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July 30, 2018 4:00 pm  #1


The Format I Thought Would Be Gone Celebrates 7 Yrs. On Air

It seems like just yesterday that Bell turned CHAM into Funny 820, an all comedy format. It felt for all the world like a placeholder while they decided what to do with yet another moribund AM signal. And frankly, when they flipped CKOC to TSN, I couldn’t figure out why they didn’t use their 820 frequency, which has far better propagation, especially at night when most sports actually take place.
 
That and the fact CKOC’s oldies were regularly getting between a 2 and 4 rating, far from the 0.1 or so they managed in the last book. 
 
So it was with real surprise that I heard one of those interstitials on CHAM the other day that noted the station was celebrating its 7th year as an all comedy outlet.
 
Don’t get me wrong. I actually like what they’re doing, if only because it was one format that simply wasn’t being duplicated anywhere else. And I tune in from time to time, mostly when all the other stations go to a long commercial block all at the same time (generally 15 after the hour, the bottom of the hour and :45 – why one of them doesn’t alter their clock to take advantage of this is beyond me.)
 
Funny 820 doesn’t do all that well in the ratings. In the Spring book for Hamilton, it managed just 0.5, just behind CKOC and its disastrous 0.1. Still, I guess unlike its counterpart at 1150, it costs almost nothing to run, is a turnkey operation and beats anything else they can put there. (TSN, on the other hand, is very expensive and can’t possibly get any return for the buck with those numbers.)
 
So happy anniversary to Funny 820. When it comes to longevity for a format I thought couldn’t last, it’s no laughing matter.

 

July 30, 2018 4:26 pm  #2


Re: The Format I Thought Would Be Gone Celebrates 7 Yrs. On Air

Maybe Funny 820 will do better now that Humble and Fred will air live weekdays 7am-9am?

 

July 30, 2018 5:10 pm  #3


Re: The Format I Thought Would Be Gone Celebrates 7 Yrs. On Air

cGrant wrote:

Maybe Funny 820 will do better now that Humble and Fred will air live weekdays 7am-9am?

Great! They can play some Weird Al and call it their "One in a row". lol


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

July 30, 2018 10:05 pm  #4


Re: The Format I Thought Would Be Gone Celebrates 7 Yrs. On Air

Chuck99 wrote:

Bell pulled the plug on Funny 1420 in London after four and a half years

Was it not the old CKSL frequency on 1410 KHz?  I thought it might be.

 


Cheers,
Jody Thornton