1 of 1- RadioActive
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When Labour Day Was Important To Radio
Does anyone else remember a time when Labour Day was a much bigger deal on the radio? I seem to recall the CHUMs and CKFHs of the world using it to do a "Golden Weekend," count down the Top 100 Songs of the Summer or have some other special programming on, while staying true to the format.
I think Boom is doing an all-80s Labour Day weekend, but they do that fairly frequently, so to me, it's not really all that special. And few others are even doing that.
There also used to be live jocks on music stations during the holiday, an almost unthinkable scenario today.
In any event, the last long weekend of summer was a great excuse for a huge promotional opportunity back then.
Now, because the industry has changed so much, it seems like it's just another excuse to either automate or air rerolls and save on paying anyone extra for working the stat.
Which for many listeners, is the difference between a Labour Day and a laboured day. One more reason I'm not looking forward to turning the radio on on Monday.
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Re: When Labour Day Was Important To Radio
Not to mention making a big deal about the closing of the Exhibition on the weekend ("CHUM Checks From The Ex" was a longstanding tradition.) Obviously that wouldn't be possible this year, but the days of the CNE as a big promotional item for radio are also long over.
The pic below was the only time I ever saw an insert included in a CHUM Chart. It was in the final Top 50 chart ever released. The next week, the slimmed down Chum 30 would debut in stores across the city.
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Thread Starter- splunge
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Re: When Labour Day Was Important To Radio
yes, i remember q107, rock95, and others doing their top 100 of all time every year. the lists rarely changed much, but they'd shake up the top 10 just enough to create controversy. also, inserting the correct number of Cancon selections got to be humorous at times.
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Didn't CKOC do their Top 500 around the long weekend?
But then, they presented that thing so often, it seems like it was always on throughout the year.
From The Spectator in late August 2015:
CKOC counts down the days with one more Big 500
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Thread Starter- Muffaraw Joe
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Re: When Labour Day Was Important To Radio
Mike Cooper talks about setting the Ferris Wheel record in 1975...
And let's not the MD Jerry Lewis Telethon this weekend, it was the completion of summer for sure, and radio and TV both had major roles in the one's life at this time...now, not so much!
Here's Mike Cooper waxing poetic about his time at 1050 Chum...and at the CNE
Last edited by Muffaraw Joe (September 6, 2020 9:16 pm)
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Re: When Labour Day Was Important To Radio
RadioActive wrote:
I think Boom is doing an all-80s Labour Day weekend, but they do that fairly frequently, so to me, it's not really all that special. And few others are even doing that.
It's special because you get a lot more hours of the 80's. Not just a few hours on a Friday night.
They started at 8AM Friday morning and they're all 80's until some time late on Labour day.
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RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
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Re: When Labour Day Was Important To Radio
I think Boom is doing an all-80s Labour Day weekend, but they do that fairly frequently, so to me, it's not really all that special. And few others are even doing that.
It's special because you get a lot more hours of the 80's. Not just a few hours on a Friday night.
They started at 8AM Friday morning and they're all 80's until some time late on Labour day.
I'm just glad they're trying something instead of going on auto pilot like everyone else. So good on them for at least making an attempt at gathering a audience.
All the above notwithstanding, kudos to GNR640 and CKTB for managing a live morning show on Monday, despite the holiday. I'm guessing the rest of the day will be rerolls, but at least the morning started with someone live on the air.
CFRB was on John Moore best-of patrol, although the never-aired-in-full Harry Shearer interview was very entertaining.
It's back to business on Tuesday, when all the endless vacation shuffling should be mostly over and the regular line-ups at all stations will be back.
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Thread Starter- kevjo
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Re: When Labour Day Was Important To Radio
Didn't CKOC do their Top 500 around the long weekend?
But then, they presented that thing so often, it seems like it was always on throughout the year.
From The Spectator in late August 2015:
CKOC counts down the days with one more Big 500
During its heyday the Big 500 usually aired in the fall during ratings and they repeated of the same countdown during the following spring ratings period. Other Top 40 stations including CHUM aired similar countdowns at various times throughout their history but CKOC was the among the select few that ran it every year for decades.
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Re: When Labour Day Was Important To Radio
I think Boom is doing an all-80s Labour Day weekend, but they do that fairly frequently, so to me, it's not really all that special. And few others are even doing that.
It's special because you get a lot more hours of the 80's. Not just a few hours on a Friday night.
They started at 8AM Friday morning and they're all 80's until some time late on Labour day.
Totally 80's has been BOOM's go-to on long weekends for several years now. While some stations would look for mix up the themes, BOOM listeners know that every long weekend what they will hear. Some would call this lazy programming but it's proven to be a true hit every time so they must be thinking why get off a winner?
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Kind of like CHFI's non-stop Christmas music towards the end of November every year. It baffles many here, but it's always a huge hit in the ratings. So it's trotted out annually like a good soldier to capture the ratings hill.
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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Re: When Labour Day Was Important To Radio
Peter Shurman doing live afternoon drive on GNR640. Good for them.
CFRB has been in repeat mode all day.
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Thread Starter- Paul Jeffries
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Re: When Labour Day Was Important To Radio
I think Boom is doing an all-80s Labour Day weekend, but they do that fairly frequently, so to me, it's not really all that special. And few others are even doing that.
It's special because you get a lot more hours of the 80's. Not just a few hours on a Friday night.
They started at 8AM Friday morning and they're all 80's until some time late on Labour day.
Totally 80's has been BOOM's go-to on long weekends for several years now. While some stations would look for mix up the themes, BOOM listeners know that every long weekend what they will hear. Some would call this lazy programming but it's proven to be a true hit every time so they must be thinking why get off a winner?
In all fairness, Boom has been sprinkling in a few less-often played hits like "Ship of Fools" by World Party, "Word Up" by Cameo and "Money" by The Flying Lizards. For the most part though, it's the standard 80's fare. But hey, if it ain't broke, why fix it?
PJ
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