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December 25, 2019 12:06 pm  #1


An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

I just took the dog for a walk and scanned both AM & FM just to see what local radio stations were doing. A good 98% of them were doing all-Christmas and I’m betting all of them were on autopilot.
 
All of which leads me to a sentence I never thought I’d ever say: Thank God for Funny 820 and CKNT!

The former is the only listenable outlet if you don’t want to hear Mariah Carey for the 1,000 time but find something entertaining and the latter actually had some reroll interviews that were fairly interesting.
 
I’m pretty sure that’s the only time they’ve offered something better than what’s on the other stations in town.

The dog still needs to go out at least two more times. It's going to be a long day...

 

December 25, 2019 12:17 pm  #2


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

Don't forget about CIRF on 1350.   I haven't heard them play Mariah Carey yet today.

 

December 25, 2019 12:21 pm  #3


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

And then there's the station at 1220, which has been playing "The Sounds of Silence" for the past four years...

     Thread Starter
 

December 25, 2019 6:13 pm  #4


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

I listened to the Fan 590 and the Raptor's live radio rocks and CFTR 680 News too...in between I went to a movie and saw Bombshell, the story about Roger Ailes and Bill O'Reilly and the sex scandal at FOX News...

Worth the watch for us media hacks here on the big yella!

What I find repetitive is the news coverage of the Pope, the walk to Bethlehem and Trudeau's Christmas message on the News today...man that made me gag, it had to be the most in-authentic message I have ever heard from a Prime Minister...

I will save you the Trudeau message and share a preview of Bombshell, you won't be disappointed...





 

Last edited by Muffaraw Joe (December 25, 2019 6:14 pm)


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

December 25, 2019 6:57 pm  #5


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

Muffaraw Joe wrote:

   What I find repetitive is news coverage of the Pope, the walk to Bethlehem and Trudeau's Christmas message    

Muffa J. raises a valid point.     What news was UNDER-reported (so far) today?
 

 

December 25, 2019 8:20 pm  #6


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

I worked more than 24 years of Christmases in a TV newsroom (I finally got the 25th year off!) and I can tell you there's no worse day to be in - and not because you're missing some gigantic feast at home. (Although the overtime is a bonus!)

No, it's because there's simply no real news. You can already write part of next Christmas' copy right now - the Pope calls for peace, the Queen's message, the Prime Minister's spiel, the Mayor of Toronto and sometimes the Premier's best wishes. All are pretty boring but all take up airtime you need to fill.

Not to mention kids opening their presents, people working on the holiday, feeding the homeless, pilgrims celebrating in Bethlehem, etc. etc.  And there's usually a sad story, too - like a fatal traffic accident or a fire. All these yarns come up on Dec. 25th year after year after year. I remember thinking I could write them all weeks in advance, add a few salient facts and time references and then take the rest of the night off.  

And that was evidenced again this year when CTV Toronto did only a half hour newscast at 6 and City dedicated much of the last 30 minutes of its major to The Herbie Fund. None of the stations will have any late local newscasts on Wednesday night, giving staff a much needed - and very rare - night off from the late shift. 

Barring a nuclear outburst, it should be the same thing next year. 

     Thread Starter
 

December 25, 2019 8:38 pm  #7


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

And by the way, the same goes for radio, too. I'm not entirely sure how the crew at 680 News makes it through the day, although I'm assuming they did what I used to do when I worked in radio news - lots of pre-recorded feature stories you can air over and over again.

In fact, this year was something of a milestone on GTHA radio stations. Because there were no news people in, nearly every station in and out of town took the Canadian Press feed all day long for the top of the hour casts. That means CFRB, GNR640, CKTB and CHML all aired the exact same newscast at the exact same time with the exact same anchor. That rarity only happens at Christmas.   

     Thread Starter
 

December 25, 2019 11:17 pm  #8


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

I spent my Christmas day serving the public in a tow truck in Collingwood and Blue Mountain. I had 89.1 Max FM Orillia on all day and they just did alt rock all day. Was fantastic. Not a single note of a Christmas song. Thank you Lord Jesus. 

