With what is happening at CFRA, why would I even bother listening to them anymore?

I'd be better off getting my news from the CBC and 1310 News. (I do much the same here in Buffalo; WBFO, the CBC and 680 News in Toronto are my go-to's if I want news. Unless I want my blood pressure to rise, I do NOT listen to WBEN. And if Clint Buehlman and Jeff Kaye could see what that station has become, they'd likely be spinning at high velocity in their graves.)

Reading & writing news is the entry point for many creative and talented broadcasters.
When I worked at CFRA as a Top 40 Rocker (Evenings only) from 1976 to 86 we had hourly newscasts written and read by many names you know today.
My newscasters were people like Erin Davis now legendary at CHFI and Gene Valaitis formerly of Jesse & Gene on Q107.
One of my board ops was Terry Marcotte currently the sports director at CTV Ottawa.
I worked and still do with young people seeking a career in broadcasting, but I must admit that I discourage them and advise that you have to be prepared for a lot of heartbreaking stupidity in this business.  Talent means nothing to the bean counters.  Creativity is discouraged if it might cost money and that's all they really care about, isn't it?
Luckily under the CHUM system in those years talent was encouraged and supported with enthusiasm by visionaries like Alan Waters, while other radio companies had people in charge with a similar mindset like Allan Slaight, & Ted Rogers.
Yes, a license to broadcast was a license to "print money", but these people understood the need to encourage emerging talent and support it.  I benefited from this kind of thinking and even though I was a maverick, CHUM knew that I made them money.  Lots of it.
I wondered why when CHUM bought CKLW FM Windsor where I was working in 1993 they fired the entire staff but kept me.
Why? After almost burning the building down when leaving CFRA in 1986 why did CHUM keep me at their new acquisition?  Bob Laine put it in the simplest terms: What I did at CFRA is the stuff legends are made of. (His words, not mine)
Why should we care if people like these can't find work today?
Duh?

Last edited by Mark Elliot (November 22, 2015 12:47 pm)

Dale Patterson wrote:

or maybe just all call them generically CTV Newsradio.

Would the very idea of being the new CKO work today? (As a CTV Newsradio, respectfully)
 

I remember running that on air on C-59 in Toronto as the was place was being gutted for sale.. Lloyd would read it for the most part.. sure didn't sound "local"

RadioActive wrote:

I wonder how many remember that CTV tried to form a national news network in 1992, well before Bell swallowed it up. If memory serves, it was run by Del Archer, who I'm told was one of the good guys in the biz. The entity, known as CTV Radio News, didn't last long. Last I heard, Archer was retired and living in Halifax after a long and successful career. But that update is about ten years old, so I hope he's still with us.  

Despite his efforts, CTV never really made it in radio, until Bell bought all the CHUM and Astral stations, and didn't have to start from scratch. 

I suspect that Bell will eventually move most of their radio stations to having the news fed in from a central fed.  Have one person write and read it to a file and sent to stations across Canada.  Sadly, this I would suggest is step one.

Last edited by Leslieville Bill (November 23, 2015 6:23 pm)