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January 17, 2022 7:42 am  #1


What A Time For CityNews 680 To Be Off The Air!

It happened just before 6 AM during one of the worst snowstorms in decades. And those getting up early to find out about school closures, weather alerts and traffic, had to do it without Toronto's only all-news station at 680 on the dial. Not sure what happened, but it seems CFTR's transmitter in Grimsby failed and it doesn't appear the back-up is working very well. 

As of this posting, it's essentially off the air (although still online) and good luck to engineers who may have to access the site. The Niagara area is getting hammered by the storm and it won't be easy to get out there if they have to. 

These things can sometimes take a long time to fix. CKTB St. Catharines also experienced an outage earlier this month, and they're still not back to full strength. But unlike CityNews 680, at least you can hear them in the GTA.

 

January 17, 2022 8:11 am  #2


Re: What A Time For CityNews 680 To Be Off The Air!

Update: Whatever it was, they fixed it. Back on at full strength by 7 AM. Still a great moment in very bad timing. 

     Thread Starter
 

January 17, 2022 8:28 am  #3


Re: What A Time For CityNews 680 To Be Off The Air!

This is the result of budget cuts I'm thinking. How cheaply can things be produced,who will take the job at minimum wage.If they can do the job 'adequately', rather exceptionally well. Are they relying on third party/sub-contractors for the maintenance of their equipment ? 680 seems  to have more technical glitches than most other radio stations,to my ears at least. Usually 680 News is where I go for what's happening  in the here and now for news and weather.  The less reliable they become,the fewer people will tune in. I'll be one of those people.CityNews twitter posting at 7:20 am says their signal hs been restored. After an hour or so of being off the, most folks have likely gone elsewhere for the latest updates for news and weather.Another case  of who is watching the store at Instant Ontario Weather. One post says weather warning has ended. A minute before  that post, it says weather warning has been issued.

Last edited by Norman peters (January 17, 2022 9:17 am)

 

January 17, 2022 9:38 am  #4


Re: What A Time For CityNews 680 To Be Off The Air!

There's now an official blizzard warning for the city. I can't remember the last time I've heard that. It was so bad, I had to go outside and shovel part of my backyard. The snow was bigger than my dog and he couldn't get out to do his business. I did finally get him for a quick left lift and a squat and it's right back inside. 

The weird thing is that I had to go out and do it again less than 10 minutes later. 

It reminds me of the Mel-Lastman-calls-in-the-tanks event. I hope those tanks are on standby somewhere. We may need them again!

I feel sorry for the TV and radio reporters who have to go out in this, although the background visuals are compelling. But getting there won't be half the fun!

     Thread Starter
 

January 17, 2022 12:18 pm  #5


Re: What A Time For CityNews 680 To Be Off The Air!

Dead air on CIUT right now...

 

January 17, 2022 12:23 pm  #6


Re: What A Time For CityNews 680 To Be Off The Air!

Just came back now. 

     Thread Starter
 

January 17, 2022 12:28 pm  #7


Re: What A Time For CityNews 680 To Be Off The Air!

Zelda Young, who does a daily show on CHIN-FM, couldn't get to the studio on Monday and did her entire show over the phone. 

     Thread Starter
 

January 17, 2022 1:21 pm  #8


Re: What A Time For CityNews 680 To Be Off The Air!

RA, thanks for letting us know about these outages.

In the last year or two we've heard about problems at CHAM 820, CKTB and now CFTR 680. I believe the 680 transmitter site is an eight tower array located along the lake shore between Stoney Creek and Grimbsy. It's hard to miss when traveling along the QEW. 

Not so many years ago outages like this were almost unheard of; perhaps they didn't have RA to report them Many stations had in house personnel experienced in AM transmission and directional antenna clusters. Maybe they still do. These transmitter sites are decades old and there was little development around them when they were built. Are the components at these transmitter sites approaching the end of their service life?