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March 26, 2019 7:45 pm  #1


Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

Fresh 104.3 in Kingston is going to air the Blue Jay Games this summer...(starting Thursday)...I find this a bit odd that a hit music station will defer to baseball at night and on weekends.

The Blue Jays are back on air in Kingston...and not on an AM radio station. I wonder if this will open up a new programming ideas for other FM stations looking to capitalize on a new audience. My sense is that if you listen to the Jays at night on Fresh...you will wake up to Fresh as well...

Here is more about this very strange marriage...(so to speak)...

https://1043freshradio.ca/blue-jays/


 


The world would be so good if it weren't for some people...
 

March 26, 2019 8:22 pm  #2


Re: Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

It's not that new outside of Toronto. In Ottawa, the Jays have been on 101.1 and the Expos had a run on 105.3.

In this case, there are no AM stations in Kingston. Fresh is a constant basement dweller, and since ratings in that market have been reduced to once a year, it makes sense to air what you can sell *directly*, independent of ratings. Same reason the local OHL play by play is on 104.3.

 

March 26, 2019 8:24 pm  #3


Re: Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

FM 108 (CING-FM now Fresh 95.3) carried Blue Jay games in the '80s.


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
 

March 26, 2019 8:26 pm  #4


Re: Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

103.7 in Brockville heard carrying Senators game the other night - if you close down on AM, not many other local radio options...and it's possible that hit music fans might also be sports fans.

Last edited by Saul (March 26, 2019 8:28 pm)

 

March 26, 2019 8:27 pm  #5


Re: Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

Yep... 103.7 BOB-FM has had the Sens all season.

 

March 26, 2019 8:33 pm  #6


Re: Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

It seems to me that the now long defunct CKO all news network (mostly on FM across the country) carried the Leaf games for a time. Possibly the NFL, too.

 

March 26, 2019 8:41 pm  #7


Re: Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

There was also the season or two the Leafs spent on Q107.

 

March 26, 2019 9:18 pm  #8


Re: Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

RadioAaron wrote:

There was also the season or two the Leafs spent on Q107.

I could be wrong but didn't Andy Frost have some role with both the Leafs broadcast? And with Q107b shows like Psychedelic Sundays?
 

 

March 26, 2019 9:29 pm  #9


Re: Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

Saul wrote:

103.7 in Brockville heard carrying Senators game the other night - if you close down on AM, not many other local radio options...and it's possible that hit music fans might also be sports fans.

 
if you're a listener in a smaller town who wants to hear the regional hockey... nhl, ahl, ohl, it really doesn't matter what the music format is, as long as they can get the games.  the biggest question is whether the station can make more bucks with the hockey and associated costs, or simply run a vt jukebox instead.

i recall the leafs on Q107, early 90s maybe?  also on CBC Radio in the 80s.

the jays have always had wide coverage.  i'm thinking back to the telemedia days, but others here may know further.  in the 80s some games would show up on CJQM FM when not on CKCY or later CFYN in the Soo.

 

March 27, 2019 6:05 am  #10


Re: Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

96.7 in Kitchener aired the Jays back in the late 80's maybe in to early 90's when it was Country and CHYM was still on 570AM

 

March 27, 2019 6:09 pm  #11


Re: Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

Chuck99 wrote:

[quote ]Carrying sports on the FM band could be inconvenient for listeners back then because most cars built in the seventies had AM only radios.  

I remember those broadcasts. 

I purchased an under the dash FM converter for my dad's car so he could listen to the Jays on CKO.  His Datsun was AM only,  so I hit the local Radio Shack (another example of my aging demographic).
 

 

March 27, 2019 6:31 pm  #12


Re: Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

splunge wrote:

  the biggest question is whether the station can make more bucks with the hockey and associated costs, or simply run a vt jukebox instead.

For these smaller stations...it's an easy yes. Ratings are a much smaller factor in your revenue potential than what you can sell directly. There's also virtually no cost.

The Sens on 103.7 Brockville is an interesting one, in that they're not selling it locally - just 100% simulcasting the Ottawa feed....so the whole proposition there is value-add for the Ottawa clients and the Bell Media/Sens relationship. It's a huge signal that gets the games into areas in the home market that the Ottawa AM can't.
 

 

March 28, 2019 12:06 am  #13


Re: Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

Bob in Ottawa carried the Sens at one time didn't they?  Just the play by play while 1200 had the full broadcast.

 

April 2, 2019 4:58 am  #14


Re: Is this a first for an FM Music Station?

pinto wrote:

96.7 in Kitchener aired the Jays back in the late 80's maybe in to early 90's when it was Country and CHYM was still on 570AM

I also remember Blue Jay games for a time on 101.7 in Wingham, I think they aired games up to 1995.

And I believe CJCS 107.1 (formally 1240 AM) is carrying jays games now. It hard to tell because that signal has a very limited range.

And some may remember that 97.3 carried Leaf games back in the early 90's as well. It was a simulcast from 1430 as both stations used to be owned by Telemedia.