 

December 26, 2019 8:15 am  #9


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

Right now it's Boxing Day, Thursday, just after 7am. am64O has been airing a truly godawful podcast called "Family Matters" that was recorded LAST SUMMER. Newstalk 1010 has the Sunday trivia show on.😒

Sports radio here I come.

 

December 26, 2019 8:47 am  #10


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

betaylored wrote:

    Newstalk 1010 has the Sunday trivia show on.😒   Sports radio here I come.

Have you considered Orillia?   
 

 

December 26, 2019 9:32 am  #11


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

Hmmm...and nobody changed format December 26th 
(at least, not locally, or in Canada anywhere...?)


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

 
 

December 26, 2019 9:43 am  #12


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

CHFI is still playing Christmas music, even though Santa is long gone. When is the holiday officially over on some radio stations?

And I heard a CKNT reroll this morning that included an old traffic report from sometime in September or October! (The weather forecast called for 13C and lots of sun today. Wish that were true.) I guess no one edits them to ensure we don't hear about a huge back up on Trafalgar Rd. when there isn't one.

As for Betaylored's point, yes, this isn't a terrific time for ratings and it's probably not worth a station's time to program Boxing Day with anything special. But if you think about all those people in their cars trying to find a parking spot in crowded malls and how many might have their radios on during those excursions, the impression you can make in those few short hours couldn't hurt your station. 

Instead, they (in this case GNR640) squander the opportunity with a podcast that I also agree is unlistenable. I'd rather hear some vintage Stafford than that thing.     

     Thread Starter
 

December 27, 2019 5:48 am  #13


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

geo wrote:

betaylored wrote:

    Newstalk 1010 has the Sunday trivia show on.😒   Sports radio here I come.

Have you considered Orillia?   
 

Not lately...is there something spectacular I'm missing out on?

new acronym... FOMOOURS Fear Of Missing Out On Undiscovered Radio Stations

 

December 27, 2019 8:33 am  #14


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

betaylored wrote:

. . . is there something spectacular I'm missing out on?   

In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller:  "Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it


 

 

December 27, 2019 11:36 am  #15


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

geo wrote:

betaylored wrote:

. . . is there something spectacular I'm missing out on?   

In the immortal words of Ferris Bueller:  "Life moves pretty fast.  If you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it


 

🤔
In the immortal words of Carrie Fisher " Instant gratification takes too long."

Last edited by betaylored (December 27, 2019 11:38 am)

 

December 27, 2019 11:37 am  #16


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

Its Dec 27 - CHFI is back onto its old format with the ODD christmas song being still played.  Wow.

These chestnuts that are roasted are pretty much charred by now. 


CHUM 1045  on christmas day held it decently together.  Regular music with every 3rd or 4th song being a christmas one and so on.  

Last edited by markow202 (December 27, 2019 11:39 am)

 

December 27, 2019 11:50 am  #17


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

betaylored wrote:

Right now it's Boxing Day, Thursday, just after 7am. am64O has been airing a truly godawful podcast called "Family Matters" that was recorded LAST SUMMER. Newstalk 1010 has the Sunday trivia show on.😒

Sports radio here I come.

Boxing day is not a holiday south of the border, so if you can pick up any cross-border waves you would have a shot at some semblance of normal programming. Guest hosts mind you, but WBEN which I tuned in yesterday was following their regular format of local shows, traffic, news, and syndications. And Michael Caputo is generally a breath of fresh air in for Tom Bauerle.

Last edited by 6079 Smith W (December 27, 2019 11:50 am)

 

December 27, 2019 1:19 pm  #18


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

In the "cookie cutter" small markets, there's no local news and if any announcing, it's all VT's. Many have syndicated programs or run a jukebox. News preps for this time weeks before with stories to run pre and post Christmas. Stations rely on their social media platforms to update audience. Unless you're in the major markets, the sad fact is, there is little use being live. 

 

December 27, 2019 3:16 pm  #19


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

Star 102.5 was still playing Christmas music as of mid-afternoon today.

