When I was in high school, I found that most of my peers knew who Shane was. The evening jock at WGR, who passed away recently, was a well-known name with many people I've met since.

Hardly a representative sample, I'll admit, but I've found over the years a large number of folks in Toronto were well aware of WGR-AM in those days. Whether they listened to it a lot or not, I have no idea. But it truly was a fantastic radio station back then, winning several Billboard Station of the Year awards. And they deserved it. 

The reason why Flow hasn't been achieving the same level of success in Toronto as WBLK is in Buffalo can be attributed by a few factors. As some already suggested from the thread, the constant tweaking of format and personalities cause disengagement of listeners from tuning into the station. People who were dedicated to Flow were tired to notice their favourite music and DJs being dropped for unnecessary changes. There is a lot of well known Canadian hip-hop and R&B artists, especially in Toronto, however they haven't gotten enough exposure and support from Flow. Even though the recent Make In Toronto Takeover at 11pm promotes locally based artists, the rest of hours were just constantly repeating songs by CanCon artists such as Belly, Roy Woods, Anders and other few. Flow should be playing more tracks from upcoming Toronto artists during the day time. I consider G98.7 does a way better job regarding this, especially after the change in ownership, with artists such as Haviah Mighty and Fame Holiday are being constantly supported by G.


Moreover, even though Flow has slightly changed for the better after the removal of The Breakfast Club and overwhelmingly pop-ish songs from the playlist, I still consider Flow should make better efforts for increasing the engagement of listeners. Currently the playlist still consists of too many pop-rhythmic products, such as Kiss Me More, Save Your Tears, Montero and Mood by Iann Dior. Moreover, 5 out of top 10 songs played on Flow most could be heard on other CHR stations, such as Kiss and Virgin. A lot people whom I know would tune into Flow are already tired of listening these songs. Hip hop songs that are still supported by airplays in the states are however quickly dropped just one or two months after the addition, I consider the music is also another factor why Flow isn't able to achieve better ratings. Flow should be playing hip-hop tracks that are topped on the urban airplay charts of the States, also supporting more new local hip-hop artists by playing their tracks during regular hours.

I also listened to GR 55 regularly back in the 1970s. And while my mother mostly listened to CFRB and CHUM (a rather interesting combination), she also listened to John Otto's show for many years.