The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Who Is Your Go-To Radio News Voice In The Morning?

RadioActive · June 19, 2025 9:19 am

I like to grab a quick hit of news first thing in the morning and there's no shortage of radio stations to hear the headlines. Which one do you choose?

I kind of like Dave Bradley over at AM640. His delivery and writing are both very good, he doesn't take anything too seriously and I like his interaction with morning man Greg Brady, which can go on for 10 minutes or more. (When does he have time to prepare for the next update?)

CFRB, now a shadow of its former self thanks to Bell mismanagement, is hard to listen to because it has so few resources (and barely a newsroom anymore thanks to so many cuts.) They have no reporters to cover any breaking morning stories (why they don't use CP24 more is beyond me) and on Thursday, I heard them take audio from CFTO's late night news and use it as a "report." But it was just anchor Andria Case reading copy and not a correspondent from the scene.

680 is a special case, one of the few places with reporters who go live. I will often give them 15 minutes of my time and it may not be fair to compare an all news format to one that does talk.

As for CBC Radio 1, I'm not even sure if it's fair to make a comparison. Because of government funding, they really haven't had to make any cuts, have access to plenty of reporters, writers, editors and the rest. So they have an advantage none of the private stations do. Not a criticism, per se, just a fact.

I have to admit I'm not sure what the music stations do - do they even have regular newscasts in the morning? If so, how do you rate them?

Radiowiz · June 19, 2025 9:53 am

When I want news I just go to 680 news.
If anyone wants to start doing "news 5 minutes sooner" or something like that, I'll keep my mind open to the alternatives, but for now I am trained to go to 680 at the top of an hour, or catch headlines at 14 past the hour.
No need to go anywhere else for news.

jughead jones · June 19, 2025 9:53 am

Dave Bradley for the win! The best in the business.

radiokid · June 19, 2025 9:59 am

Based on ratings alone (share and cume)... 680 News Radio hands down is the go to for most in the GTHA. 640 and 1010 are not playing in the same ball game as 680. It's not a debate. Not to mention one of the few AM's that gets huge numbers under 40.

Stinand · June 19, 2025 10:18 am

CBC funding may not be fair, but I want comprehensive world news, so CBC wins hands down. I live outside of Toronto (Oakville), so I'm not interested in a stabbing in Scarborough.

Easily Amused · June 19, 2025 10:20 am

Probably 680. A bit too much filler and fluff, but where you'll get news and traffic.

640 and 1010 strike me too much as 'opinion radio'. Bombastic hosts, and I have always thought that opinions are often like rectums. 🤨

For longer form stories, CBC and NPR. Although lately I have been avoiding NPR, simply based upon I don't want to hear what the asshole next door has been doing. 🤨

jughead jones · June 19, 2025 11:41 am

CBC is an antisemitic haven. 1010 is a group of no-talented people "of the day before yesterday." Give 640 a chance, the hosts are well researched, smart and (somewhat) balanced in their opinions.

Aytononline · June 19, 2025 11:47 am

I use 680 news for traffic weather and breaking news. CBC radio for news specials. 1010 and 640 use a lot of TV audio for news specials. I am glad CBC and Rogers still put radio first in there news programing
( I know radio sports is another issue)

67GreenRambler · June 19, 2025 11:54 am

AM740 news is delivered well. Though the content is obviously adjusted for Toronto residents delicate ears.

Storm · June 19, 2025 12:14 pm

570 News in Kitchener - they, like CTV Kitchener, also cover Guelph. The morning duo of Mark Douglas & Christine Clark are great to listen to along with Luke Scholz who does traffic.

paterson1 · June 19, 2025 3:29 pm

I am more of a TV/on line person for news in the morning than radio. 570 in Kitchener as mentioned by Storm above isn't bad, and great for traffic and weather.

Don't really agree with RA's comment that CBC has advantages that the private broadcasters don't have. Bell Media has more cash flow than CBC does but has decided that radio and news coverage on radio is something that they are not interested investing in. They decided to make the cuts. Same with other private broadcasters.

If Bell Media was serious about taking on CBC radio one, they could apply to the CRTC to convert select FM licenses to talk augmented with some of their AM stations that already mostly have a news/talk format. It is not going to happen as we know, but it could be done and Bell Media technically has the resources to do it. They also have many more opportunities at promoting a news radio network like this than CBC does. Rogers technically could do the same.

eladb · June 19, 2025 4:00 pm

Paul Cook, Catherine Jette and the rest of the crew on 680 News do a solid job. Honestly, local radio has become so boring that I don't listen to too many other stations besides 680 anymore.

