1 of 1- RadioActive
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640 Stays With Paid Programming Instead Of Huge Breaking News
If there was ever any doubt about priorities at Corus' GNR640 as the news/talk station’s promos make it out to be, it was erased for good on Monday night, when Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau called a sudden and dramatic press conference for 7:40 PM.
Speculation was running rampant that he was resigning from the second most powerful position in the country and, next to the resignation of a Prime Minister, the loss of a Fin Min. is about the biggest political bombshell there is. If you’ve never worked in news, trust me – it’s a huge deal, one that doesn’t happen often, can change elections and affect the economic direction of an entire nation.
CFRB (among others but surprisingly not CBC Radio 1) carried the announcement live, but 640 was busy doing something apparently far more important: taking phone calls on their regular (and paid time) Monday night Employment Law Hour. Now I get it - money is money and I'm sure their coffers can use the dough the legal firm doles out to appear every Monday and Wednesday from 7 until about 7:45 PM.
But you might think they'd interrupt regular programming just one time for such a momentous political earthquake.
Nope. We'll tell you about it when the shill bill is filled. Worse yet, they knew about it well in advance and still chose to stay with the paid show.
If you're going to claim to bring Toronto important information, as its latest imaging proudly and repeatedly proclaims, you'd think they might have found a way to take this thing live. I guess we now know where their priorities really lie. I don't want to turn this into another divisive political discussion, but keep it focused on radio. So shame on Corus for failing their listeners so spectacularly, leaving egg on Alex Pierson’s face and surrendering their news ground to their competitors for the sake of a few bucks.
- RadioAaron
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Re: 640 Stays With Paid Programming Instead Of Huge Breaking News
CBC Radio One not carrying it is a way bigger deal. They have resources, but they're certainly not nimble.
- RadioActive
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Re: 640 Stays With Paid Programming Instead Of Huge Breaking News
I don't disagree. It's possible that they didn't have the staff in to cover it properly at that time of night, but at the very least, they could have taken CBC News Network audio. 680 News went with it. Still, that doesn't let Corus off the hook. The "N" in GNR 640 stands for "News." I guess they preferred the bucks to the breaking news.
By the way, just to show how big a deal this is, CFRB is calling in all their big guns for this, including Evan Solomon, who is very good with political commentary, Jerry Agar, Mark Towhey, Scott Reid, Tom Mulcair and more to do analysis. 640 appears to have a few "who should we get?" call-in guests.
There's a difference between the two and it really shows on nights like this.
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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Re: 640 Stays With Paid Programming Instead Of Huge Breaking News
One other thing that surprises me is that CTV has ceded its veteran "Question Period" show on Sundays to Global's "The West Block." The former has been off for much of the summer, which normally would not be an issue, especially when the House of Commons isn't sitting.
But this year has seen some of the most explosive political stories in decades and I've personally felt its absence. I know Evan Solomon was on vacation for a while, but I honestly thought they should have called everyone back to cover the WE scandal fallout, the incredible spectacle of a Prime Minister being grilled for an hour by an Ethics Committee, the increasing calls for an election, the endless money being spent because of the pandemic, the Conservative leadership vote, the growing Western separatist movement, the U.S. tariffs, and now the Morneau departure.
That's an almost unheard of summer for politics in this country and I don't think there's ever been a silly season quite like this one. In my addled mind, a veteran show like "QP" should have been following it. Instead it was off the air, with "Cash Cab" reruns airing in its place. It's been around since 1967 and is the third longest running show in CTV history. But it's been AWOL for weeks when it was needed the most.
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Thread Starter- RadioAaron
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Re: 640 Stays With Paid Programming Instead Of Huge Breaking News
RadioActive wrote:
I don't disagree. It's possible that they didn't have the staff in to cover it properly at that time of night, but at the very least, they could have taken CBC News Network audio. 680 News went with it. Still, that doesn't let Corus off the hook. The "N" in GNR 640 stands for "News." I guess they preferred the bucks to the breaking news.
By the way, just to show how big a deal this is, CFRB is calling in all their big guns for this, including Evan Solomon, who is very good with political commentary, Jerry Agar, Mark Towhey, Scott Reid and more to do analysis. 640 appears to have a few "who should get?" call-in guests.
There's a difference between the two and it really shows on nights like this.
CFRB really surprises me sometimes with how well they handle these types of stories. Money's obviously tight, but they seem to be able to make the right calls and bring the "big guns" in quick.
680 doesn't surprise me; they're built for this.
- RadioActive
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Re: 640 Stays With Paid Programming Instead Of Huge Breaking News
RB has a lot of these guys on the payroll and on speed dial and part of their job is just for nights like this.
Tom Mulcair is CTV's Political Commentator, Jerry Agar is obviously one of their hosts, Scott Reid seems to always be available to them (not sure if he's remunerated for it, but he's on often enough that it wouldn't surprise me) and Evan Solomon is a national Bell radio host with eons of experience in political drama. He used to host "The House" on CBC Radio until a mini-scandal of his own (regarding the selling of art, if memory serves) forced his resignation.
Add in former Ont. P.C. leader Tim Hudak and his wife Deb Hutton, and you have a pretty formidable line-up of experts when it comes to politics on the radio, all of whom are a phone call away.
Who does 640 have they can call in a pinch? Maybe Peter Shurman, a former MPP. Other than that, I can't think of anyone.
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Thread Starter- paterson1
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Re: 640 Stays With Paid Programming Instead Of Huge Breaking News
All three news networks as expected were live with continuing analysis. CP24 always does a good job in situations like this. They balance the national and local aspect very well. Bill Morneau is the member for Toronto Centre and they are good at getting guests quickly for comment and analysis. And after about half an hour they are back to regular coverage.
- Chrisphen
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Re: 640 Stays With Paid Programming Instead Of Huge Breaking News
...you have a pretty formidable line-up of experts when it comes to politics on the radio...
'EGGSPURTZ'.
- Chrisphen
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Re: 640 Stays With Paid Programming Instead Of Huge Breaking News
Jessie Brown is the one who cracked this nut. Almost no outlet will touch him - he is HATED.
I kinda get it - he is often insufferable - but Canadaland really nailed the scandal to the door.