The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Why AM 640 Is More Than Yesterday’s News

RadioActive · December 27, 2016 10:49 am

What is going on at AM 640? Or maybe the question should be what isn’t going on at AM 640?

I can understand why they might air their traditional old time radio shows starting Christmas Eve and continuing on December 25th.

I can see the reasons they might take Boxing Day off.

But here it is December 27th. So why is AM 640 STILL in reroll mode? It essentially means there’s been no new original talk on a station that’s ostensibly about current events for four long days. That’s just absurd.

And it’s not just that they’re into generic reruns, topics that hold up well. This morning, I turned on their AM drive team and heard them in a spirited discussion of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s much criticized reaction to the death of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. That story dates all the way back to November 26th – more than a month ago! And they’re airing it again.

I’m not blaming the staff. They have a right to some time off. But I can’t believe there aren’t fill-ins – like Lorne Honickman or even Ryan Bonner - who could at least keep the place on life support now that the bulk of the holiday dead time is done. It could be that because Xmas fell on a Sunday this year, followed by Boxing Day Monday, they’re taking the day off in lieu.

That might work at a bank or a government office. It might even be excusable at an all music format. But to take four days off when you’re supposedly dealing with news and then air programming that’s over a month old, makes me seriously question who’s running that place. CFRB, meanwhile, has live shows with substitute hosts on all day long. Even CHFI is out of Christmas mode. And a small market like CKTB in St. Catharines has had at least a live morning show both days.

Why does it matter? I’m suggesting that there are a lot of people who may not be working this week. Some are waiting in long traffic jams to get into malls. Others are visiting family and friends. I’m betting nearly all of them have their radios on in that car. Many may be discovering 640 for the first time. And you know what they say about first impressions.

I like 640 a lot of the time and I think some of their people – like Mike Stafford – are very entertaining. But if station management wants to know why they’re constantly mired at a 2.0 rating, take a look at what they’re doing this week. The answer is like yesterday’s – or in this case – last month’s – news. When it’s out of date, you move on to someone who isn’t.

So Happy New Year to the folks running Corus’ Toronto talker. And by that, I mean Happy New Year 2015. Maybe they’ll catch up to the rest of the world someday soon.

But by then, most of us will have tuned out.

ToRon · December 27, 2016 12:36 pm

As just a listener I find it embarrassing. This is the message sent out this morning. I hear people complain that cable companies outsource to india yet nobody complains when the radio stations do it for their news.

RadioActive · December 27, 2016 12:38 pm

Worse yet, they misspelled BOTH of the fire victims' surnames. It's "Taber" not "Tabler," and "Gardner" not "Garder."

And it's "Taunton" Rd. with an "o", not "Taunten" with an e.

And McCraken's Landing has an apostrophe in it.

But at least they got the 640 right!

Sheesh.

Last edited by RadioActive (December 27, 2016 12:43 pm)

ig · December 27, 2016 12:43 pm

I'm going to leave it up, but I'd take this with a grain of salt. I'm trying to confirm if this is real or someone photoshopped their mailout. I can't believe this would make it out, but using dead people's names to make a joke is low. I can only seem to get their 'mobile' site via the web so maybe something was hacked. This just can't be real. Idenfified ????

Last edited by ig (December 27, 2016 12:58 pm)

RadioActive · December 27, 2016 12:47 pm

I'm not making fun of such a terrible tragedy. But if this is the real McCoy, then in the spirit of the season, I can only say "oy vey!" They have to take some care to at least get close to accuracy. This stuff matters.

It could be real, but I have no idea. Typos are a hazard of any print item, especially if it's being done very early in the morning (i.e. before 6 AM) and especially if it's turned over to some junior staffer to put it out on a holiday week.

Proofreading is becoming a lost art. I admit to being a terrible two finger typist, but over the years, I've become a pretty good corrector! But if this IS the real thing, it's pretty awful.

Last edited by RadioActive (December 27, 2016 12:49 pm)

ig · December 27, 2016 12:49 pm

Ron just sent me the e-mail he got with headers, and it sure looks legit. As he said, it's not like he'd know how to use Photoshop anyway . To be honest, I was hoping that this was somehow fake. I still am.

I was going to point out that, on the good side, at least they aren't copying and pasting from a CP Feed. But then I thought about that again.. never mind. .

December 27, 2016 12:54 pm

wall-to-wall Christmas wasn't so bad after all

cGrant · December 27, 2016 1:39 pm

With all due respect, what did you expect from 640? They're just doing what they've always done. So they'll get the same ratings as they've always got.

