So here we are. It's Labour Day - the first full day of ratings for the diary markets. The five PPM markets of Toronto, Montreal, Calgary,Edmonton and Vancouver began ratings about a week ago. That means almost half the 78 day campaign took place during the hot lazy days of summer when more Canadians traditionally listen to FM music than talk radio. So there is no talk radio election fatigue at the start of the most important rating period of the year for radio stations in Canada.

This is one of the reasons why I am predicting that talk radio across Canada will have better ratings in 2015 than it did during the 2011 election campaign.

In 2011, Edmonton talk stations had the lowest ratings of all five PPM markets during the election campaign dropping 13%. Vancouver talk radio ratings dropped nine per cent and Toronto ratings fell by eight per cent. By the time election day came around, Edmonton and Anglo Montrealers were the least interested in radio election results.

Of course we won’t know if I’m right about this election generating higher ratings than the 2011 election until results are released on December 3rd for the diary markets and December 10th for the PPM markets. But I do have other reasons why this time round talk radio will have better ratings across the five PPM markets.

That is because of what happened 48 hours into the PPM ratings, when Canadians woke up to the photo of a lifeless three-year-old Alan Kurdi whose body washed up on the shores of a beach in Turkey. It was all people were talking about on the radio. The little boy, his brother and mother drowned when their small boat capsized while attempting to reach Greece from Turkey to escape the horrors of the Syrian civil war. The father survived. He is the brother of a British Columbia woman who says Canada rejected her request to provide other family members refugee status because they didn’t have the proper documentation.

Forget the Mike Duffy trial revealing the PMO hid details from the Prime Minister of how the senator paid off $90,000 in expenses, forget the economy, lack of jobs and whether or not Canada is in a recession. The photo of Alan Kurdi washed up on the beach in Turkey shifted the focus of the election campaign.

It forced Canadians to look in the mirror and do some soul searching about how little Canada is doing to take in refugees fleeing for their lives from Syria and Iraq. This is an emotional issue that has griped all Canadians who turned to talk radio to express their sadness, embarassement and anger about how the Harper government was handling the refugee crises. The immigration file is something that will stick around for a while. Each day the topic is discussed, a lot of people will tune in to talk radio. There is a lot of anger out there and talk radio offers a platform for the angry.

For more about why I think talk radio will have great ratings during this election campaign check out my On The Kowch Blog.  You can also find a count down clock to the end of the diary and PPM ratings in December.

Last edited by kowchmedia (September 7, 2015 12:54 pm)