1 of 1- kowchmedia
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Corus makes it official: Nathan Smith is the new PD of Talk640
Corus has confirmed the new PD at Talk640 is in fact Nathan Smith.
Corus issued a media release Tuesday to announce Smith starts his new job December 14th.
Now I'm hearing the possibility that 640 may be forming a partnership with the Business News Network.
That would be interesting because isn't BNN owned by Bell Media and Newstalk 1010 uses BNN business reports.
I guess we'll find out soon enough what Smith plans to do with 640.
- Radiowiz
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Re: Corus makes it official: Nathan Smith is the new PD of Talk640
That would make it Financial Post relations, perhaps. (if they go with something not Bell...) This should be interesting.
Last edited by Radiowiz (November 25, 2015 10:39 am)
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- RadioActive
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Re: Corus makes it official: Nathan Smith is the new PD of Talk640
Well, surely somebody has to do something over at that crazy place. Take what's happening at AM 640 this week.
Mike Stafford complained only half jokingly on his show Friday that he was dreading the early hours required to take the place of the vacationing John Oakley beginning Monday morning. The new week arrives but instead of what was previously announced, Lorne Honickman is doing that shift. Same thing happens on Tuesday.
Stafford finally shows up on Wednesday in the AM drivetime air chair, but at the end of morning show, says we may see you tomorrow at the same time (6 AM -10 AM) or it could be Honickman, and he might be back in his regular spot (10 AM -1 PM.)
So let me get this straight. They knew Oakley's vacation was coming up and they knew they had a hole to fill. But less than 24 hours before Thursday's show comes on and they still have no idea who'll be hosting the most important shift on the station?
WTF is going on over there?
- Peter the K
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Re: Corus makes it official: Nathan Smith is the new PD of Talk640
RadioActive wrote:
So let me get this straight. They knew Oakley's vacation was coming up and they knew they had a hole to fill. But less than 24 hours before Thursday's show comes on and they still have no idea who'll be hosting the most important shift on the station?
WTF is going on over there?
Not sure if you missed the details, but Lorne Honickman was scheduled to be in London for his "Day Job" on Monday, but that was postponed until Wednesday. He can't tell the Judge or his client that he can't make it into court because he's got an on-air shift to handle. 
At least they had Kelly Cutrara available to fill in for Bill Carroll.
But you're right. This is what happens when run on a shoestring.
- ig
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Re: Corus makes it official: Nathan Smith is the new PD of Talk640
That would make it Financial Post relations, perhaps. (if they go with something not Bell...) This should be interesting.
Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.
- RadioActive
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Re: Corus makes it official: Nathan Smith is the new PD of Talk640
Not sure if you missed the details, but Lorne Honickman was scheduled to be in London for his "Day Job" on Monday, but that was postponed until Wednesday. He can't tell the Judge or his client that he can't make it into court because he's got an on-air shift to handle.
No, I didn't hear that, and I'm willing to bet a lot of average listeners didn't either. But unlike me, they likely won't care.
My point is if Honickman has other commitments or an unpredictable sked, then why not slot Stafford in for the whole week and avoid these problems altogether? I'm not a huge fan of Ryan Bonner, but at least they have a warm body to host the show that comes next. So what's the issue? It's Radio 101 that you don't play musical chairs with your morning show, the most valuable slot on any station. I can't figure out why they would.
A lack of consistency is one of my long ongoing pet peeves, not just with AM 640. This just makes no sense.
- BoredOp
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Re: Corus makes it official: Nathan Smith is the new PD of Talk640
While I agree with you RadioActive that consistency is key (especially in the morning slot), let's at least focus on the positive; the morning audience got one day of good, professional talk radio this week.
- Radiowiz
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Re: Corus makes it official: Nathan Smith is the new PD of Talk640
It's not a ratings pocket though, so it's not much concern.
The strict rule is to have the main person doing mornings during a ratings period.
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- Mike Cleaver
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Re: Corus makes it official: Nathan Smith is the new PD of Talk640
It's ALWAYS a rating period in PPM Markets.
Results are tallied for a 3 month block and the next block begins immediately after the last one ends.
Ratings in major markets are continuous.
- Radiowiz
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Re: Corus makes it official: Nathan Smith is the new PD of Talk640
It's ALWAYS a rating period in PPM Markets.
Results are tallied for a 3 month block and the next block begins immediately after the last one ends.
Ratings in major markets are continuous.
There's still room to mess around and have just anyone doing mornings at select times, but only during vacation times.
If at all possible, it helps justify that the main host really is the main ratings grabber.
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- kowchmedia
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Re: Corus makes it official: Nathan Smith is the new PD of Talk640
It's not a ratings pocket though, so it's not much concern.
The strict rule is to have the main person doing mornings during a ratings period.
Toronto is a PPM market so this is the last week of ratings that end on Sunday, November 29th.
That means John Oakley is on vacation DURING ratings. Now the argument can be made with PPM that a radio station is always in ratings. So what is the big deal if Oakley is away this week. But there are ratings and then there are Fall, Winter and Spring ratings - the three key times when staff should not be away.
Does the final week make a difference if Oakley is there or not. Well, when the Fall ratings are released on December 10th (four days before Nathan Smith, the new PD takes charge of 640) management can look at the last week of the Fall ratings to determine whether or not Oakley's absence made a difference in how many listeners the morning show had compared to the week before.
But does this really matter if changes are coming to 640's format in the morning show? We could be hearing a whole new kind of 640 morning show in January.
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Thread Starter- Radiowiz
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Re: Corus makes it official: Nathan Smith is the new PD of Talk640
^ Thank-you Mr. Kowch. Very well said.
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
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- Ms. C.
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Re: Corus makes it official: Nathan Smith is the new PD of Talk640
the morning audience got one day of good, professional talk radio this week.
Dear B.O. -- what day was that, please?