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July 18, 2022 11:46 am  #1


Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

Durham Radio which owns stations around the Golden Horseshoe has opened a new radio operation in Vancouver with Wave 98.3.  The station bills itself as Vancouver's Coolest Vibe. More details from Broadcast Dialogue...https://broadcastdialogue.com/durham-radio-launches-wave-98-3-in-vancouver/ 

 

July 18, 2022 7:06 pm  #2


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

Roundhouse did something interesting when it launched, which was to (initially) stay out of the ratings and sell on quality and to those who believed in the product. Wave 98.3 should probably do the same.

 

July 18, 2022 8:11 pm  #3


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

I still maintain that Roundhouse Radio would have worked if it was on AM. Talk does not belong on FM in Canada. 

 

July 18, 2022 8:15 pm  #4


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

There used to be a store in Oshawa called Durham Radio. Sold Ham Radio gear. I bought from them a couple of times. Is it still around


I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
 

July 18, 2022 8:25 pm  #5


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

turkeytop wrote:

There used to be a store in Oshawa called Durham Radio. Sold Ham Radio gear. I bought from them a couple of times. Is it still around

Sadly, no. They wound down a few years back. Now I have to drive to Radioworld (an OK shop, but located at Buttfuck Nowhere in Toronto) if I need radio stuff.

Edit - Durham Radio was in Twitby.

Last edited by Chrisphen (July 18, 2022 8:27 pm)

 

July 18, 2022 8:46 pm  #6


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

Chrisphen wrote:

turkeytop wrote:

There used to be a store in Oshawa called Durham Radio. Sold Ham Radio gear. I bought from them a couple of times. Is it still around

Sadly, no. They wound down a few years back. Now I have to drive to Radioworld (an OK shop, but located at Buttfuck Nowhere in Toronto) if I need radio stuff.

Edit - Durham Radio was in Twitby.

Is that a suburb of Twitter?  🤔...😂

 

July 18, 2022 8:51 pm  #7


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

Dan Sys wrote:

I still maintain that Roundhouse Radio would have worked if it was on AM. Talk does not belong on FM in Canada. 

FM talk has been quite successful in Canada. CBC Radio went from an also-ran to a top performer in many markets when they made the switch. Not to mention Canada's most listened to station, 98.5 Montreal.

 

July 18, 2022 9:56 pm  #8


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

Dan Sys wrote:

I still maintain that Roundhouse Radio would have worked if it was on AM. Talk does not belong on FM in Canada. 

 
Hard disagree. CBC is a talk station on FM and leads the market. The future of talk radio is FM. It wasn’t the fact that it was on FM that killed Roundhouse. A subpar signal was part of it.

 

July 18, 2022 10:39 pm  #9


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

The name sure didn't help.  Keep it simple stupid.  Talk 98.3 might have worked except it might have created confusion with CKNW which has been known as NW 98 and News Talk 980 at different times during its history.

This new station puzzles me right out of the gate.  The Weekend isn't smooth jazz and he is mentioned as a core artist in the press release, along with Motown.  Huh?

Last edited by Tomas Barlow (July 18, 2022 10:41 pm)

 

July 18, 2022 11:19 pm  #10


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

Guess I should have said "listener participation" commercial Talk radio doesn't belong on FM. Big difference between that and a News-Talk format. FM Talk might be working in parts of Quebec, but I really can't see it being successful in any other major Canadian market anytime in the near future.

 

July 19, 2022 12:00 am  #11


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

I agree RadioAaron as this station with its limited signal will probably barely register in the radio ratings, unless it get's a signal on Mt. Seymour.

 

July 19, 2022 12:05 am  #12


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

Dan Sys wrote:

Guess I should have said "listener participation" commercial Talk radio doesn't belong on FM. Big difference between that and a News-Talk format. FM Talk might be working in parts of Quebec, but I really can't see it being successful in any other major Canadian market anytime in the near future.

I like to think if one is doing talk radio, who cares if it's mono or stereo?  Therefore, if an FM station is going to go with talk, then maybe also turn off the stereo signal and go as mono as possible to maximize the strength of the signal.

Talk radio in Canada should also restrict it's FM options to signals that were already weak anyway. (stronger as a mono FM)
Assuming that doing so won't interfere with other FM signals out there in the process.




