The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Big Bell Bloodbath Hits Properties In Toronto

Chrisphen · February 2, 2021 8:52 pm

geo wrote:
Chrisphen wrote:
He was the only enjoyably listenable host they had.
Chrisphen: are you not leaving yourself open to rebuttal that with only one listenable host, many of those positions would not be required?

I've made my opinion of their news operation clear.

betaylored · February 2, 2021 8:55 pm

Chrisphen wrote:
betaylored wrote:
Chrisphen, could you please delete this out of respect for John? I'd appreciate it. Thanks.
Done. If it matters. He is still good, however.

Thanks very much.. And I agree with you. John is very good. Which is why it mattered.

Last edited by betaylored (February 2, 2021 8:57 pm)

andysradio · February 2, 2021 9:01 pm

Bell if you don’t want to run radio and TV stations then sell them off to a company that will try. It’s better than slowing bleeding them. During these times, the listeners need all the information they can get. You are not helping

Dale Patterson · February 2, 2021 9:07 pm

They carried a John Moore re-run, now it's Dave Agar in re-roll.

Last edited by Dale Patterson (February 2, 2021 9:07 pm)

Dale Patterson · February 2, 2021 9:15 pm

AMFM wrote:
Dale, thank you very much for that classic photograph of the CFRB Newsroom.

You're welcome.

RadioActive · February 2, 2021 9:20 pm

Dale Patterson wrote:
They carried a John Moore re-run, now it's Dave Agar in re-roll.

I think you mean Jerry Agar but it's still a reroll.

betaylored · February 2, 2021 9:33 pm

RadioActive wrote:
Dale Patterson wrote:
They carried a John Moore re-run, now it's Dave Agar in re-roll.
I think you mean Jerry Agar but it's still a reroll.

I'd take a Dave Agar reroll over a Jerry Agar reroll any day of the week and twice on Sundays. The Early Edition with Dave and Robert Turner made 5:00am a perfectly logical time to turn the radio on. Still enjoy the Early Edition with Robert solo.

Jerry Agar wasn't really my cup of joe, and since the traveling during the pandemic incident, his views and opinions don't hold a lot of water. Pot meet kettle.

Chrisphen · February 2, 2021 10:51 pm

I'll amend my quip about Bell MBAs. Their bonus funding was probably blown on hiring McKinsey to do the thinking for them.

RadioActive · February 2, 2021 11:16 pm

It appears Jamil Jivani's 10 PM show has survived the purge, although it makes sense. As a Bell Network program, it feeds multiple stations for the price of one salary. That's how Bell thinks. I just wonder who's tuning in after three hours of rerolls.

Radiowiz · February 2, 2021 11:26 pm

RadioActive wrote:
It appears Jamil Jivani's 10 PM show has survived the purge, although it makes sense. As a Bell Network program, it feeds multiple stations for the price of one salary. That's how Bell thinks. I just wonder who's tuning in after three hours of rerolls.

Didn't former owner Astral think that after 10PM was the best reroll time? My memory is a bit fuzzy on that...

February 3, 2021 3:10 am

AMFM wrote:
Monday: Entire CJAD Newsroom fired.
Tuesday: Entire CFRB Newsroom fired.

The bean counters are still counting beans.

St. Catherines is tomorrow according to sources..

Radiowiz · February 3, 2021 7:08 am

Russ Courtney is doing morning news this morning on News Talk 1010 Toronto.

Last edited by Radiowiz (February 3, 2021 1:04 pm)

RadioActive · February 3, 2021 8:11 am

Glad to hear they saved at least one of the newsroom stalwarts. He was one of the names several sources reported among the cuts. At least they didn't chop everyone. Still, I can't help but wonder how they will cover breaking stories with so few reporters. My guess is they'll leverage survivors from CP24 and CTV.

But the damage is done and the station will never sound the same. What Bell chose to do on Tuesday was simply unconscionable.

Look, cuts in broadcasting unfortunately happen all the time. But slashing over 200 in one market is something I can't ever recall happening. And from what I read, they may not be done at some of their other smaller stations.

andysradio · February 3, 2021 8:33 am

Russ Courtney read the 7 AM news

RadioActive · February 3, 2021 9:08 am

Since no official list of who was let go has been confirmed, you have to rely on other indicators. This morning, I heard them run a news promo (ironic, considering what happened the day before) that featured the voice of David McKee introing a Tiffany Hensbee report. So perhaps those two survived. Let's hope so.

John Moore mentioned Mike Bendixen's recent Roundtable appearance, so it would seem he's still around, as well.

g121 · February 3, 2021 9:41 am

Broodcaster wrote:
Anyone know of a good alternative to Bell TV?

I'm another one on Teksavvy. I've been with Teksavvy internet for 10+ years. I'm currently on VDSL 50Mdown/8Mup.

Last July, i finally dumped my decades long Rogers Cable & went for Teksavvy TV (using an Amazon Firestick).

I'm pretty much just a news/sports guys, so my TekTV costs $48/month (Basic$20 + News$8 + SportsFan$20).

Wish I had done this a long, long time ago. My quality test was "how does hockey look" .. it's fine. A bonus is the super fast TV guide .. i detested how super slow the Rogers box was to change channels or view the guide.

No regrets ..

RadioActive · February 3, 2021 10:01 am

Toronto Star story:

Bell Media cuts jobs, reduces on-air broadcasting at staple news outlets

RadioActive · February 3, 2021 10:23 am

Jerry Agar is giving out the long distance number and hitting breaks with a tag of "The iHeart Radio Talk Network." This means he's now on more than just one station -or soon will be.

