The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Magic 106.1 goes Christmas

djwildbill · November 25, 2025 7:55 pm

Saw an ad on Facebook today that advertised Magic 106.1 in Guelph going all-Christmas. Wonder if that’s a sign of a format change after Christmas.

torontostan · November 25, 2025 8:25 pm

This isn't new, they've done it before

km93 · November 26, 2025 12:02 pm

Well with less than a month away and being a semi-AC format (however AC is defined now), it kind of makes sense to go all X-mas. That being said, I'm kind of surprised Corus doesn't have more country stations in Ontario-being in Aggie Town-The New Country 106 would make perfect cents!

darcyh · November 27, 2025 12:14 pm

Is there ever any live programming on this station. The occasional time I have tuned the computer is running it.

RadioAaron · November 27, 2025 12:26 pm

darcyh wrote:
Is there ever any live programming on this station. The occasional time I have tuned the computer is running it.

They're live morning and afternoon drive.

haydenmatthews14 · November 28, 2025 12:10 am

djwildbill wrote:
Saw an ad on Facebook today that advertised Magic 106.1 in Guelph going all-Christmas. Wonder if that’s a sign of a format change after Christmas.

You may remember a post I made a couple weeks ago that CING-FM had something big coming on Friday Nov 14th and then they switched to all Christmas along with Magic 106. I thought 95.3 was going to switch formats but no. They switch to Christmas Music which feels so wrong. You got 98.1 CHFI, Dream 105.7 and WTSS 96.1 that plays Christmas Music. Energy 95.3 did not need to do this.

https://gta.boardhost.com/viewtopic_mobile.php?id=15622

Last edited by haydenmatthews14 (November 28, 2025 12:14 am)

torontostan · November 28, 2025 10:46 am

haydenmatthews14 wrote:
You may remember a post I made a couple weeks ago that CING-FM had something big coming on Friday Nov 14th and then they switched to all Christmas along with Magic 106. I thought 95.3 was going to switch formats but no. They switch to Christmas Music which feels so wrong. You got 98.1 CHFI, Dream 105.7 and WTSS 96.1 that plays Christmas Music. Energy 95.3 did not need to do this.

https://gta.boardhost.com/viewtopic_mobile.php?id=15622

CING is dead last in Hamilton with no staff. They're trying to take some share of the massive amount of Christmas tuning. It was the best choice they could've made.....

brian451 · November 28, 2025 1:19 pm

I was told by someone within Corus that the new format will debut on Boxing Day. No time given as of yet. Confirmed, though, at least for now are no local hosts. Probably no live shows either. But from what I was told is this will have an impact on Edge. Edge has been playing a lot of Classic Alternative lately, and I have heard that the playlist is going to morph into something similar to Indie while Energy takes on Classic. None of this is actually fully confirmed; the only thing I was told that is guaranteed is that whatever is happening will happen on Boxing Day. Apparently, in the week leading up to the change, the changes will start to reflect in the Christmas music. Not sure what that means. My assumption is that whatever the new format is the Christmas playlist most likely will start playing songs by those artists more. But who knows with Corus

RadioAaron · November 28, 2025 1:22 pm

They won't put anything remotely Alternative on 95.3 unless they take it off 102.1...

torontostan · November 28, 2025 2:55 pm

AM 640 is shutting down their AM operation, as requested by their new ownership. Therefore I assume that talk will move to one of 102.1 or 95.3, and the other will continue in alt rock format....

RadioActive · November 28, 2025 3:10 pm

torontostan wrote:
AM 640 is shutting down their AM operation, as requested by their new ownership. Therefore I assume that talk will move to one of 102.1 or 95.3, and the other will continue in alt rock format....

Where did you hear this and is it confirmed? Is there a date for the end of their AM operation?

torontostan · November 28, 2025 3:18 pm

RadioActive wrote:
torontostan wrote:
AM 640 is shutting down their AM operation, as requested by their new ownership. Therefore I assume that talk will move to one of 102.1 or 95.3, and the other will continue in alt rock format....
Where did you hear this and is it confirmed? Is there a date for the end of their AM operation?