That must satisfy management. When they shuffled the schedule, they shuffled the deck chairs on that Titanic.

mic'em · December 27, 2016 2:02 pm

All you guys that whine so much about 640, is is that they either didn't hire you at some point or let you go at some point ? Are you just simply jealous ? Who the F really cares what they do. If I don't like what is being broadcast, I turn the dial. Seems to work for me and I don't have to post on Sowny about it. You guys have too much time on your hands.

ig · December 27, 2016 2:07 pm

mic'em wrote:
If I don't like what is being broadcast, I turn the dial. Seems to work for me and I don't have to post on Sowny about it.

I think you just perfectly defined irony.

Radiowiz · December 27, 2016 2:39 pm

mic'em wrote:
All you guys that whine so much about 640, is is that they either didn't hire you at some point or let you go at some point ? Are you just simply jealous ? Who the F really cares what they do. If I don't like what is being broadcast, I turn the dial. Seems to work for me and I don't have to post on Sowny about it. You guys have too much time on your hands.

Changing the dial changes nothing. Look at the numbers for 1050 and 1150. I don't tune into that, but it's still there!
AM 640 is absolute garbage. I tune out, but it's still there. Why? Maybe it's a tax write off for the company or something.
Disco 6 4 OH would do a lot better for them than talk radio currently does.

December 27, 2016 2:48 pm

In the early days of SOWNY the dominant topic was "what has happened to 1050 CHUM? Why is Waters Jr. considering all-sports-all-the-time? How could they do this to us? We were faithful to 1050 CHUM for decades and now our loved one dares to commit suicide before our very eyes!

In other words, there has been a long-time emotional attachment. Same with Toronto 640?

December 27, 2016 6:30 pm

A more recent devoted listener emotional attachment was 2003's Erin Davis/Bob Magee debacle

Last edited by geo (December 27, 2016 6:44 pm)

mic'em · December 27, 2016 8:03 pm

The point is, unless these fellows have money invested into Corus , I repeat who the F cares what anyone at any broadcast outlet does. They will continue to make their own decisions and live or die with the outcome. Personally , I came to the conclusion along time ago, radio will never again be what it was in the days of my youth. I have accepted it and moved on. I have always doubted since 640 began it's current talk format, how accurate the ratings really are. Sure, there are the regular callers but as someone who hears alot of the broadcast day on a regular basis , there are new callers heard at times . I believe there is a larger audience outside the GTA unaccounted for due to the range of their signal. I find the line up on 640 good company as I drive and if they make a mistake here and there, it doesn't faze me. Staffords show to me, is a team effort and the best talk on free radio in this area, bar none. I don;t care if they have a fluff topic on, as stated before , I can turn the dial. I use to pay for XM but got tired of basically the same stuff every day. Stern is best at live interviews but the rest of his show suffers after awhile. Shock talk just gets boring and why pay for music when I can play a cd I already paid for. My two cents. Happy 2017.

Last edited by mic'em (December 27, 2016 8:04 pm)

splunge · December 27, 2016 9:54 pm

Corus is a joke. and I'm not talking about their brilliant "Peggy" strategy in Winnipeg, or their market changing attempt at rebranding the Barrie station to a repeater of Q107. They have a long history...going back to the early 90s.... of messing with formats in order to make them more investor friendly. What happens (or doesn't) on AM640 really doesn't surprise me, given Corus' track record.

Sunny · December 27, 2016 11:44 pm

ig wrote:
mic'em wrote:
If I don't like what is being broadcast, I turn the dial. Seems to work for me and I don't have to post on Sowny about it.
I think you just perfectly defined irony.

=12pxDoes anyone remember what adma used to say to posters who chided his observations? I always thought it was a succinct yet brilliant response. Something about atrophy?

December 28, 2016 1:45 am

ig wrote:
but using dead people's names to make a joke is low.

What's the joke? Am I missing something?

Dale Patterson · December 28, 2016 4:36 am

Sunny wrote:
ig wrote:
mic'em wrote:
If I don't like what is being broadcast, I turn the dial. Seems to work for me and I don't have to post on Sowny about it.
I think you just perfectly defined irony.

=12pxDoes anyone remember what adma used to say to posters who chided his observations? I always thought it was a succinct yet brilliant response. Something about atrophy?

Nothing Adma ever wrote was succinct. I think he got paid by the word .

ig · December 28, 2016 9:00 am

No joke, I was concerned someone was playing fast and loose with Photoshop on the 640 update, and, had that been the case using dead people for the lark was tasteless. But it turns out this was legitimately sent out by the 640 newsroom.

