I'm curious as to what's happening now, what are they playing if anything, on the abandoned freq? I have no way of knowing, being as I live in Northern Ontario, plus the fact that I see no way to currently listen online.

mace wrote:

I find it interesting that there are now two pages of discussion of a format change involving a radio station that most GTA residents don't listen to and possibly have never heard of. I understand the interest here because the majority of the comments are from people currently employed in the radio industry, retired from the radio industry or are just radio geeks like me. The only radio format changes that the general public was cognizant of were CHUM in 1986, and CFTR in 1993. Possibly the end of Country on CFGM and CISS as well. Not a criticism, simply a personal observation.

Well mace this is a radio forum, so it makes sense that we would be talking and speculating about the changes.  Makes no difference if most or all on here didn't listen to 93.5.  Almost all have heard of the station and a good number have tuned in at some point over the years.  I have, and FLOW for what they were doing was not a bad station at all.  They just messed around with the format too much over the years, had various ownership and on air changes, and Stingray doesn't want to give them any more time.  The new sound, whatever it ends up being should draw more listeners and compliment BOOM from a sales point of view. 

You are correct and I have mentioned before that Toronto radio, considering the number of stations in the market tends to have relatively few format changes.  This to me shows stability, Toronto listeners tend to be loyal to only a few stations, but also makes the market appear and at times sound static with little change.  Look at the markets in Western Canada, they have more flipping of formats than Toronto has ever had. 

There have been a few other changes over the years, Easy Rock 97.3 moving to BOOM, CISS going from country to Top 40 to JACK FM to Top 40 again.  CHUM FM in the mid 80's phased out rock and became more of an A/C format. CFRB dropping all music and moving to an all talk/news format, however this was a gradual change. And CHUM AM's dropping top 40 in 1986 was only the start of their many format changes, sports, oldies, CP 24, oldies again and then sports again.  

Last edited by paterson1 (February 11, 2022 12:32 pm)

eladb wrote:

paterson1 wrote:

Well mace this is a radio forum, so it makes sense that we would be talking and speculating about the changes.  Makes no difference if most or all on here didn't listen to 93.5.  Almost all have heard of the station and a good number have tuned in at some point over the years.  I have, and FLOW for what they were doing was not a bad station at all.  They just messed around with the format too much over the years, had various ownership and on air changes, and Stingray doesn't want to give them any more time.  The new sound, whatever it ends up being should draw more listeners and compliment BOOM from a sales point of view. 

I agree with this. Have I listened to Flow a lot? No (I did enjoy their stint as MOVE when they played more pop tunes and probably listened more back then). But as a fan of radio in general, these things interest me.
 

When the change comes I do wonder if Toronto's other news media will give this any coverage. And if they do will it be from a business or cultural point of view.   Years ago it was a big deal if a radio station changed format.  Often CBC and or CFTO would even have a news report.  However over the past 15 years or so local radio coverage in Toronto newspapers and TV has been more or less non existent.

This doesn't mean that the readers of the Star or Sun or TV viewers aren't interested, but rather it does reflect on the other media, cutbacks and their priorities.  Maybe it is just that they don't want to promote the competition!

When I was in the newspaper business, we always had complaints within the company as to why we have an article and list the local radio ratings twice per year. I always thought this attitude was stupid and kind of paranoid. Readers likely found the articles interesting. Also it was great for a newspaper sales rep. since our daily readership stacked up very well compared to the local radio listener numbers.

It is worth noting however that much smaller markets like Buffalo give a lot of coverage to local radio and television in the Buffalo News. They even include local TV and radio ratings.  Toronto used to do this as well but no more.  Even here in Kitchener the Record has sporadic articles on local media and personalities. 

mace wrote:

I find it interesting that there are now two pages of discussion of a format change involving a radio station that most GTA residents don't listen to and possibly have never heard of. I understand the interest here because the majority of the comments are from people currently employed in the radio industry, retired from the radio industry or are just radio geeks like me. The only radio format changes that the general public was cognizant of were CHUM in 1986, and CFTR in 1993. Possibly the end of Country on CFGM and CISS as well. Not a criticism, simply a personal observation.

FLOW had a higher CUME than CBC One in the last book.
 

Well it's official, tomorrow 93.5 will be known as Today Radio!
The format will be broad based and something new in the Toronto market, playing everything from Country to Urban, essentially a millenial version of the "Jack" format.  A sampling of the artists which will be played include Dixie Chicks, Post Malone, Kylie Minogue, Bryan Adams, Drake, Arkells, Justin Bieber, Our Lady Peace, Ed Sheeran and Linkin Park.

And the jock lineup is now out!  As per https://935todayradio.com/hosts/
We have Paul Harper (from Boom 97.3) & Nikki Balch (previously at Beat 92.5 Montreal) in the morning.
Tyler Barr for middays (coming from Virgin 95.9 Montreal)
and afternoon drive with Paul McGuire (circa CMT) & Vanessa Newman (VT from Z95.3 Vancouver).


Station will be ran by Steve Parsons as GM, Crosby McWilliam as PD and John Downey for Promotions.

Last edited by PwrSurge (February 14, 2022 3:10 pm)

RadioAaron wrote:

No, Radio one. They're basically tied in central cume. 1.7m to 1.6m for CBC in the fall, 2.0 to 1.9m for Flow the book before. 

