RadioAaron wrote:

It doesn't. Radiowiz used the term "effective immediately" for no good reason; the station has been Proud FM since launch. He's just making stuff up, as usual.  
You're OK with him picking minor irrelevant errors, and correcting them as though it's new information that he's just presented? Because it happens a lot.

You are a good liar sir. Simply for saying stuff like it happens a lot and as usual. I believe you have me confused with someone else, and I SURE DO NOT appreciate you defending the subject line.
Especially since you seem to KNOW how long it has been PROUD fm for. 
If anything, you HAD your chance to correct it LONG before now. You did not.

Last edited by Radiowiz (January 26, 2020 6:44 am)

This reminds me of the lyrics to Badfinger’s “Baby Blue” that aired in the final episode of “Breaking Bad.”
 
“Guess I got what I deserved.”
 
I have no skin in the game with Dufferin Communications, having never worked there and barely listened to their stations. But this is yet the latest attempt by them to circumvent the licence requirements they readily agreed to in order to get these stations on the air.
 
And while I’m no fan of the CRTC, I’m pleased to see they didn’t let them get away with it – again. There is a lot to digest in the decision but a few things stand out for me.
 
-According to the Commission, the change of CIDC from 103.5 to 103.7 “would result in a decrease in the size of its service contour, approval of those changes would result in a service contour that would no longer include the GTA but, instead, be limited to the Orangeville radio market.”
 
Frankly, this surprises me, given how hard they tried to reach the Toronto market in past attempts.
 
-It would appear the real goal here was to increase both the power and range of CIRR, aka ProudFM. But despite claiming that high rises and other obstacles were blocking their current signal, “it did not submit any evidence of signal reception issues….In the Commission’s view, the licensee has therefore not provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate that CIRR-FM’s signal is inadequate to provide service within its authorized service contours.”
 
Wow. You might think they would have at least gone to the trouble (read expense) to try and get that nailed down before making the request. Guess not. Small wonder the CRTC didn’t buy it.
 
-Perhaps my favourite effort which says, in effect, “Hey, if you give us these changes then we can use it to prop up some of our more struggling stations in smaller markets.” The CRTC response is classic. “The Commission…generally does not consider support for out-of-market radio stations a compelling reason to approve those technical changes.”
 
And as for claims that they're not doing so well, the Commission acknowledges that the stations in question are experiencing some financial issues, but “Dufferin has not demonstrated that the requested technical changes are required to maintain the services’ viability.”
 
-Finally, they couldn’t even get something simple and easy like HD right. They wanted to try the subcarrier route and here they have a Commission that’s sympathetic to those efforts. But they didn’t even bother to file an application for permission to start it. Still, the CRTC “encourages them to proceed” with any future proposals. so maybe at least they'll get that one day.
 
So is this over at last? I wonder. This isn’t Dufferin’s first bite at this apple. I suspect they’re processing this decision and they’ll be back before long looking for another way to beat the system. So far, every gamble has been a loss.

Reading all the way to the bottom, on the specific matter of HD Radio, the CRTC explicitly says it has no formal application process yet for HD Radio. So it's hard to see how Evanov could have "bother(ed) to file an application," in that case. 

fybush wrote:

Reading all the way to the bottom, on the specific matter of HD Radio, the CRTC explicitly says it has no formal application process yet for HD Radio. So it's hard to see how Evanov could have "bother(ed) to file an application," in that case. 

Yeah, that's my bad. What I meant to say is that they've expressed an interest in HD but obviously haven't done anything about it. Which just makes it worse. The one thing they don't need permission for and they haven't done it.

So where would their potential HD signals wind up? 103.5? My suggestion would be 88.5, the Jewel, which may have better reach in the GTA. Pride could go at HD1, with Z103.5 on HD2. That would finally allow them to get farther into Toronto, which has been their goal all along. Too bad so few have HD-capable radios these days.

Not surprised.  Only surprised it took so long and kind of anxious to see their next application however, I dont see the point.  Id be more embarrased now if I was Evanov to keep trying for the same reason.

Doing HD as subcarrier would be worse on Jewel as the signal doesnt make it in as good as Z.   To be honest, Z doesnt have that bad of a coverage in Toronto.  Is it good quality?...no it suffers from a lot of a weird static but one of those stations that for the most part (south of the 401 for the most part) , your seek button in the car will always land on it despite being at times static.

Perhaps a rebranding is best now 
 

Last edited by markow202 (January 31, 2020 2:42 pm)

RadioAaron wrote:

As for re-branding, I'd go a step further and suggest format change. Given where its signal is best, I'd go Country. I know the KX's virtually cover the market from each end and market as "GTA" they both sound quite local to their markets. Neither participate in Numeris in Toronto. Country on 103.5 coming from north of the city with a modern, GTA-centric (with Orangeville Leagal IDs of course) could work.

Z did best in Toronto when there was a local CHR hole. With KiSS and Virgin at each other with Rogers and Bell behind them, there's not much room.

I know all the "Evanov" reasons for this to not happen, but still....they need to make money.

You do make some excellent points RadioAaron, but instead of Country, why not go all wayback playback all the time? There are a lot of exclusive tracks only Z103 played back in the day that may be of interest to the ear today.  
 

RadioAaron wrote:

The tying in of HD into this application was really more of a cover to say they would keep Proud on the air than a real step into that arena; a political move they hoped would help pass it.

They do have Z on 92.1 HD, and they could do 88.5 too, I agree, but it would probably make little to no difference in Z's future.

As for 103.9, I wouldn't be shocked if they just shut it off.  A little conspiracy minded, but I never thought it was anything but a placeholder to help Z move into the city following a regulation change or a clever application. 

They could a Hybrid. Call it Dynamic with Hot AC and Country. It worked for a week at one time and was unique under the archaic rules in the 90's.

 

Radiowiz wrote:

RadioAaron wrote:

As for re-branding, I'd go a step further and suggest format change. Given where its signal is best, I'd go Country. I know the KX's virtually cover the market from each end and market as "GTA" they both sound quite local to their markets. Neither participate in Numeris in Toronto. Country on 103.5 coming from north of the city with a modern, GTA-centric (with Orangeville Leagal IDs of course) could work.

Z did best in Toronto when there was a local CHR hole. With KiSS and Virgin at each other with Rogers and Bell behind them, there's not much room.

I know all the "Evanov" reasons for this to not happen, but still....they need to make money.

You do make some excellent points RadioAaron, but instead of Country, why not go all wayback playback all the time? There are a lot of exclusive tracks only Z103 played back in the day that may be of interest to the ear today.  
 

That would probably work initially; the challenge is maintaining it, as 93.5 learned. You can't go wide (like adult hits) or deep (like classic rock) so it tends to burn pretty quick. 

Their current format is also available locally everywhere their signal reaches.

The difference being the CHRs are catered to and rated in the CMA. Don't underestimate the power of content targeting and marketing. 

markow202 wrote:

I tuned in to Z and their in between song station ID's is "Z1035 Orangeville, playing all the hits"  lol I found it humerous as the "O word"  never existed until now.  

This is the result of a CRTC order that came down in late 2017. As it became evident that Orangeville was non-existent in their imaging (although it's their area of licence) the Commission came down hard on them for ignoring it.

It was quite remarkable and was detailed on SOWNY here.