Prod Guy wrote:
ig wrote:
but using dead people's names to make a joke is low.
What's the joke? Am I missing something?

RadioActive · December 28, 2016 12:09 pm

It's even worse than you think.They had Honickman in live for the morning run, but it ended there. I was listening long enough to try and determine if Stafford was new or not and heard him read a text wishing him a Happy Thanksgiving. That puts the date of the broadcast somewhere in October! With January approaching, that makes this rerun almost three months old.

You can get away with that if you're repeating the Big Bang Theory. Not so much for a station that's supposed to discuss CURRENT events. I guess the new 640 format is Oldies, with the only thing missing being music. (It won't surprise me if tomorrow's Stafford show starts with the announcement of shots being fired in Dallas and President Kennedy's car reportedly being hit, with further details to come as they happen.)

Even CKTB had live hosts on Wednesday.

I complain a lot about 640, but not because I hate it. I actually like the station and want to see them succeed so they'll have a reason to maintain the format. But they keep shooting themselves in the foot and the listeners in the ear with five days (so far and counting) of repeats.

What a sad waste of what could be a good radio outlet and the only real competitors to CFRB in Toronto.

cGrant · December 28, 2016 12:16 pm

RadioActive wrote:
and the only real competitors to CFRB in Toronto.

Really?! I'm sure RB is shaking in their boots. They have no competition. None

Btw, stafford is off til January so the shock of rerolls counting down the obvious can begin.

Leslieville Bill · December 28, 2016 1:01 pm

It's amusing the topics that draws people's ire.

verger · December 28, 2016 1:28 pm

Further errata:

- first sentence about the weather is grammatically incorrect, and weak to boot. I'd re-write to something like "Mainly cloudy, with temperatures falling to zero and remaining there for the day."
-"Idenfified"?
- No space whatsoever between first and second sentences in the paragraph about the fire.
- punctuation seems hit-and-miss generally, with a few missing commas here and there.
- ever heard of the active voice? Whoever wrote this sure hasn't.

Add that to what others here have already listed, and you have a unreadable mess of a message. A message that is coming from a communications company.

I feel for the staffer that wrote this, but at the same time, Corus should be embarrassed that this email went out to people.

Then again, it's already been pointed out, their management just don't give a damn, anyway, so why should we?

Radiowiz · December 28, 2016 1:38 pm

RadioActive wrote:
Even CKTB had live hosts on Wednesday.

Funded by CFRB repeaters other times. CKTB is not the best example, unless you mean that maybe AM 640 should also start focusing on being an Ontario talk station with talk content from 640 airing on sister Corus stations in Ontario...

RadioActive · December 28, 2016 1:52 pm

Not at all. My point is that a station in a much smaller market can muster live programming during the holiday week. But a station like AM 640 can't find the will, the funds or the personnel to do it. There's just no excuse for that now that Xmas and Boxing Day are over in the #1 market in Canada.

And I'm not a fan of sharing the shows between RB and Bell's London outfit. But at least they're live today.

By the way, I noticed that CTV has aired a noon newscast for the last two days. Global's has been absent in the same time slot all week. The connection to this thread? The latter is also owned by Corus. Failing on both radio and TV at the same time takes real talent!

Last edited by RadioActive (December 28, 2016 1:54 pm)

Radiowiz · December 28, 2016 2:16 pm

RadioActive wrote:
By the way, I noticed that CTV has aired a noon newscast for the last two days. Global's has been absent in the same time slot all week. The connection to this thread? The latter is also owned by Corus. Failing on both radio and TV at the same time takes real talent!

Global news at noon is scheduled to return January second, according to the Rogers box.
This, even though the new year fell on the week-end, so I grant benefit of the doubt for allowing this week off.

Last edited by Radiowiz (December 28, 2016 2:17 pm)

RadioActive · December 28, 2016 3:18 pm

Yes, because we all know that news stops happening between the week of Dec. 25 and Jan. 1st.

Last edited by RadioActive (December 28, 2016 3:20 pm)

StevieB · December 28, 2016 8:00 pm

The POWER of Sowny strikes again! Kelly in LIVE for Oakley 4-7 today. Good work guys!

Radiowiz · December 29, 2016 12:45 am

RadioActive wrote:
Yes, because we all know that news stops happening between the week of Dec. 25 and Jan. 1st.

No, just noon news on Global.