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September 1, 2026 11:47 am  #1


Here Comes Labour Day. Will There Be Any Changes On GTA Radio?

There is something about Labour Day that seems to end one part of the year and begin another. It's a good time to launch new projects, shows and make changes in the media. That certainly applies to radio. From new programs to swapping time slots, there is sometimes a lot of radio renewal built around the date. 

I wonder if anyone will be making any major changes on or after Sept. 8th. Certainly AM640 seems ripe for some kind of overhaul. It has a new P.D., replacing Mike Bendixen, who is bound to want to put his own mark on the place. (They're already calling the post-morning show period "640 mid-days" as of this week.)

And will we finally hear the end of "filling in for Alex Pierson" after 6 months? Perhaps they'll actually hire somene to fill that slot instead of the lame replay of The Last Show and the mostly west coast topics from Shaye Ganam in Edmonton. 

CFRB got a jump on the new season by adding Bill Carroll from 9-10AM, taking over the last hour of John Moore's show. 

Yes, there are other stations in town, but barring a format or branding change, the only real thing they can do is shuffle their line-ups, launch a big money contest or bring in someone new. But the station will probably stay with the same music. It's on talk radio where you tend to notice it the most.

Maybe nothing will happen. But if it's going to, this is often the time of year that it does.

 

September 1, 2026 12:01 pm  #2


Re: Here Comes Labour Day. Will There Be Any Changes On GTA Radio?

Bit of a weird timing alignment this year with the later Labour Day. The fall ratings period began this week. Ideally any fall changes will already be enacted.

 

September 1, 2026 12:11 pm  #3


Re: Here Comes Labour Day. Will There Be Any Changes On GTA Radio?

I hope 640 will fix the mess that has been their 12-3 PM hour for months. It's so bad, they don't even bother to list it on their website anymore. It goes from 12PM straight to 3 o'clock with nothing in between. 

     Thread Starter
 

September 1, 2026 12:23 pm  #4


Re: Here Comes Labour Day. Will There Be Any Changes On GTA Radio?

And then there's this page which is basically a time capsule now:

https://globalnews.ca/pages/contact-640toronto/

 

 

September 1, 2026 12:46 pm  #5


Re: Here Comes Labour Day. Will There Be Any Changes On GTA Radio?

RadioAaron wrote:

Bit of a weird timing alignment this year with the later Labour Day. The fall ratings period began this week. Ideally any fall changes will already be enacted.

640 has to do something about its mid-day programming. It's not very good as it stands and it can't go on like this forever - a rerun of an absolutely terrible night show and a talk show that's nearly completely irrelevant to Toronto and area. They don't even have a toll free number if you want to call Edmonton from here. And it can't hold a candle to Vassy Kapelos down the dial. 

Something's gotta give sooner than later. 

     Thread Starter
 

September 1, 2026 2:45 pm  #6


Re: Here Comes Labour Day. Will There Be Any Changes On GTA Radio?

Accross the border in Buffalo, WBEN shuffled there daytime lineup.
I heard a commercial last week about it, but I rarely listen other than coast to coast during late evenings and at night.

 

September 3, 2026 6:36 am  #7


Re: Here Comes Labour Day. Will There Be Any Changes On GTA Radio?

It's been about three months since Dave Bradley left as AM 640's morning newscaster to take a job at Queen's Park. In all that time, the station has still not replaced him on a permanent basis, filling in with Heather Goode and Scott Monich (apparently the news director at Corus-owned CFPL-AM in London.)

They really should have a full time morning show newsperson at the station, but if they haven't done it by now, you have to wonder if they ever will. With a new P.D. in place (do they even have a news director?) maybe they'll finally fill the slot. 

Meanwhile, the changes at the station have already begun with the end of the Brad Smith Show. Now if they could just fix their awful mid-day programming block, it would be a real sign of progress. 

     Thread Starter