 


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

July 19, 2022 11:20 am  #13


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

CHKX 94.7 HD2 Hamilton and CJKX 95.9 Oshawa HD2 have switched over to CIWV 98.3 Vancouver.
Tara Jean Stevens (ex Rogers KISS FM Vancouver) does morning drive.   (mid-morning Toronto time).  And there is local Vancouver news as well.  Quite a departure from the former WAVE.FM, but to my knowledge the first HD2 or HD3 from out of market available in Toronto.  Several of the local Toronto/Hamilton WAVE.fm personalities will be heard on CIWV 98.3 Vancouver.  
 

 

July 19, 2022 11:27 am  #14


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

That is a very interesting development. I wonder if other stations would consider importing out of town signals that they own? I would love to hear, say, CFRA as an HD offering in Toronto, right beside CFRB's HD signal. Not sure if Bell would consider it worth the trouble, but it would be cheaper than streaming it and using up data. 

Although come to think of it, I'm sure Bell would much prefer that.

 

July 19, 2022 7:08 pm  #15


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

Dan Sys wrote:

Guess I should have said "listener participation" commercial Talk radio doesn't belong on FM. Big difference between that and a News-Talk format. FM Talk might be working in parts of Quebec, but I really can't see it being successful in any other major Canadian market anytime in the near future.

Genuinely curious, why? Why would listeners not prefer an easier to receive (especially in big cities) signal? 

I mean, it's not going to be successful because the format is almost dead - not because of what band it's on.

 

July 19, 2022 7:10 pm  #16


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

Tomas Barlow wrote:

This new station puzzles me right out of the gate.  The Weekend isn't smooth jazz and he is mentioned as a core artist in the press release, along with Motown.  Huh?

The station itself doesn't call the format Smooth Jazz.

 

July 19, 2022 7:16 pm  #17


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

dsgraham wrote:

I agree RadioAaron as this station with its limited signal will probably barely register in the radio ratings, unless it get's a signal on Mt. Seymour.

Even then, they're mostly playing music that isn't well known or liked. PPM killed it even in cities like Chicago and Detroit -- it sure as heck isn't going to work in Vancouver.

 

July 19, 2022 8:12 pm  #18


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

It will be a 0.6 share

 

July 19, 2022 8:15 pm  #19


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

UnSub wrote:

It will be a 0.6 share

I wouldn't bet against you on that.

What may help is that Vancouver is the worst market for younger listenership and ratings participation, so older-focused stations dominate the 12+ numbers. They may show signs of life there.

Last edited by RadioAaron (July 19, 2022 8:22 pm)

 

July 19, 2022 9:49 pm  #20


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

UnSub wrote:

It will be a 0.6 share

I agree.  It takes some serious guts or a giant ego to take a format that failed miserably in a medium market and try it in a major market.

 

July 20, 2022 9:32 am  #21


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

Tomas Barlow wrote:

UnSub wrote:

It will be a 0.6 share

I agree.  It takes some serious guts or a giant ego to take a format that failed miserably in a medium market and try it in a major market.

If the Medium Market you are mentioning was Hamilton, it was simply the wrong format for a blue collar city like Hamilton.   Most of their listenership was in Toronto, and 94.7 wasn't and still isn't strong into the core.    I think it would have actually done well had it been on a Toronto Station, when Smooth Jazz was a huge thing.   Their HD2 audience who can get "wave" are dedicated.    Sadly now, I'm not sure as a stand alone station it will be a huge numbers grabber.     It will be hard.   Time will tell.    Some listeners in Vancouver could find it refreshing with multi-rock stations, multi-pop, multi-news and news talk. There really isn't much variety.  Wave being different,  could work for the adult audience that doesn't like the current offerings. 

Last edited by radiokid (July 20, 2022 9:32 am)

 

July 20, 2022 9:41 am  #22


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

I'm retired working class living in London ON and would love to have a smooth jazz station here. But London is hopelessly middle class, so it woill never happen. They're all chasing the same middle class audience.


I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.
 

July 20, 2022 10:28 am  #23


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

radiokid wrote:

Tomas Barlow wrote:

UnSub wrote:

It will be a 0.6 share

I agree.  It takes some serious guts or a giant ego to take a format that failed miserably in a medium market and try it in a major market.

If the Medium Market you are mentioning was Hamilton, it was simply the wrong format for a blue collar city like Hamilton.   Most of their listenership was in Toronto, and 94.7 wasn't and still isn't strong into the core.    I think it would have actually done well had it been on a Toronto Station, when Smooth Jazz was a huge thing.   Their HD2 audience who can get "wave" are dedicated.    Sadly now, I'm not sure as a stand alone station it will be a huge numbers grabber.     It will be hard.   Time will tell.    Some listeners in Vancouver could find it refreshing with multi-rock stations, multi-pop, multi-news and news talk. There really isn't much variety.  Wave being different,  could work for the adult audience that doesn't like the current offerings. 

