Here’s a very small suggestion for AM640 that just might help a tiny bit in its so-far endless losing battle against arch rival CFRB: change your clock!
 
No, it has nothing to do with the eventual  reversion to Standard Time. This alteration can be done now, may increase Time Spent Listening and best of all, it won’t cost Corus a single cent.
 
Like it or not (and advertisers and sales departments don’t) when most of us hear commercials, we reach for the button that changes the station. It’s just a fact. What I can’t understand is why AM640 doesn’t realign its show clock to go to a spot break first, minutes before 'RB does.  
 
As it stands now, both are off on commercials at almost exactly the same time in hours of the key listening dayparts: :15 after, :30 past, and :45, with a few variations for morning and afternoon drive. By going early, AM640 would be back into programming when 'RB goes into one of its inevitably lengthy stopsets, and if you’re interested in what they’re talking about, chances are pretty good you won’t tune back.
 
Until the next commercial break, of course, but if it’s timed correctly, 'RB will then go to another of its own spots, and back you’ll go to 640. It may not alter CFMJ's ratings, but it certainly couldn't hurt, either. 
 
This is not new, of course. In the 60’s, uber-P.D. Rick Sklar used to schedule news at :55 to the hour on then Top 40 giant WABC, calling it “news five minutes sooner.” He knew all the kids looking for the hits would tune into rival WMCA, but when they hit the top of the clock and heard the newscast on that station, everyone would come back. The numbers showed that was exactly what was happening.
 
I know 640 would never want to let CFRB dictate what it does, but this seems like a no-brainer that could benefit them in the long run. And the price is: nothing. 
 
And oh yeah, I’m also being selfish – as a veteran channel changer, I can’t stand running into spot breaks on both stations at the exact same time.