Last edited by Dale Patterson (December 27, 2019 3:16 pm)


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

December 27, 2019 3:26 pm  #20


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

Dale Patterson wrote:

Star 102.5 was still playing Christmas music as of mid-afternoon today.

I worked in AC radio when the All-Christmas trend started. The first few years, plenty of complaints that we'd started too early. All the later years, the only complaints I got were that we'd ended too early.
 

 

December 27, 2019 4:43 pm  #21


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

I can’t remember a more schizophrenic day on a radio station than what GNR640 did on Friday. Now remember, that’s NOT Christmas Day or Boxing Day. This was just an end-of-the-week regular Friday, albeit at a holiday time of year.
 
At 6 AM, they aired some sort of terrible travel industry podcast that was so boring, it made me want to get on board a plane and leave their signal range! Then Peter Shurman came in live for several hours, begging for calls that really never came in.
 
After that, it was back to podcasts/year-end wrap-ups of various quality (sports, politics, etc.) for several hours. Then they re-aired that awful travel show again at 2 PM. Not only was all this filler scheduled with no real sense of continuity, but they all ended at :52 past the hour.
 
So what took the rest of the time? A six minute reroll of a segment hosted by the regular host like Alan Carter or Jeff McArthur. And in the latter case, when they hit the top of the hour, they cut off the guest not only in mid-sentence, but mid-word to get to the news, a great disservice for anyone who was listening.
 
But wait there’s more! That interrupted guest was Dr. Brett Belchetz, who has long been touted as being Global News Radio’s Medical Expert. Fair enough. Except that I heard him live earlier in the day on CFRB doing an interview on something else! So much for exclusivity.
 
And then, it was suddenly back to live programming, featuring an afternoon drive line-up with the unlikely duo of Global News reporter Mike Drolet and frequent fill-in Greg Brady – who promptly dragged his co-host into yet another half hour of sports talk! (As noted in another thread, if I wanted sports talk radio, there are plenty of places to go, but 640 isn’t one of them.)
 
I’m not entirely sure what they’re doing over there, but it was the most disorganized, crazy line-up of programming I think I’ve ever heard in a single day. Can’t wait for the holiday to be over so we can back to whatever passes for normal on local radio!

     Thread Starter
 

December 28, 2019 2:33 am  #22


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

6079 Smith W wrote:

betaylored wrote:

Right now it's Boxing Day, Thursday, just after 7am. am64O has been airing a truly godawful podcast called "Family Matters" that was recorded LAST SUMMER. Newstalk 1010 has the Sunday trivia show on.😒

Sports radio here I come.

Boxing day is not a holiday south of the border, so if you can pick up any cross-border waves you would have a shot at some semblance of normal programming. Guest hosts mind you, but WBEN which I tuned in yesterday was following their regular format of local shows, traffic, news, and syndications. And Michael Caputo is generally a breath of fresh air in for Tom Bauerle.

Terrific ideas 6079 Smith W thanks, and I used to love listening to WBEN.

RadioActive I hear ya about the burnt offerings on 640. YHGtBFKMWtS

Holiday "programming" on Toronto radio is as appealing as the idea of chowing down on a brick of stale Christmas cake.

Is it January 3rd yet?!

 

December 30, 2019 1:58 pm  #23


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

RadioActive wrote:

I can’t remember a more schizophrenic day on a radio station than what GNR640 did on Friday

It has now been five days since Christmas. Yet GNR640 is still in holiday mode. The station's only real live local programming is morning drive (albeit starting at 7 AM) and afternoon drive (3-6 PM.) They also take the Charles Adler show out of B.C. at 10 PM our time and while it's guest hosted, at least it's not pre-recorded. 

Other than that, they've had either rerolls or podcasts and it appears they've decided to take the entire holiday period off, meaning I don't expect anything close to their regular schedule until at least Thursday (if then.) If I calculate it correctly, that will make almost ten days since they aired anything close to a normal schedule.   

You can get away with that in a music station, but boy is it noticeable in a talk format. I can't recall a Toronto station going on virtual auto-pilot for so long around holiday time. Take Xmas off, take Boxing Day off. Give everyone a break on NY's Eve and Jan. 1st. That's pretty much standard. But really, giving up most of the rest of the days in between? That's insane for a news/talk formatted outlet, especially in the major market in Canada..