RadioAaron · June 19, 2025 4:09 pm

paterson1 wrote:
Don't really agree with RA's comment that CBC has advantages that the private broadcasters don't have. Bell Media has more cash flow than CBC does but has decided that radio and news coverage on radio is something that they are not interested investing in. They decided to make the cuts. Same with other private broadcasters.

It's still a big advantage. (Not saying unfair)

The thing about cash-flow with a company like Bell is that is has to...well....flow. Management is required to meet or beat profit expectations, and those only go up. They cannot invest in anything that doesn't have that rate of return.

CBC management obviously doesn't have to do that.

So it's not that one or the other is being better managed; they're not comparable. They're completely different entities.

BowmanvilleBob · June 19, 2025 5:57 pm

In my working days, I usually started the day with 680 News in order to get the traffic/weather information before the long commute into Toronto. I stayed around for the news occasionally, but usually turned it off when I heard Paul Cook intone something about "in depth, team coverage" of some mundane murder/traffic accident/cat caught in a tree incident. In retirement, I've leaned into a combination of CBC News online and BBC News on Sirius XM to get a well-rounded overview of our crazy world

paterson1 · June 19, 2025 9:26 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
paterson1 wrote:
Don't really agree with RA's comment that CBC has advantages that the private broadcasters don't have. Bell Media has more cash flow than CBC does but has decided that radio and news coverage on radio is something that they are not interested investing in. They decided to make the cuts. Same with other private broadcasters.

It's still a big advantage. (Not saying unfair)

The thing about cash-flow with a company like Bell is that is has to...well....flow. Management is required to meet or beat profit expectations, and those only go up. They cannot invest in anything that doesn't have that rate of return.

CBC management obviously doesn't have to do that.

So it's not that one or the other is being better managed; they're not comparable. They're completely different entities.

Everything you are saying is true. However since Radio One tends to do well across the country and generally has great ratings, it is a bit surprising that on the private side, Bell or maybe Rogers hasn't tried to have a commercial variation of Radio One. Maybe more news oriented and some national talk shows. Big advantage that they would have is that they can have commercials and Radio One can't. And they have the infrastructure for lots of promotion on their other stations and TV. But it won't happen because Canadian private radio is not known to be very innovative or ambitious. And please, let's leave CKO out of the conversation. That was many decades ago and doesn't matter anymore...

RadioAaron · June 19, 2025 9:33 pm

paterson1 wrote:
RadioAaron wrote:
paterson1 wrote:
Don't really agree with RA's comment that CBC has advantages that the private broadcasters don't have. Bell Media has more cash flow than CBC does but has decided that radio and news coverage on radio is something that they are not interested investing in. They decided to make the cuts. Same with other private broadcasters.

It's still a big advantage. (Not saying unfair)

The thing about cash-flow with a company like Bell is that is has to...well....flow. Management is required to meet or beat profit expectations, and those only go up. They cannot invest in anything that doesn't have that rate of return.

CBC management obviously doesn't have to do that.

So it's not that one or the other is being better managed; they're not comparable. They're completely different entities.

Everything you are saying is true. However since Radio One tends to do well across the country and generally has great ratings, it is a bit surprising that on the private side, Bell or maybe Rogers hasn't tried to have a commercial variation of Radio One. Maybe more news oriented and some national talk shows. Big advantage that they would have is that they can have commercials and Radio One can't. And they have the infrastructure for lots of promotion on their other stations and TV. But it won't happen because Canadian private radio is not known to be very innovative or ambitious. And please, let's leave CKO out of the conversation. That was many decades ago and doesn't matter anymore...

I can't disagree with any of that.

Cheers.

Shorty Wave · June 22, 2025 8:36 am

67GreenRambler wrote:
AM740 news is delivered well. Though the content is obviously adjusted for Toronto residents delicate ears.

I agree with 67GreenRambler. AM740 news is delivered very well and they cover quite a bit, both local and international, plus they report on the arts/entertainment, which is fairly impressive considering they’re a small news team. They don’t rush it either, like 1010 tends to do.

mic'em · June 23, 2025 6:39 am

In the north there is really only one option, that being CBC Radio 1 . They have several news readers, I can't say I have a favourite.