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Toronto Gets A One-Day Taste Of Alberta Radio Friday
Alex Pierson will be subbing for Ben Mulroney on AM640 Friday. But instead of forcing 9AM-noon host Brad Smith to go on for an extra three hours, the station is turning to another host from a long way away. Shaye Ganam normally does 10 AM - 1 PM on the Corus stations in Calgary and Edmonton.
But for Friday only, you can hear him on CFIQ. It's kind of ironic, in a way, because Pierson is not a known name out west, where the first two hours of the Mulroney show is simulcast. But Ganam is. You might think they would have chosen a more familiar name for the drivetime shift out there. But Toronto gets priority.
Speaking of Mulroney, he's clearly become the most famous of the station's talk show hosts. Is it just me, or does he always seem to be off at least once or twice a month for a personal gig? How does that work? Nice work (or in this case, non-work) if you can get it.
- albertaboy4life
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Re: Toronto Gets A One-Day Taste Of Alberta Radio Friday
Alex was among the early personalities at Calgary's CKAL "A-Channel" (owned by the Craig family) which is now Citytv. Serving as A-Channel's Calgary entertainment reporter during the Glen Carter anchor era.
She is also remembered, out west, for her time on Sun News TV.
Faster cars, younger women, older cheese, more money . . .- RadioActive
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Re: Toronto Gets A One-Day Taste Of Alberta Radio Friday
albertaboy4life wrote:
Alex was among the early personalities at Calgary's CKAL "A-Channel" (owned by the Craig family) which is now Citytv. Serving as A-Channel's Calgary entertainment reporter during the Glen Carter anchor era.
She recalled on air that she was a "terrible" entertainment reporter and was glad she didn't go into that area of news. She said she hated talking to so many vapid people, citing Britney Spears as an example.
Meanwhile, AM640 simply picked up Shay Ganam's show from Alberta, and most of it was about Danielle Smith and the referendum in the province. It was so completely not about anything a Toronto audience could relate to, they might as well have aired a reroll. Even the phone numbers they gave out were for Edmonton and Calgary.
Another stopgap measure from Corus, who seem unable to find another body to replace one of their regulars. Good luck during the next flu pandemic!
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Thread Starter- Radiowiz
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Re: Toronto Gets A One-Day Taste Of Alberta Radio Friday
AM 640. The ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz of Toronto.
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Re: Toronto Gets A One-Day Taste Of Alberta Radio Friday
Here's what I don't get after listening to the substitute hosts for the Mulroney Show.
Yes, hosts.
They changed Alex Pierson's 12-3 PM shift to cover Mulroney's national show. Then they aired a totally Alberta-centric show in her place, so Brad Smith did not have to do six hours in a row. So what happened? Smith turns up on Pierson's afternoon show as a co-host, making it another 6 hour day on air. Plus he was on for half an hour with Greg Brady Friday morning along with Pierson for an "ask me anything" segment.
I sure hope the guy has overtime written in his contract. If this continues, he'll be able to retire at the end of the year.
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Thread Starter- Aytononline
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Re: Toronto Gets A One-Day Taste Of Alberta Radio Friday
I am not sure what Corus is up to here, but here is my guess. Corus needs to find more savings. Trying out local shows on more stations on a 1 time deal is a safe way to do it. It sounds like this time it did not work so well only because they did not make much effort in making it National. I am not against the idea but talk radio is local, and this is a risk,