And yes, I know listener levels are down at this time of year but that doesn't mean you get to essentially close down everything but the transmitter. Especially when your competition at CFRB has live guest-hosted shows going for most of the day.  

     Thread Starter
 

December 30, 2019 3:37 pm  #24


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

RadioActive wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

I can’t remember a more schizophrenic day on a radio station than what GNR640 did on Friday

It has now been five days since Christmas. Yet GNR640 is still in holiday mode. The station's only real live local programming is morning drive (albeit starting at 7 AM) and afternoon drive (3-6 PM.) They also take the Charles Adler show out of B.C. at 10 PM our time and while it's guest hosted, at least it's not pre-recorded. 

Other than that, they've had either rerolls or podcasts and it appears they've decided to take the entire holiday period off, meaning I don't expect anything close to their regular schedule until at least Thursday (if then.) If I calculate it correctly, that will make almost ten days since they aired anything close to a normal schedule.   

You can get away with that in a music station, but boy is it noticeable in a talk format. I can't recall a Toronto station going on virtual auto-pilot for so long around holiday time. Take Xmas off, take Boxing Day off. Give everyone a break on NY's Eve and Jan. 1st. That's pretty much standard. But really, giving up most of the rest of the days in between? That's insane for a news/talk formatted outlet, especially in the major market in Canada..

And yes, I know listener levels are down at this time of year but that doesn't mean you get to essentially close down everything but the transmitter. Especially when your competition at CFRB has live guest-hosted shows going for most of the day.  

This happens every year so it’s nothing new

Personally not a big issue for me. I enjoy the change of pace on both 640 and 1010.

Plus I’m still in holiday mode so it’s all one big Saturday

 

December 30, 2019 8:52 pm  #25


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

Mr magoogain wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

I can’t remember a more schizophrenic day on a radio station than what GNR640 did on Friday

It has now been five days since Christmas. Yet GNR640 is still in holiday mode. The station's only real live local programming is morning drive (albeit starting at 7 AM) and afternoon drive (3-6 PM.) They also take the Charles Adler show out of B.C. at 10 PM our time and while it's guest hosted, at least it's not pre-recorded. 

Other than that, they've had either rerolls or podcasts and it appears they've decided to take the entire holiday period off, meaning I don't expect anything close to their regular schedule until at least Thursday (if then.) If I calculate it correctly, that will make almost ten days since they aired anything close to a normal schedule.   

You can get away with that in a music station, but boy is it noticeable in a talk format. I can't recall a Toronto station going on virtual auto-pilot for so long around holiday time. Take Xmas off, take Boxing Day off. Give everyone a break on NY's Eve and Jan. 1st. That's pretty much standard. But really, giving up most of the rest of the days in between? That's insane for a news/talk formatted outlet, especially in the major market in Canada..

And yes, I know listener levels are down at this time of year but that doesn't mean you get to essentially close down everything but the transmitter. Especially when your competition at CFRB has live guest-hosted shows going for most of the day.  

This happens every year so it’s nothing new

Personally not a big issue for me. I enjoy the change of pace on both 640 and 1010.

Plus I’m still in holiday mode so it’s all one big Saturday

I’ve changed my mind

That drive home on 640 and 1010 were....rough

 

December 31, 2019 1:43 am  #26


Re: An Observation About Local Radio On Christmas Day

Mr. magoogain: "I've changed my mind. That drive home on 640 and 1010 were....rough"
Mr. m you may be the first person on the big yellow board to change your mind, AND actually post that you have. What a positive way to go into 2020.😀

Has anyone figured out the actual dollar amount stations save or think they're saving, versus the cost to radio shows and advertisers losing listeners, possibly long term, by the holiday week of the repeat/reroll/filling in menu we've been enduring/avoiding/rolling our eyes at?🙄

(Peter Shurman, Dave Trafford, and a couple of others excepted, these veterans always come through.)👍

Last edited by betaylored (December 31, 2019 10:02 am)