So far, I haven't been able to pinpoint who else is taking this show, but clearly he's no longer just going to be on in Toronto, which will change the focus of his show going forward. For one thing, the 9:08 commentary appears to be a thing of the past.

I tried monitoring CJAD, CJBK, CFRA, CKTB and others online that might take his show, but so far no one has it. Perhaps this is a rehearsal for what's to come as more get blown out in local markets this week. It seems to be very Ontario-centric, so it would likely be stations in this province.

mace · February 3, 2021 10:28 am

I wonder what Gordon Sinclair, Jack Dennett, Charles Doering and Bob Hesketh would say if they saw what their former employer looked like in 2021. I would imagine "Not Pleased" would be a polite way of expressing their thoughts.

Chrisphen · February 3, 2021 10:30 am

RadioActive wrote:
Jerry Agar is giving out the long distance number and hitting breaks with a tag of "The iHeart Radio Talk Network." This means he's now on more than just one station.

They're spreading Agar? That's regrettable.

February 3, 2021 10:50 am

grilled.cheese wrote:
Tory thinks this is due to the pandemic and everyone will bounce back.

It has often been stated in this forum that radio listening mainly happens in vehicles (commuters). Traffic counts are w-a-a-a-y down due to the epidemic. His Worship has a point

paterson1 · February 3, 2021 10:54 am

So this time Bell's cutbacks seem to be weighted more towards radio and news departments. Five years ago Bell let 270 employees go in Toronto but mostly from the production, operation and management areas.

Also did they not have some big cutbacks not long after buying out CHUM and Astral, or at least when the merger was finally approved by the CRTC around 2007/8? I remember that was when several specialty channels like Much Music were really cut back and all original programming dropped, and Much more or less stopped playing music videos. That original cutback also hit local television stations too.

Anyone know how many employees Bell Media has altogether? Various sites like wiki are saying 5 to 7 thousand but I would like to find something a little more definitive. One source said 52,000 but that would be for the whole company not the media division.

I wonder if there will be more cuts today, maybe smaller markets or in Western Canada.

AMFM · February 3, 2021 11:10 am

Ted Woloshyn gone as well.

alangee · February 3, 2021 11:30 am

AT least 1010 still has the right wing George Noory and his Coast to Coast wackadoodles gracing the overnight airwaves. Get rid of the true news and keep the conspiracy theorists. Great radio, Bell.

In Phase · February 3, 2021 12:17 pm

paterson1 wrote:
Also did they not have some big cutbacks not long after buying out CHUM and Astral, or at least when the merger was finally approved by the CRTC around 2007/8?

yup

I was one of them

life goes on

RadioActive · February 3, 2021 12:33 pm

We've heard about some of the better known names that got the axe at Bell. Montreal's Steve Faguy issued this list of some of the other 'behind the scene' types at 299 Queen St. W. who were also let go.
(FT= full time, PT= Part time.)

As bad as what happened at 1010 is, this shows how many lives were hit by what happened on Tuesday. Multiply that by the spouses/partners and children of these now jobless employees, and the numbers of those affected are staggering. (He advises TSN may be still to come)

Switchboard Receptionist (3)
Automated MCR Operator 1 (8)
Labourer (5 PT)
TVA (2 PT)
Communications Coordinator (2)
Librarian (1)
Make-Up Artists (6 FT, 7 PT)
Production Coordinators (2)
Audio Assistant (1 PT)
Camera Operator (4FT, 3PT)
Event Planner and Ticketing (1)
Floor Director (1 PT)
Web Designer (1)
Assistant Director (1)
Audio Operator (2)
Electronic Graphic Operator (1)
Squeezeback Editor (1)
Carpentry Supervisor (1)
EFP Camera Operator (2)
Lighting Director (1 part-time)
Packaging Editor (1)
Writer/Producer (1)
Technical Director (1)
Automated MCR Operator 1 (4)

ED1 · February 3, 2021 12:41 pm

Do you all think that the merging of the CFTO and CP24 newsrooms are inevitable?

paterson1 · February 3, 2021 12:43 pm

In Phase wrote:
paterson1 wrote:
Also did they not have some big cutbacks not long after buying out CHUM and Astral, or at least when the merger was finally approved by the CRTC around 2007/8?
yup

I was one of them

life goes on

Sorry to hear that In Phase. Hope that things eventually worked out for you.

MJ Vancouver · February 3, 2021 12:47 pm

ED1 wrote:
Do you all think that the merging of the CFTO and CP24 newsrooms are inevitable?

I've long been surprised it didn't happen back in 2009. After all, CityPulse and CP24 had a single newsroom when they were both under CHUM ownership.

Canada's only other local news cable channel, BC1, has no separation at all from Global BC, it's basically like CityPulse and CP24 in the old days (though a lot less flashy). BC1 simulcasts all local news from Global BC, BC1 doesn't air a competing morning show - and CP24 in the old days simulcast all news from Channel 57 from Breakfast Television to CityPulse Tonight.

Last edited by MJ Vancouver (February 3, 2021 12:50 pm)

RadioActive · February 3, 2021 12:54 pm

A selection of some notable Tweets about the Bell bloodletting:

https://i.ibb.co/6rW1zD7/Clipboard05.jpg">

And finally, one perhaps more hopeful message: