I grew up in the Owend Sound area. Back when CKEY was a top forty station it used to get up into that area during the day, CHUM, not so much.

The big power house up there was CKLW. It reigned during the day and at night too. But at night it had competition from the likes of WLS, WBZ and WABC.

RadioAaron wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

It was back in the day when three companies didn't run every radio station in town. When an owner had control of maybe one or two outlets, it made everyone compete - and that instantly made them all better. 
 

How many commercial radio operators were active in Toronto then vs. Today?
 

Just off the top of my rapidly thinning head, CHUM (AM & FM) was privately owned by the Waters family, CKOC belonged to Armadale Communications, CFRB & CKFM were in the hands of Standard, CHFI AM & FM were Rogers properties, CKEY was first owned by Jack Kent Cooke and then MacLean-Hunter, CKFH was Foster Hewitt's, CHIC-AM Brampton was run (into the ground) by the Allen Brothers, Radio Richmond Hill controlled CFGM, CKLB-AM in Oshawa was a George Grant outlet, and all the major Buffalo stations, including WKBW, WGR, WEBR, WBEN-AM & FM and WYSL, had different owners.

Today, we have two FMs and AMs in Rogers' hands (CHFI and Kiss-FM 92.5, CityNews 680, The Fan 590) Bell owning CFRB, TSN 1050 and two other FMs, Virgin and CHUM-FM, (with, for now at least, CKOC and CHAM in nearby Hamilton) and Corus has its mitts on AM 640 and Q107 and CFNY in Toronto, as well as CING and CHML in Hamilton. And I've probably left out a few other multiple owners.

RadioActive wrote:

RadioAaron wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

It was back in the day when three companies didn't run every radio station in town. When an owner had control of maybe one or two outlets, it made everyone compete - and that instantly made them all better. 
 

How many commercial radio operators were active in Toronto then vs. Today?
 

Just off the top of my rapidly thinning head, CHUM (AM & FM) was privately owned by the Waters family, CKOC belonged to Armadale Communications, CFRB & CKFM were in the hands of Standard, CHFI AM & FM were Rogers properties, CKEY was first owned by Jack Kent Cooke and then MacLean-Hunter, CKFH was Foster Hewitt's, CHIC-AM Brampton was run (into the ground) by the Allen Brothers, Radio Richmond Hill controlled CFGM, CKLB-AM in Oshawa was a George Grant outlet, and all the major Buffalo stations, including WKBW, WGR, WEBR, WBEN-AM & FM and WYSL, had different owners.

OK, if we stick to stations in the Toronto ratings, and in the English language that's 6 operators.

Today, we have:
Bell
Corus
Rogers
Stingray
Zoomer
Central Ontario Broadcasting
Intercity
Evanov

In its early top 40 days, CKFH was handicapped with a weak night signal plus weekend Italian and religious programming.

A couple of other good rivals in the day were CFRA and CFGO in Ottawa, both good top 40 stations.  CJRC a french top 40 station also out of Ottawa didn't have a lot of commercials and played a lot of english top 40.

Montreal had CKGM and CFOX for english audiences but also had success attracting francophones who enjoyed contemporary english music. 

In Hamilton CKOC and CHAM battled directly for about 10 years.  However CKOC had been playing top 40 for a decade when CHAM switched to top 40 in 1970. 

 WCFL and WLS also only battled each other for a little more than 10 years.  WLS went full time top 40 in 1960, and WCFL didn't get into the format until 1965.  It is interesting that in less than two years WCFL unseated WLS as the number one top 40 station in Chicago.  Many felt that WLS had become a little complacent since they had the top 40 market to itself for two years prior to WCFL flipping format.  In the mid 70's WCFL was sliding badly to WLS.  Super CFL dropped top 40 for beautiful music in 1976, and WLS again had the top 40 market in Chicago (at least on AM) to itself again. 

Disagree that CHUM and CFTR were rivals only at the tail end of their time in top 40.  They actually started to get serious around 1975, after TR changed format about three years earlier.  In 1976 TR put out a music chart to battle the CHUM chart.  CFTR was becoming a more serious contender to CHUM and gaining in the ratings. They also copied CHUM's Starsign with their own  $30,000 button contest.  The big rivalery between TR and CHUM was well establlished long before John Landecker came to town in 1981-83.  

CFTR was hardly at the end of their top 40 days when CHUM packed it in.  CFTR remained with the format for seven more years. 