Not sure I agree that Vancouver hasn't much variety, it seems to have more than Toronto.  They have a strong country station that is number one in the morning and most of the day, an all traffic radio station, all religion, all business radio, two alternative stations, CBC Music has solid ratings with it's AAA format, and now Wave 98.3 into the mix. This is in addition to all of the usual corporate stuff from Bell, Rogers, and Stingray, sports, talk and CBC Radio 1.  If anything Toronto should be envious of the variety in Vancouver.  

     Thread Starter
 

July 20, 2022 8:23 pm  #24


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

In my opinion the best Jazz station in the country is Jazz FM Toronto, they are a 1.6 share, so I think that's the best any jazz station will do anywhere. Since the station in Vancouver is nowhere near as good as Jazz FM we have to assume it will have something less than 1.6, so I took a guess, could be a 0.4 or a 0.8 but at that point it doesn't really matter anymore, whatever it is, they will do nothing but lose money. The good news for them is that they can't do any worse than Roundhouse Radio which was a 0.0.

 

July 20, 2022 8:25 pm  #25


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

radiokid wrote:

I think it would have actually done well had it been on a Toronto Station, when Smooth Jazz was a huge thing.

It was never a huge thing. It was a niche that had a couple moderate success stories, so naturally a bunch of US clusters with too many stations tried it out on a failing signal they otherwise didn't know what to do with. It didn't sell out arenas or move many CDs.

Also, where it did garner ratings, the audience was largely African-American, another non-starter for Vancouver.

 

July 20, 2022 8:26 pm  #26


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

UnSub wrote:

In my opinion the best Jazz station in the country is Jazz FM Toronto

It's also the only one.

 

July 20, 2022 9:39 pm  #27


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

RadioAaron wrote:

UnSub wrote:

In my opinion the best Jazz station in the country is Jazz FM Toronto

It's also the only one.

Got me there, I wasn't aware of any others but wasn't sure. In any event, the key difference is that the Wave is a radio station that plays mostly Jazz. Jazz FM is a group of Jazz enthusiasts who happen to have a radio station. The other thing with the Wave is that the stream sounded quite crappy. Music and imaging was ok but the mics were overmodulated and distorted. Not sure if the same problem exists with the FM signal. Perhaps they are still working out the bugs but it did sound pretty bad. If I was Geoff Poulton I'd fire somebody if my stream sounded like that.
 

Last edited by UnSub (July 21, 2022 2:33 pm)

 

September 6, 2022 11:41 am  #28


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

There was some discussion here, as you can see above, about the exact format of this new B.C. station. If the linked article is any indication, it appears they've chosen "all things to all people," which is a pretty big gamble in these days of narrowcasting to a particular audience. 

"Featuring a diverse mix of smooth tunes, funky instrumentals, classic Motown and R&B, as well as hits from some of today’s biggest artists, Wave 98.3 provides music everyone can enjoy."

“There is a substantial amount of vocals, some classic Motown and R&B, as well as current vocals. We’re playing Elton John and Dua Lipa, for example, and The Weeknd,” Doug [Kirk of Durham Radio] continues.

 “We’re playing those, as well as mixed into that, a different vibe with contemporary instrumental. Anybody can listen to it. You could be 20, or you could be 75. It doesn’t matter. Our target is whoever likes it, can listen to it.” 


But will those who want just the Motown stuff listen to the "funky instrumentals?" The ratings for the newcomer will tell quite a tale. 

New local radio station is ‘Vancouver’s coolest vibe’

 

September 6, 2022 12:31 pm  #29


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

RadioActive wrote:

But will those who want just the Motown stuff listen to the "funky instrumentals?" The ratings for the newcomer will tell quite a tale. 

They are not (yet?) participating.

 

September 6, 2022 11:06 pm  #30


Re: Durham Radio Opens New Station In Vancouver

New local radio station is ‘Vancouver’s coolest vibe’

>> “We’re bringing something new and exciting to the Vancouver radio market with a lot of artists that should be well known but aren’t because they don’t get any airplay anywhere else,” says Mary.

The station is committed to playing 50% music that is new to people, as well as 40% music from Canadian artists, “which is quite high,” Mary explains.

“It’s not music that you would see on billboard charts. It’s music that is more under the radar” <<

Sounds like too much unfamiliar music. The opposite gets an audience.