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AM640's Reroll Timeline Slips - & I Like It Better
I noticed early this morning that all the 640 rerolls seemed to end early - like nine minutes to the hour. Surely not even Corus would dare jam in nine minutes of commercials before the top of the hour news.
Thankfully, they didn't. Instead they went to the top of the hour news at :55 minutes to, starting the next show right afterwards.
This reminds me a lot of the old WABC-AM. They would deliberately put their news on at :55 minutes past the hour ("News five minutes sooner on WABC!") knowing that teens would tune to their competitor (usually WMCA), looking for music. But then at the top of the hour, MCA would go to news, leading the kids back to 770, where they might not tune out for a while. I always liked that idea.
AM640, of course, is no Top 40 giant and this is just a mistake. But with the repeated headlines on a relatively slow news Sunday, I'm discovering I like being able to find something different while everyone else is regurgitating the same stories. It won't continue, but it's fun while it lasts.
- Dale Patterson
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Re: AM640's Reroll Timeline Slips - & I Like It Better
CHUM also had news at :55 up until 1968.
WGR did the same during its music days.
"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
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Re: AM640's Reroll Timeline Slips - & I Like It Better
When I was there in the early 80s, CFTR did news "30 Minutes Sooner," with a major cast at 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 AM during morning drive. They played music at the top of the hour, when everyone else - including CHUM - was giving headlines.
I was honoured to be allowed to be one of them.
In those days, CFTR had the largest newsroom of any private radio station in Canada, with a ton of people staffing the place 24/7, very unusual for a rock station. We turned out features like "Monitor 680," which ran four or five times per day, Timeframe (and later Sunday Sunday), hour long (or more) documentary programs that ran every weekend and were syndicated across the country.
We used to call it rock and roll news, because the stories were presented with a ton of music and production elements, meant to catch the ear of a younger audience.
Best job I ever had in the biz and it was great to work at the #1 rock station in Canada at the time. The talent there in those days (not necessarily including yours truly!) was amazing.
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Thread Starter- Dale Patterson
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Re: AM640's Reroll Timeline Slips - & I Like It Better
When CKFH launched its Top 40 format in 1967, they had headlines at 14 and a full newscast at 30.
WKBW used to have its newscasts at 15 past.
And then there's CKLW 20-20 news.
"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram