The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Another High Profile Corus Firing

RadioActive · February 13, 2025 6:11 pm

She's hardly a household name here, but Sue Deyell has been a morning personality on Corus' CHQR in Calgary for just under a decade, part of the "Sue & Andy" wake-up show. But now Andy will be doing the program alone, after Deyell was fired from the station this week.

"I’ve been in this industry for 32 years and it’s been an amazing ride — hopefully one that’s not quite over yet,” she said.

“I love this industry but it also makes me sad to see where it’s headed. Thanks for listening all these years, friends.”

No reason was given for the dismissal, but while cutbacks are nothing new for the financially challenged Corus, to dump a longtime and high profile morning person seems to indicate their problems aren't going away. You have to wonder who's next - and whether there's anyone left to fire and still have a viable radio station.

Calgary radio morning show host let go by Corus

RadioAaron · February 13, 2025 6:24 pm

The afternoon host on The Edge, Casey-Jo Loos, was also let go.

newsguy1 · February 13, 2025 6:25 pm

Be interested to know why this woman was fired, but her male co host was kept on to do the lone "Andy" show.
was there a way to know if her ratings for her half of the show didn't measure up?
Did he have a significant amount of seniority over her?
With private radio you never know.
Remember the infamous Lisa Laflamme firing?
CTV (Bell) didn't like her grey hair.
She made a lot of money.
She stood up to male managers.
The male manager who fired her was himself later fired.
Wash, rinse, repeat.

Chrisphen · February 13, 2025 8:44 pm

Remember the threnody of criticism of Reshmi Nair on this very board?

brian451 · February 14, 2025 3:01 pm

Word going around is that the station vehicles in Guelph had the CJOY name/logo removed.
Is it possible that the station flips or goes dark? My guess is that they will go dark unless they decide to air 640 on that station as well.

torontostan · February 14, 2025 4:31 pm

brian451 wrote:
Word going around is that the station vehicles in Guelph had the CJOY name/logo removed.
Is it possible that the station flips or goes dark? My guess is that they will go dark unless they decide to air 640 on that station as well.

Might be selling the cars to get some cash.

paterson1 · February 14, 2025 4:49 pm

torontostan wrote:
brian451 wrote:
Word going around is that the station vehicles in Guelph had the CJOY name/logo removed.
Is it possible that the station flips or goes dark? My guess is that they will go dark unless they decide to air 640 on that station as well.
Might be selling the cars to get some cash.

If CJOY were to shut the doors, it could happen right after March 23rd. That is the final game for the Guelph Storm on Sunday afternoon and CJOY broadcasts all of their games. I believe the season broadcasts are sponsored, and they would have a contract with the hockey team. The Storm are near the bottom of the standings so won't be getting into the playoffs. I guess if they wanted or had to close earlier, games could be broadcast on Magic 106.1.

RadioActive · February 14, 2025 4:56 pm

Here's what on the website for its schedule. Seems to be just a jukebox with no one actually on air. Has it been that way a long time?

Storm · February 15, 2025 9:49 am

been that way since Mike Devine was dropped from his morning show (plus his mid day shift on Dave-FM and evening shift on Magic 106.1). Dan Allaire is listed as doing mid days Mon - Fri from 10Am-2PM. Otherwise non stop music/commercials/traffic updates/ news weekday mornings. They also broadcast Guelph Storm and Hamilton Tiger Cat games. They would not fit in with the Magic 106 format. It will be really too bad if CJOY disappears. It has a great oldies playlist - broader than other oldies stations.

km93 · February 18, 2025 3:47 pm

Storm wrote:
been that way since Mike Devine was dropped from his morning show (plus his mid day shift on Dave-FM and evening shift on Magic 106.1). Dan Allaire is listed as doing mid days Mon - Fri from 10Am-2PM. Otherwise non stop music/commercials/traffic updates/ news weekday mornings. They also broadcast Guelph Storm and Hamilton Tiger Cat games. They would not fit in with the Magic 106 format. It will be really too bad if CJOY disappears. It has a great oldies playlist - broader than other oldies stations.

Given the state it's in-it's better off going dark! Let CKOC and Zoomer get some new listeners (they already have).

Last edited by km93 (February 18, 2025 3:47 pm)

haydenmatthews14 · February 18, 2025 5:42 pm

Binson Echorec wrote:
I fully expected Corus to close the Guelph stations long before the Hamilton cluster but building ownership was apparently a factor. They own the Guelph building, they didn't own the building in Hamilton.

I don't think the contract with the Guelph Storm is a concern. CHML had a deal in place with the Ti-Cats and they were punted (pun intended) to CJOY after shuttering CHML. Other than Magic 106, I don't know where they could put the Storm games if they do shutter CJOY.

Wasn't the Kitchener stations such as: 91.5 The Beat or 107.5 Dave Rocks were to relocate to the Guelph studios from Sportsworld? That was supposed to happen months ago.

brian451 · February 21, 2025 5:14 pm

currently the temporary on air lineup for the Edge features Jeremy Baker (out of CFOX Vancouver) doing middays and MK is on the afternoon show replacing Casey Jo. This could be a permanent change but I suspect it will be temporary. I was told Drex may show up on the Edge at some point. He did some fill in work at 640 recently after a short lived stint at Indie 88

Jody Thornton · February 21, 2025 5:22 pm

Drex left Indie already?

brian451 · February 21, 2025 6:28 pm

Jody Thornton wrote:
Drex left Indie already?

Apparently he was there only a month or so. He is located in Vancouver and I think they wanted a host locally.

paterson1 · Yesterday 9:08 am

paterson1 wrote:
torontostan wrote:
brian451 wrote:
Word going around is that the station vehicles in Guelph had the CJOY name/logo removed.
Is it possible that the station flips or goes dark? My guess is that they will go dark unless they decide to air 640 on that station as well.
Might be selling the cars to get some cash.
If CJOY were to shut the doors, it could happen right after March 23rd. That is the final game for the Guelph Storm on Sunday afternoon and CJOY broadcasts all of their games. I believe the season broadcasts are sponsored, and they would have a contract with the hockey team. The Storm are near the bottom of the standings so won't be getting into the playoffs. I guess if they wanted or had to close earlier, games could be broadcast on Magic 106.1.

Well March 23rd has come and gone, the Guelph Storm are not in the playoffs and CJOY is still rockin'. Just listened to their 9am newscast and a bit of of their morning show which consists of traffic reports, commercials, promos, news and mostly 80-90's music, with the odd 70's and 2000's music mixed in. Music is pretty heavy for an AM station, and they are not afraid to play rock gold.