Not confirmed yet..... but it's been public for most of the year. The land they transmit from in Lincoln was put up for sale on April 10th, however there has not been any interested buyers until now. Since the listing date, the CRTC changed their policy and now allows anyone to put talk on FM for one year without having to apply for it. The rumour among insiders has been that they will move the talk programming to 95.3 since it covers most of the area at a fraction of the cost, and Corus can use the millions of dollars to pay down debt. The only holdup was that the CRTC would give them a hard time about putting a Toronto news station on a Hamilton frequency. Putting the Edge on 95.3 and CFIQ on 102.1 is easier to get away with, but that part I've yet to confirm. I've also heard December 26th.

Last edited by torontostan (November 28, 2025 6:32 pm)

mace · November 28, 2025 4:05 pm

torontostan wrote:
haydenmatthews14 wrote:
You may remember a post I made a couple weeks ago that CING-FM had something big coming on Friday Nov 14th and then they switched to all Christmas along with Magic 106. I thought 95.3 was going to switch formats but no. They switch to Christmas Music which feels so wrong. You got 98.1 CHFI, Dream 105.7 and WTSS 96.1 that plays Christmas Music. Energy 95.3 did not need to do this.

https://gta.boardhost.com/viewtopic_mobile.php?id=15622
CING is dead last in Hamilton with no staff. They're trying to take some share of the massive amount of Christmas tuning. It was the best choice they could've made.....

CING has fallen below 820 and 1150?

RadioActive · November 28, 2025 4:22 pm

How long before SOWNY member Scarboroughbluffsf99 suggests Neeti Ray buys the land and the frequency and takes it ethnic?

torontostan · November 28, 2025 4:30 pm

mace wrote:
torontostan wrote:
haydenmatthews14 wrote:
You may remember a post I made a couple weeks ago that CING-FM had something big coming on Friday Nov 14th and then they switched to all Christmas along with Magic 106. I thought 95.3 was going to switch formats but no. They switch to Christmas Music which feels so wrong. You got 98.1 CHFI, Dream 105.7 and WTSS 96.1 that plays Christmas Music. Energy 95.3 did not need to do this.

https://gta.boardhost.com/viewtopic_mobile.php?id=15622
CING is dead last in Hamilton with no staff. They're trying to take some share of the massive amount of Christmas tuning. It was the best choice they could've made.....
CING has fallen below 820 and 1150?

No, but those aren't factors. I'm talking about real, money making competitors. CING is last place out of the Hamilton FM stations.....

Radiowiz · November 28, 2025 4:42 pm

torontostan wrote:
AM 640 is shutting down their AM operation, as requested by their new ownership. Therefore I assume that talk will move to one of 102.1 or 95.3, and the other will continue in alt rock format....

If AM 640 is shutting down, then maybe they should simulcast for a bit on FM, then sell 640 to any one of the ethnic broadcasters that might wish to have it for a stronger signal (ie shut down 1430 instead, maybe?)

RadioActive · November 28, 2025 5:20 pm

CHIN AM is looking for a new home, considering 900. Maybe 640 would be better.

RadioAaron · November 28, 2025 5:22 pm

I’d imagine this is a “Land worth more than the station” scenario .

torontostan · November 28, 2025 6:31 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
I’d imagine this is a “Land worth more than the station” scenario .

Yes the station will not be sold, else it would've sold already...... however, the frequency will be up for grabs, even if at a lower power from a different location. As I've said before, it won't be too long before 680 is the only remaining English AM in the market

torontostan · November 28, 2025 6:33 pm

Radiowiz wrote:
If AM 640 is shutting down, then maybe they should simulcast for a bit on FM, then sell 640 to any one of the ethnic broadcasters that might wish to have it for a stronger signal (ie shut down 1430 instead, maybe?)

Yes to the simulcast, no the ethnic broadcasters. They don't have the cash (five million)

Last edited by torontostan (November 28, 2025 6:33 pm)

frostycold · November 28, 2025 7:21 pm

torontostan wrote:
AM 640 is shutting down their AM operation, as requested by their new ownership. Therefore I assume that talk will move to one of 102.1 or 95.3, and the other will continue in alt rock format....

Wait. What? New Owners? Did I miss something?

torontostan · November 28, 2025 7:24 pm

frostycold wrote:
Wait. What? New Owners? Did I miss something?

Their debtholders will soon have 99% control of the company

haydenmatthews14 · December 17, 2025 5:14 am

torontostan wrote:
AM 640 is shutting down their AM operation, as requested by their new ownership. Therefore I assume that talk will move to one of 102.1 or 95.3, and the other will continue in alt rock format....