Or, for the most discussed station here:
Flow: 1.9M
CFRB: 0.8M
 

Is this A12+? I don't doubt your source, but how could that be when the publicly available numbers state CBLA is in the lead by a 300% margin?

torontostan wrote:

RadioAaron wrote:

No, Radio one. They're basically tied in central cume. 1.7m to 1.6m for CBC in the fall, 2.0 to 1.9m for Flow the book before. 

Or, for the most discussed station here:
Flow: 1.9M
CFRB: 0.8M
 

Is this A12+? I don't doubt your source, but how could that be when the publicly available numbers state CBLA is in the lead by a 300% margin?

CBLA has that lead with Share, which takes into account time spent listening. CBLA listeners listen all day, while FLOW was listened to in frequent short bursts. Same number of people though.
 

It's now official...at midnight, the station identified itself as 93.5 Today Radio. Website and all the social media accounts appear to be up and running too.

brian451 wrote:

The concept behind 93.5 Today Radio has already proven extremely popular elsewhere, with similar stations launching in Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg. In both Alberta cities, the format is consistently among the top-ranked in the market.

The Variety Hits/Adult Hits Jack/Bob format is very popular out west too. Failed in Toronto, NYC, Chicago... 
 

This is a bit different than Jack as it seems they will place an emphasis on listener interaction. Jack was focused on the music and, when Rogers tried it on 92.5 in Toronto, didn't they go jockless for a while before hiring hosts right before they switched the format back to Kiss?

My point was, a format that might work in one market or region, will not automatically work in Toronto. These pressers are all put together in 5 minutes and it shows.

RadioActive wrote:

I'm trying to remember the last time there was a situation in Toronto radio where there was not only a format switch, but a frequency change, as well. The closest I can recall came on Feb. 6, 1995 when Telemedia-owned The Fan 1430 moved to become Rogers' The Fan 590, leaving canned country playing on the old dial position. 

The following year, Telemedia sold the station to Fairchild, which turned it into CHKT, the all-Chinese station, which it remains to this day. 

But this one is slightly different in that it's FM and the old owners aren't looking to dump 93.5 and instead will immediately be putting a new format on the frequency in only a few days.

This just doesn't happen very often and it's a unique moment in this city's radio history. 

It's not *really* a frequency shift though but the transfer of a brand. The station itself isn't moving and the new FLOW is retaining its staff. Has that ever happened before? 
 

Last edited by Hansa (February 14, 2022 10:19 am)

Radiowiz wrote:

Buffalo NY still has a throwback station. Vibe 98.9. 
I believe it's working for them there, but they also don't have to worry about 35-40% Can Con.

98.9 the Vibe is a satellite-delivered format(which is also on a co-owned daytime-only AM, WBBF/1120)....and if you go down to Erie, PA. it's on the HD2 channel of WXKC/99.9(Classy 100)AND on the 104.3 translator(as 104.3 the Vibe).

djwildbill wrote:

I’ve got to say I like the idea of what Today Radio is all about. Playing a very wide variety of music (hey, don’t most of us like a variety of genres) along with putting listeners on-air to talk about various things. Hey, I hope the format works for 93.5.

Interesting. I had the exact opposite reaction. When it comes to formats, I'm a purist. I learned a long time ago that whenever you turn on a radio station, you should get exactly what you expect. So CFRB should not be playing opera. CHUM-FM should not be featuring classic country. And Jazz FM should not be spinning music by Gwar. 

Today FM, from my short exposure to it, does not sound like the kind of radio I would listen to for long. True, their music choices don't exactly thrill me, but I'm way out of the demo. And I don't often seek out music OTA anymore on the occasions when I'm in the mood. 

That said, the few times I turn on say, AM740 to hear oldies, I'm disappointed if they're doing a talk show. That's not what I want from them or how they've positioned themselves. Stick to what the audience expects. 

Similarly, if I'm listening to TodayFM, and I'm expecting their music mix, I really don't want to hear a 5-minute segment on what someone gave their wife for Valentine's Day. Play the music or do the talk. But I don't think you can do both and satisfy anyone. 

It's a unique concept, I'll give them that. They also promise "55 minutes of music" every hour. Which may explain why when I turned them on at around 12:50 PM, I heard one commercial after another after another after another. It must have been a five or six minute stop set. I actually said out loud after about the 6th spot aired, "Another Commerical!" How does a brand new station that has just lost its former audience and has yet to really attract a new one sell all that air time? I find that baffling, given the audience is bound to be tiny, especially at first. 

Based on Boom, I think Stingray is a pretty sharp organization that runs a good ship. I'm just not sure if this isn't The Titanic they've launched on Monday. Still, it's terribly unfair to judge them on day one or week one. Six months might be a good time to give it another assessment.

I wish them well, hope it works for them and that Today has a tomorrow. But I'll probably be listening to a station where what I expect is what I'll get when I tune them in. And this isn't it.  

My two cents, which is probably a lot more than it's worth!

I am confident this station will go good for Toronto because this format works well in the three markets already that have a variation of this station. I know many people in Edmonton that listen to Now radio (same format and first like it in Canada) just to hear what may come up next. On that station I have heard Garth Brooks, Frank Sinatra and Metallica all in the same hour. I will say however this is a station that will attract many younger listeners because of the presence they will have across social media platforms and the interaction they will have with listeners.