Although interesting, it's about what can pull an audience that is sellable.   Sadly Roundhouse is a bad example because it was drove to bankruptcy.     CBC who doesn't answer to advertisers or a College station/public radio typically can do these things.    I'm not against trying new things, but this would need to be researched before just "trying it" to see if there is even a market for it.     Roundhouse had more than signal issues.   I don't know if it would be a huge money maker with the best signal in the market.   Very small audience numbers who are listening to linear radio, wanting that product.    The audience pie just isn't large enough when you get that hyper focused on commercial stations.    

Last edited by radiokid (January 10, 2023 3:29 pm)

A similar format of intelligent talk with great personalities mixed with some contemporary music programs was tried
in the late 70s on the former CKFH with its name changed to Metro 1430. It had some great people like Andy Barrie,
Daniiel Richler and John Donabie.  I enjojed this station very much while it lasted, but unfortunately with a spotty signal it could not compete with CFRB, CHUM & CFTR. It lasted only for a short time. Would it have succeeded on
a more powerful outlet with heavier marketing?  Not on commercial radio....maybe community radio.  It didn't work
45 years ago and I can't see it working on today's airwaves.

OK, now look what you started! Here's a number of ads from the old "Metro 1430."

Dave Patrick was the morning man after Jim Brady left. He came from a radio career in Montreal.



The great Mr. Donabie was on in afternoon drive.



Talkshow Toronto aired at noon and was hosted by the late Bev Bowman, who came over from CFTR.



Former newspaper columnist and award winning columnist Earl McRae went on against a similar show on CKEY.




Weather Command featured forecasts from another ex-TR newsman, John Wilson. 



Weekends:







And of course, the only thing that actually made the place any money:

 

brian451 wrote:

So there are a lot of mixed thoughts on QR77 now also being broadcast on FM in Calgary. Although I do understand that it’s easier to produce content for the podcast, YouTube, and social media channels when there is no licensing for music. But I think there is a void that could be filled that could make for an interesting format.
How many people here remember the short-lived Roundhouse radio in Vancouver? The main reason it failed was the signal was terrible so it was hard to gain advertising dollars on a weak signal. But the format itself was quite good. It was a hybrid format. Talk and music. It was almost CBC radio-like but not CBC radio. Local hosts. Lots of specialty talk programs for different types of subjects and at certain times of the day and overnight was music. The overnights had an on-air host but were voice tracked. But the show itself was entertaining and they played a lot of unique music. It was similar to co-op radio in Vancouver. I truly think this format would work for many markets and on a good FM signal that can be heard for a long distance the station could easily get great advertisers and have lots of support.
Yes roundhouse did repeat some programming but not to the extent of some stations out there now. They used music to avoid lots of repeat programming.
What do people think about that and do you think it would be a good station idea for FM?

In light of the above questions, this seems especially timely. Pat Holiday is a radio veteran with an amazing history, including PD of CKLW in its rock days. He takes a while to get into this, but this piece is about the frustration of launching what appears to be a can't-miss new radio format - "Quick Hits," promising 24 songs an hour by playing carefully edited versions of current records - and the incredible problems that followed what seemed like a "sure thing."

Twenty four songs per hour on a radio station is an attempt at "Spotification." Radio can't compete with Spotify so why edit or speed up songs and try to jam in more selections?  So glad that artists or the record companies stepped in and Quick Hits ended.  Besides the average song today is already 3 minutes or less.

Songs like Blinded By The Light or Don't Fear the Reaper were radio edits released by the label and the artists. That's a bit different than letting a radio station do their thing to a song. 

The fact that the PPM showed an increase for AMP Radio over two weeks, who cares?   Interesting that the focus groups for Quick Hits didn't notice anything different in the songs or that they were edited.  And these are the people telling you what music to play on your station???  Yeah, these folks are really into the music.  

 

RadioAaron wrote:

It wasn't meant for people who are really into music.

People with short attention spans?

RadioAaron wrote:

paterson1 wrote:

RadioAaron wrote:

It wasn't meant for people who are really into music.

People with short attention spans?

Sure? That's always been pop music and pop music radio.

Quick Hits will likely be a format at some point for some stations, or maybe already is.  But to program a music station that chops songs, geared for people with short attention spans that supposedly aren't into music, sounds like a desperation move.  This won't have legs as a format and only a temporary fix.

The PD from Stingray seems like a good guy.  However I think he is wrong in believing that AMP is still benefitting years later from the two week experiment that had their PPM's growing.  It was more the media coverage from record labels and artists complaining about the station that made a difference.

This was likely the only press or publicity that AMP ever had and it increased  awareness of the station, even with somewhat negative coverage.  According to the PD, AMP has stronger more consistent ratings now and they aren't chopping songs.   Maybe Stingray should advertise more in Calgary, that would help too.