We are almost near Christmas and with that true info about what might happen to 640 AM's signal and the Talk format might move to one of the FM's like 95.3 or 102.1. My guess is 95.3 because the format for 95.3 is not doing very well and since the rebrand back in 2019. Many listeners thought it would go back to it's original roots but no it didn't. 102.1 The Edge does very well and I doubt it would change formats. But we will have to wait and see if it's true.

RadioAaron · December 17, 2025 8:30 am

haydenmatthews14 wrote:
102.1 The Edge does very well and I doubt it would change formats. B

It does not.

km93 · December 17, 2025 12:04 pm

To try to re-direct 102.1's current audience to 95.3 and to re-direct AM640's present audience to 102---yeah my head hurts already. 1 audience re-direct is enough, so yes likely Talk 95.3 and 102.1 to stay the same.

RadioAaron · December 17, 2025 12:34 pm

km93 wrote:
To try to re-direct 102.1's current audience to 95.3 and to re-direct AM640's present audience to 102---yeah my head hurts already. 1 audience re-direct is enough, so yes likely Talk 95.3 and 102.1 to stay the same.

No idea what's actually happening, but putting talk on 95.3 could be problematic. They're allowed to do that without applying for it for a full year, and the'd have to ask permission to to continue beyond that. If the station's too Toronto-centric they could well be turned down.

brian451 · December 17, 2025 1:40 pm

I know that there are no plans to put talk of any sort on 95.3. Reason for that is Hamilton had a legacy talk station that was shut down. It was local and relevant for people of Hamilton and surrounding areas. Having Corus put a Toronto based talk station on a Hamilton FM would just anger the community. Also Corus already tried talk on FM in Calgary and it was a joke. In fact, ratings never improved for the combined talk. And the former Q 107.3 ratings were lower as talk than they ever were as Q. Q's lowest ratings was still something like 5 times more than the combine QR Calgary Talk experiment.
I would be ok with a hybrid talk station. Something unique like what Roundhouse radio did in Vancouver. The only reason it failed was the signal quality. The station itself was really good. It was a mix of talk shows and music programming, It focused a lot on lots of local Vancouver area music as well. I know Corus wouldn't do that as it would require a lot of hiring that they cannot afford. But if a station was to do talk on FM that would be the type of format I would want to see.
Otherwise, here is the thing we are all not mentioning, we are all focused on Energy, but there has to be a bigger play here. There have been rumors of potential format changes at either Big or Fresh in Kingston as well as either Boom or Jump Ottawa. Could there be a few stations that change format? Maybe Corus launches a "network" of stations. Maybe Energy, Jump and Fresh change to something and the programming is shared across all 3 or more stations. If they chose to go the Classic Alternative route, they could use the Power brand and have the programming all originate from Winnipeg. They already have on air hosts. As well Jeremy Baker and Drex are heard on Calgary and Toronto's Edge stations so they could be heard on the Power network possibly. I know that is one idea, another could be to re-create the old Energy superstation of the early 2000's and again share all programming and format. Whatever Corus does it will only be a stopgap measure until Corus sells the stations.

torontostan · December 17, 2025 1:56 pm

Brian, I've only heard rumours but I do have to disagree with you on a few general points.....

brian451 wrote:
Having Corus put a Toronto based talk station on a Hamilton FM would just anger the community.

it would not matter to the community in the slightest given that 95.3 has no local presence today. If you were replacing KX or CKLH with a Toronto station than sure I suppose...

brian451 wrote:
Also Corus already tried talk on FM in Calgary and it was a joke. In fact, ratings never improved for the combined talk.

Well they did so illegally and never fully committed to it. The most listened to station in all of Canada is a talk station in Montreal, sure it's French, but FM vs AM doesn't matter for talk, it's a matter of how you execute it... second, this is not about improving ratings, but rather shutting down 640 and selling its lucrative property to pay-down Corus' debt. The land is worth more than the station and moving it to FM allows you to retain a revenue stream in addition to the one-time property sale....

RadioAaron · December 17, 2025 2:47 pm

brian45 wrote:
Classic Alternative

If 95.3 goes Classic Alternative, it will be as The Edge as the 102.1 signal moves to talk. Edge is already mostly running the same music as Winnipeg with the addition of a few currents.

Remember, If anything changes at 95.3, it will be to serve the greater GTA, not Hamilton.

RadioActive · December 17, 2025 3:00 pm

Bring back Vinyl 95.3!