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January 2, 2023 8:48 am  #1


Was This The Dumbest Segment In Toronto Radio History?

I've heard just about everything on the radio over the years, but this was a new low point, even for me. Because most of the stations I listen to remain on hiatus during the holiday, running non-stop rerolls, I was looking for something else to monitor while I was taking my dog for his early morning walk. 

It was then that I stumbled onto CBC Radio 1, which was live and local. But I couldn't believe what they were talking about. I tuned in to hear a woman who identified herself as being from South Korea talk about her green scarf. And she went on and on and on about it for more than a minute. I thought to myself "what in the world are they doing?"

And then her monologue, part of a much longer segment, ended, and the host came on to inform listeners about the reporter who hit the streets of the downtown core to ask people this vital question: "What's your favourite scarf?" 

I have to admit I did a double take. What's your favourite scarf? Really? That's an entire segment of a morning show? And you actually sent a reporter out to ask people that question? I don't think I even own one, let alone have a fave. 

It's not the end of the world, admittedly, and I know it's a slow time of year but that has to be the most insipid if not the dumbest MOS ("man-on-the-street") segment I think I've ever heard. What a colossal waste of airtime. It wasn't amusing or cute. It was just dumb. And I can't help but wonder why they did it. I don't listen to Radio 1 very often. Stuff like this isn't encouraging me to come back anytime soon. 

 

January 2, 2023 11:33 am  #2


Re: Was This The Dumbest Segment In Toronto Radio History?

The dumbest segment in Toronto radio was recently when an announcer at Virgin Radio was commenting on the great concert at Rogers Centre by The Weeknd.  This was the concert that was cancelled the day before because of the Rogers outage last summer. The cancellation was all over the news.  The pre recorded segment was glowing about what a great show it was last night.  Nobody at Virgin was clued in enough  to make the change or delete the break.  This isn't a hard thing to do. 

 

 

January 2, 2023 12:06 pm  #3


Re: Was This The Dumbest Segment In Toronto Radio History?

Actually, one of the dumbest things ever said on local radio happened on an AM 640 year-ender in 2018. Farah Nasser was talking about the opioid crisis and said (this is a direct quote):

"People go to sleep thinking that they're totally fine, maybe that they're drunk or they're high, and then they wake up and they're not alive anymore."

Yep, I'd hate to wake up to that!

You can hear that infamous clip here

     Thread Starter
 

January 2, 2023 1:01 pm  #4


Re: Was This The Dumbest Segment In Toronto Radio History?

CBC I fail to understand.
Commercial radio makes more sense.
At least AM 640 or NT 1010 could get away with it...someone could brag on and on about how much they LOVE their Hudson's Bay scarf, mentioning a sale price and location where the sale is taking place...great infomercial radio...ask others about their scarf...make it seem as basic as possible, then go to the person with the amazing wonderful Hudson's Bay Scarf...
 


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

 
 

January 2, 2023 3:21 pm  #5


Re: Was This The Dumbest Segment In Toronto Radio History?

I recall during the most recent summer Olympics an NPR reporter commented on an athlete’s performance. She said: “The crowd roared in the mostly empty arena.” It was more amusing than dumb, just speaking without thinking.

 

January 2, 2023 6:49 pm  #6


Re: Was This The Dumbest Segment In Toronto Radio History?

Radiowiz wrote:

CBC I fail to understand.
Commercial radio makes more sense.
At least AM 640 or NT 1010 could get away with it...someone could brag on and on about how much they LOVE their Hudson's Bay scarf, mentioning a sale price and location where the sale is taking place...great infomercial radio...ask others about their scarf...make it seem as basic as possible, then go to the person with the amazing wonderful Hudson's Bay Scarf...
 

The awful power of buzz-marketing: how to take a trite and cruddy segment and make it logarithmically worse.
 

 

January 3, 2023 10:59 am  #7


Re: Was This The Dumbest Segment In Toronto Radio History?

At least they have reporters doing hits from the street, most talk radio across Canada do not have that luxury.