London

Morning shows being in the building after the show, outside of show/PD meetings, is largely unproductive.

We expect them to watch the important hockey games or award shows. We expect them to lead lives that fuel relatable content.

Giving them busy-work to justify some BS 40 hour work-week just creates boring people who do nothing but work and sleep.

 

January 8, 2024 2:50 pm  #11


Re: Corus London

It also creates a culture of clock punching. If you don’t let people leave when they’re done work, they won’t stay late when they aren’t done their work.
90% of people are perfectly capable of regulating themselves. As a manager if you think you have more than 10% of your staff cheating the system, you aren’t very good at hiring people.

 

January 12, 2024 7:52 am  #12


Re: Corus London

brian451 wrote:

Also just remember the Corus stock is in the crapper so most likely they are cutting corners to save money.

And predictably, revenue from radio and TV is down, but they say they still managed to make a profit, sadly partly thanks to those cuts. 

"Revenue totalled $369.9 million in the quarter, down from $431.2 million a year earlier.

The drop came as television revenue came in at $342.4 million, down from $401.5 million a year ago, while radio revenue was $27.5 million, down from $29.7 million."

Corus reports $32.7M Q1 profit, up from $31.4M a year earlier, revenue down 14%

 

January 12, 2024 8:38 am  #13


Re: Corus London

The morning duo of Mark & Ian haven't been heard since before Christmas and this week it's just non-stop music with liners in the morning slot with a promise of 'new' Fresh mornings on Monday. I'm guessing it'll be a multi-market morning show, perhaps Scott & Kat (who are already heard in the afternoon on 103.1). I have no inside knowledge about this but it seems to be "the thing to do" in the radio biz these days. 


 

     Thread Starter
 

January 12, 2024 12:44 pm  #14


Re: Corus London

These comments from Doug Murphy, the head honcho at Corus, don't sound very good for current employees. If I were one of them, I'd be quietly looking for a place to jump, just in case. 

"Last fall, Murphy said Corus had cut 15 per cent of its workforce throughout the year.

TV employee costs for the most recent quarter were down five per cent mainly as a result of those layoffs, the company said Friday.

Asked if Corus was finished undergoing cost cuts or if more could be expected moving forward, Murphy said the company is "doing more work."

"There's an intense focus on continuing the momentum that we've shown thus far, so it will carry on throughout the year," he said.

Read between the lines and it appears more firings are almost inevitable. 

Corus CEO expects improved ad spending with Hollywood strikes in rearview mirror

 

January 12, 2024 1:42 pm  #15


Re: Corus London

zed wrote:

The morning duo of Mark & Ian haven't been heard since before Christmas and this week it's just non-stop music with liners in the morning slot with a promise of 'new' Fresh mornings on Monday. I'm guessing it'll be a multi-market morning show, perhaps Scott & Kat (who are already heard in the afternoon on 103.1). I have no inside knowledge about this but it seems to be "the thing to do" in the radio biz these days. 


 

If you go on the website and look at Fresh Mornings it only mentions Mark. I heard he is moving to afternoons. Scott and Kat will most likely be heard in the mornings soon. There was a rumor I heard before Christmas that the Fresh stations, plus Energy Hamilton as well as The Beat and Jump were mostly going to operate as one network. Same playlists. Same hosts for most of the day. Specialty shows like the Fresh 20 on all stations. Maybe the changes in London will be a starting point for that.
Another clue that things are changing is a lot of the station websites have glaring holes for shows at certain times of the day. So it makes me think changes are going to go full steam ahead soon. It would save money unfortunately.

 

January 12, 2024 10:21 pm  #16


Re: Corus London

The Fresh website was updated. New morning show is going to be Mark LeBel and Taylor Tsakoniatis
They are calling it the morning rush

 

January 13, 2024 4:37 pm  #17


Re: Corus London

brian451 wrote:

The Fresh website was updated. New morning show is going to be Mark LeBel and Taylor Tsakoniatis
They are calling it the morning rush

The website was updated again and the show has been pulled but if you tap on the shows portion at the top it says The Morning Rush in the pull down but tapping it takes you to a dead link page. So I assume it went up prematurely and was pulled. Must have spoiled the surprise. 
 

 

January 16, 2024 7:46 am  #18


Re: Corus London