I know the show isn't what it used to be, but Derringer's on track to be #2 in the current book, and they spent a bunch on marketing it in the spring. Not going anywhere.

Radiowiz wrote:

Good. Get rid of Derringer here. Toss that show on. Who cares if rating drop a notch, it's still a lot cheaper to run.

What's your problem here? I enjoy it. 

paterson1 wrote:

IAll those TV spots must be helpful.

And they can do those for essentially "free." But they spent actual money on a good sized outdoor campaign. 
 

paterson1 wrote:

CHUCK @ 92.5 has been without a morning show since earlier this year when the station dropped syndicated Seattle morning show, Brooke & Jubal (now Brooke & Jeffrey).

Interesting. One station's discard is now another station's new morning show.
 
Virgin Radio Edmonton to air syndicated ‘Brooke & Jeffrey’ in mornings

This means that two stations in Edmonton - one from Corus, the other from Bell - have their all important AM drive shows coming from somewhere else - in this case, south of the border. This is a bit of a worrisome development, as station groups try to save money on expensive morning talent. I hope it doesn't become a trend in this country, but after the COVID disaster and with management constantly trying to do as much as possible on the cheap, I can't help but wonder if it will.

You are correct about the Willy show. I was thinking about a similar sounding syndicated morning show out of Phoenix. Still, the fact it's Canadian does not necessarily mitigate my concern. It airs in Calgary and Edmonton but comes from Vancouver. O.K. that's fine most days.

But what happens when there's a huge blizzard in Edmonton some morning and you want your hosts to give info on school closings or highway accidents? What about a scandal at City Hall? Or COVID breaking out in a school? Who's going to give you the latest on that huge story that breaks in the morning and requires immediate handling and explanation? One guy in the newsroom? Not enough. 

Love it or hate it, the one thing you can say about CFRB is that when something happens in the waking hours, they move on it, finding guests and updates. Is the guy sitting in a studio in Vancouver going to know or care about what's going on in Edmonton or Okotoks? 

And then there's the U.S. syndie guys. While I'm guessing it's a typical morning zoo type show that's mostly entertainment, they will inevitably have to touch on Trump, the U.S coronavirus count and the American vote at some point. Yep, that's what Edmonton needs to hear first thing in the AM. And if, say, Bill Morneau is forced to quit as Finance Minister or a snap election is called here? You won't hear a word about it from this Virgin Radio station. 

I stand by my original point - it's cheap. But it's not better. And it's not serving the area they were licenced for. But I guess that doesn't matter to the bean counters at Bell. I hope the audience sends them a message that Seattle isn't part of Alberta and votes to separate from Virgin. 

RadioActive wrote:

I stand by my original point - it's cheap. But it's not better. And it's not serving the area they were licenced for. But I guess that doesn't matter to the bean counters at Bell. I hope the audience sends them a message that Seattle isn't part of Alberta and votes to separate from Virgin. 

Actually, how do you know for a fact that it's being done to do things cheaper? How do you know it's not for the purpose to spend bigger bucks in another market...maybe stealing a morning show from a competing station down the dial? 

I don't have any examples of that happening, but one does have to wonder if Bell is actually spending MORE money on Adam Wild TJ & JAX than they did with the previous morning show (now @ 95.3...and how much do they cost?) 

Long story short, the other benefit is that it builds a save up for a morning show that starts out as very expensive to run, but hopefully also pays off later on with greater ratings than what a station had before.  

*added note: I was not intending to suggest that Corus might want to steal Hot 89.9's morning show. It is a good example though. 

Last edited by Radiowiz (August 13, 2020 8:14 pm)

I'm pretty sure if you examine the economics of this, you'll see it's always cheaper to buy a syndicated show than stage your own. Consider - a typical morning show is at least two people (often three) with that many salaries. And if they're on in the AM shift, they get paid more. Then there's the producer, since most of the big morning shows aren't self-op anymore. So there's another salary, plus whatever benefits that accrues. 

There's also vacation pay, plus hiring substitutes when everyone's off, pensions, sick leave, etc. etc. etc. There's simply no way that whatever Bell's paying for the non-local program is costing them as much or more than doing it themselves. 

My problem isn't the money, though - it's what lost by having someone hundreds of kilometres away being totally out of touch with what's happening in your city - where it isn't and never will be a priority. If Howard Stern didn't work on this side of the border, I can't see how these shows will fare any better.

But hey, if it finds an audience, good for them. My prediction is that in the end, it won't. 

Paterson1 and I are on the same side of this (for once!) Local works better but especially in the mornings, when the weather, traffic and current news is in the forefront and it's vital if you want people to listen. 

In general, I prefer local to syndicated, especially in mornings. It has to be quality local though.