I'm afraid you may be right.

The Bell Media web page has a "contact us" tab you can click on. But then it just asks what kind of advertising campaign you want to do. 

turkeytop wrote:

The Bell Media web page has a "contact us" tab you can click on. But then it just asks what kind of advertising campaign you want to do. 

This has become one of my pet peeves, and it's not just confined to broadcasting. Turns out no one in any business seems to want to talk to you anymore. There have been a plethora of occasions when I tried to reach someone at 680 News or NT1010.

It's almost impossible to find an actual phone number and if you do, you're greeted by a 10 minute voice mail that tells you that you MUST listen because all their options have recently changed. (How often do these guys change these options, anyway? Every one of them seems to be in a constant state of flux.) You choose one of them and get more voice mail that doesn't answer your question, but nowhere does it tell you how to reach a receptionist, who can connect you to the extension you want. 

(The only exception seems to be reaching the newsroom for a tip, but no one there can ever answer a question unrelated to their specific job, has no idea who you should speak to and can't connect you to an extension they don't know and are too busy to look up in any case.)

It's either a cost saving move having an electronic operator (and no live person) - not a surprise by either Bell or Rogers - or else they simply do not want to talk to you. You don't matter and your question makes no difference to them. 

Sometimes, they invite you to leave a message or an email, but in all the years I've been dealing with this, not a single one of them is ever returned - unless it's by a very unhelpful automatic reply, which does absolutely nothing to help you. 

No wonder people think corporations are faceless and see their customers solely as wallets. Because in the end, that's exactly what you are.  

It's especially frustrating when it comes to medicine, a miasma I'm currently in the middle of. Not only can't you reach a doctor (understandable, they're busy) but in most cases, you cannot get an answer at their office or department. Requests to leave a message and "you'll be called back," results in you never hearing from anyone.. 

It's bad enough when it's broadcasting or a business. But when it's your health, it makes you crazy - and it can be dangerous. I was lucky. I was connected to one of the few physicians/specialists who seems to understand this. He makes it a point to have his receptionist answer his phone as long as his office is open. If she takes a break or goes to lunch, he makes sure someone else is there to take her place. So his phone is ALWAYS answered.  

I asked him about this once and he said it's important patients be able to reach him and know their questions or concerns have been heard. What a refreshing attitude! Unfortunately, he's vastly in the minority. 

I've tried repeatedly to reach Corus about their feed of Charles Adler. There's a hard break every hour at the 26-minute mark on the network. I'm not sure why - perhaps 640 is still in delay mode - but they never, ever, ever make this break without the host being cut off in mid-sentence. 

"When we return we'll look at why Justin Trudeau hasn't ---" spot begins. or "Coming up next - our special guest will tell you why Canadians should never have to --" and commercial. 

This has been going on not for weeks or months, but literally years and they never fix it. You'd think someone there might have noticed this by now, but it happens night after night. I guess no one who works there ever listens to their own station after dark. 

I've actutally tried to reach someone there to ask about it, but you can never get through to anyone, there's no extension or phone number to call and no email to leave feedback. Frankly, it's an embarrassment in the major market in the country.

Normally we spend our winters in Florida. Of course, we can't this year. But I listen the Bloomberg radio there and it goes smoothly. Breaks are built ion to the program stream to accommodate local ads.

They seem to do that a lot on weekends. I could handle that as a format too.

I've noticed Bloomberg Radio is different than Bloomberg TV. Whereas Bloomberg TV has two or more video screens active plus text scrolling across the screen, Bloomberg has only a single audio stream.

I believe, that, in the U.S.,Bloomberg Radio and Bloomberg TV are separate entities. 

They also have a station in Sarasota FL, I listen to when I'm in FL. I forget ther frequency, somewhere around 1300 - 1400 KHZ.

fybush wrote:

Bloomberg Radio and Bloomberg TV in the US are co-owned. Bloomberg itself owns only one radio station, WBBR 1130 in NYC, and directly operates two others, WDCH 99.1 in Washington and WRCA 1330 in Boston. The other "Bloomberg Radio" affiliates in the US are owned by other companies and just carry the format. 

Thanks for clearing that up. So, the one in Florida is only an affiliate. By the time I go back, it might be flipped to All Bagpipes All The Time
 

Saul wrote:

I've been sitting on 1150 a bit. Haven't heard any Cdn content. Is there any?

I think there is quite a bit since they pick up the audio feed from BNN Bloomberg which is based in Toronto, and most of their programming daytime at least is local.

This morning has been full of talk about Canadian stocks, TSX, and Trudeau's virtual meeting with Biden yesterday, and some news reports from CTV.  Also they had local Hamilton traffic and weather with Michael Dimacchio  when I was listening and Michael did identify the station as BNN Bloomberg Radio 1150 Hamilton.  They seem to be running audio for the TV ads during commercial breaks but I also heard some local Hamilton ads around traffic and weather.  Kind of choppy however.  And some long commercial breaks.

Talk radio in Canada normally hasn't picked up much American or foreign programming over the years, so I don't know what if any local content requirements are.  But likely 1150 is already mostly Canadian sourced 6am to 6pm since they are running the TV feed which already is mostly out of Toronto, with some out of NY    

turkeytop wrote:

I had high hopes when this flip was first announced. I have zero interest in sports radio. 

It could have been great, but it's doomed to fail. It deserves to fail. Bell Media just doesn't care enough to run it properly. They view the programming as just something cheap to fill the time between ads. That isn't a recipe for success. It shows disrespect for the audience and their audience won't tolerate it.

I've given up on it already.

Funny, that's very similar to what I said about AM 1280 when they chose to go all business...they didn't last long and now they're gone.

turkeytop wrote:

Radiowiz wrote:

[
Funny, that's very similar to what I said about AM 1280 when they chose to go all business...they didn't last long and now they're gone.

But it doesn't have to be that way. There is enough demand for that kind of a radio format if they would only do it right..

You'd spend more on "doing it right" than you'd make back. There's a pretty low ceiling on this format's potential. 

So, I had it on in the car today. The Bloomberg program had a break built right in for commercials. The announcer said "Time for a commercial break. But when we come back - - -"

That would have been the perfect spot for some local commercials. Instead, they filled in the time with promotions for various CTV programs.

After the break, they came back with the item the guy had promised, but about one minute into it they cut away for commercials. Never did get to hear the rest of that story.