But why would a 40-year-old woman who likes Energy's playlist and finds they've suddenly switched to, say, country, stick around to hear music she doesn't like? Age isn't the issue. It's the music that counts.

If they like the Christmas crap, fine. If not, they're gone and that station loses a listener. It's only common sense. History has shown that a station that switches formats generally blows off all their old listeners. Think of CKDX-FM in Newmarket. One day, they were Lite 88.5. The next, Hot Country. 

Do you really think their previous audience stuck around after that? Why would they?

What is odd about that?

RadioActive wrote:

But why would a 40-year-old woman who likes Energy's playlist and finds they've suddenly switched to, say, country, stick around to hear music she doesn't like? Age isn't the issue. It's the music that counts.

But they didn't switch to Country. They switched to a format that the majority of a HotAC audience likes as much or more than the regular playlist. We're up to 20 years of data on this now.

sbpointer wrote:

What's funny is they didn't put any effort into the switch even online.  If you look at the other Corus Chistmas stations like the Fresh Radios and Magic 106 in Guelph when you go to the site its all festive listen live graphics and stuff the Energy one is still the " Play all day" graphic. It's almost like it was an after thought...

Check again and refresh your browser if necessary.  The website was updated to reflect the all Christmas format.

Last edited by PwrSurge (November 14, 2025 12:23 pm)

mjf wrote:

95.3's RBDS program type is "Country Music".  Leftover from Country 95.3??  I noticed that K-Love 102.5 is still "Adult Hits" and Legend 102.9 is still "Soft Rock" so I guess that setting just often gets forgotten.

It's been like this since switching to the new CHCH tower.  They are running on their auxiliary transmitter which has since became the primary one but never had the chance to update RBDS since their Country 95.3 days.  However, the info on their HD radio transmitter is correct so this only impacts non-HD radios

PwrSurge wrote:

sbpointer wrote:

Well that was underwhelming..
I guess we will see what happens on Boxing Day.

Hopefully they go through with a flip to Rhythmic CHR.

That would be a massive blunder

darcyh wrote:

Are all the Corus Christmas stations playing the same songs at the same time? Only one origin of programming.

I don't mind the Christmas music per say just the very small playlist. With tens of thousands of Christmas recordings available they should include more variety.

The old CFCA and CKOT did Christmas music right.

 

As from what I understand. Fresh London, Energy Hamilton, Magic Guelph and the other Fresh stations in Kingston and Cornwall are all playing the same Christmas songs. While The Beat Kitchener, Fresh Barrie and Fresh Peterborough are playing their regular format.

dmcjeff wrote:

on december 26 it flips to RBC 95.3  all Banking All The Time. creditors

That includes its new playlist, featuring songs like:

"Money" by Pink Floyd,
"I'll Pay You Back With Interest" by The Hollies
"Just Walk Away Renee" by the Left Banke
"For The Love of Money" - by The O'Jays
"Money, Money Money" - by Abba  - and
"If I Had A Million Dollars" - by The Barenaked Ladies
 

Yes, but there will be a service charge...

There's a big market for 'Anti-Israeli, Pro-Hamas Radio' in the GTA.  Tap in.

PwrSurge wrote:

mjf wrote:

95.3's RBDS program type is "Country Music".  Leftover from Country 95.3??  I noticed that K-Love 102.5 is still "Adult Hits" and Legend 102.9 is still "Soft Rock" so I guess that setting just often gets forgotten.

It's been like this since switching to the new CHCH tower.  They are running on their auxiliary transmitter which has since became the primary one but never had the chance to update RBDS since their Country 95.3 days.  However, the info on their HD radio transmitter is correct so this only impacts non-HD radios

95.3 (don't know what their current call letters are as they have changed a few times) was once a powerhouse in terms of signal. I seem to recall  they ran at least 100 kilowatts. Have they taken a power and coverage cut since moving to a new tower?
 

Last edited by darcyh (November 15, 2025 11:20 am)

torontostan wrote:

PwrSurge wrote:

sbpointer wrote:

Well that was underwhelming..
I guess we will see what happens on Boxing Day.

Hopefully they go through with a flip to Rhythmic CHR.

That would be a massive blunder

I don't believe so, they were extremely successful as Energy 108 even though 107.9 FM coverage is impaired in the GTA due to restrictions with this frequency nearby major airports such as Pearson.

Unfortunately once they swapped frequencies to 95.3 in 2001, Shaw (who owed the station at the time) got greedy by changing formats to Hot AC and tried to go head to head with CHUM.  This failed miserably and in less than 1 year later, the station flipped to Country.  Today, Energy 95.3 is repeating the same mistake with their current Hot AC format.

Energy 95.3 needs to refocus by switching to a Rhythmic CHR format and they will be huge again like they were in the past.  They even had a 31 ft. RV serving as a mobile studio as shown in the following video.



 

PwrSurge wrote:

I don't believe so, they were extremely successful as Energy 108 even though 107.9 FM coverage is impaired in the GTA due to restrictions with this frequency nearby major airports such as Pearson.

Unfortunately once they swapped frequencies to 95.3 in 2001, Shaw (who owed the station at the time) got greedy by changing formats to Hot AC and tried to go head to head with CHUM.  This failed miserably and in less than 1 year later, the station flipped to Country.  Today, Energy 95.3 is repeating the same mistake with their current Hot AC format.

Energy 95.3 needs to refocus by switching to a Rhythmic CHR format and they will be huge again like they were in the past.  They even had a 31 ft. RV serving as a mobile studio as shown in the following video.[/youtube]

 

I wasn't aware that what advertisers care about most in 2025 is how big a radio station's RV was in 1996!
With all due respect, you have no idea what you're talking about. It's 2025.

RadioAaron wrote:

The audience for rhythmic CHR does not use radio.

Well; unless it was gold-heavy like 'BLK which 'grew up with their audience who are now in that target demo.

I am in the U.S. a lot and noticed the 'classic hip hop & RnB genre often had two stations covering it in major cities.  

This CHR\Rth or Urban is under represented in Toronto considering the popularity of it on the radio.

Existing signals like Flow and Vibe are extremely low powered and try to cover a massive genre so wide that there's a sprinkling of everything in their playlists ranging from Soca Caribbean to Reggae Hip Hop R&B new and old that it's not truly a single Genre.

As for CING; perhaps if it really does change to some variety of A/C then may I suggest a new Boom but without the 90's
 

dmcjeff wrote:

RadioAaron wrote:

The audience for rhythmic CHR does not use radio.

Well; unless it was gold-heavy like 'BLK which 'grew up with their audience who are now in that target demo.

 

And that's just it. The only way to have that audience is to have always had it. Starting something like that from scratch is a non-starter. The potential audience has found it elsewhere and they're not coming back.

The audience you are describing, when it comes to country, is faithfully tuned to AM 650 Nashville (Grand Ole Country country), and has been for generations.     

Depending on cloud cover, it clicks in around 8:30 p.m. at this time of year