Last edited by paterson1 (August 1, 2023 7:06 pm)

Bristol, true progressive stations were not exclusive rock either but in a good way as you could hear classical, jazz, folk, bluegrass and other forms on music on them. When those progressives got dumbed down to AOR is when you could say they were exclusively Rock.

Of course it was a product of its time, just as today's radio will sound old fashioned by 2040 (if radio still exists by then.) But you know what else it was? Fresh, original and new. The airchecks do not do it justice. It was the entire presentation that made it work, with each station carving out its own identity in the market. 

What, exactly is the identity of CHFI? Or CHUM-FM? Or Kiss 92.5? To me, they all sound exactly the same give or take a few minor tweaks and morning shows.

To me, whether it be radio, operating a restaurant or running a grocery store, competition makes you better, because you have to be to beat the other guy. Then he ups his game, forcing you to do the same. And everyone improves. It's just a fact of business. I saw it myself at CFTR.

It's the same with cell phone service in Canada. Three de facto firms run everything and in a sort of unspoken collusion cabal, no one offers you a truly good deal, like they have in other countries.  

But 3 or 4 more truly independents would force the Big 3 to change their ways or lose most of their clients. Why do you think they struggle so hard to keep them out of the country or buy up the little guys? They don't want competitors.

Radio has gone the same route. Everyone sounds the same for the most part so no one has to spend any money improving themselves. And it all gets stale. It's not the radio many of us grew up with and fell in love with, leading us to a career in the industry. 

Allan Waters was a smart businessman, smart enough to know he knew little about radio, so he hired the best in the biz who did. And he got rich because of it. Today, the Rogers and Bells don't care to pay the money for great talent, although some still break through. The bean counters are fully in charge and what you hear reflects it. Rerolls would have been unthinkable a few years ago. Now they take up much of the airtime after 6 PM.

My final point is that, back in the day, the accountants weren't in charge. But those who were knew spending more meant eventually making more. Now they simply care only about the cost and since quality isn't an issue, everyone aims for the bottom. (And the bottom line.) The rest doesn't matter. And boy, does it sound like it.

I don't lament the so called "Good old days of radio," because I'm old or because I'm a curmudgeon. It was demonstrably better because those in charge cared about the product coming out of that speaker. I'm not sure they do anymore, beyond the yearly ledger. And while they're richer, we as listeners (and workers) are all poorer for it. 

Wow, has this drifted away from the original thread about the best radio rivalries. I still like WLS vs. Super CFL. We will not see a battle like that ever again. 

Actually the CHUM/CKEY rivalry was legendary.  Of course there was the battle of who was the real "Beatle's Station."  I think it was CHUM that was able to play the same song three or four minutes before CKEY a few times.  I remember my older brother pointing this out.  You would hear a song on CHUM, and then about two minutes later the same song came on CKEY. Was there a mole at CKEY feeding CHUM their playlists??  Or was it the other way around?

I heard a story, and Doug Thompson could verify, that CHUM once ran promos stating that they were changing format to beautiful music and dropping rock and roll.  Apparently Jack Kent Cooke took the bait and flipped CKEY to beautiful music to make the format change before CHUM.  Naturally CHUM had no intention of changing their music and never did.  CKEY quickly went back to top 40 when they realized they had been duped by their main competitor.

And of course CHUM's legendary morning man Al Boliska moving to CKEY from CHUM must have been huge back in 1963. 

In fairness, there is just a lot more radio now than 50 years ago.  I think morning shows are just as competitive as they have always been.  Only difference is that there are a lot more stations now and the big morning shows aren't as dominate as in the days of Wally Crouter, Jay Nelson and Jim Bradey. The exception might be CBC radio.  However CBC radio is much more popular now than 50 years ago.  

Even here in Kitchener/Waterloo our local CBC Radio One station bills themselves as having the regions number one morning show.  Morning man Craig Norris has been at the helm for 10 years.  He is pretty good and can balance the serious stuff with a bit of humour.  They have lots of local information every morning, and that's what many want. 

Beg to differ on the Elton John/Kiki Dee song. I was the Music Director for CKLG at the time. We were regularly serviced with US releases by Brenneman Radio Services out of Woodland Hills, CA. Betty Brenneman was aware of the radio wars between LG and CFUN. One morning I received a call from Betty giving me the heads up on the Don't Go Breaking My Heart Release. That afternoon I was at YVR picking up the 45 and headed down to 1006 Richards. It was on the air within minutes. I don't know when CFUN got their copy but I know we were 24 hours in front. 

The SOWNY Board is a lot like radio. You never know who's listening.

Notice the reference to jazz.

July 6, 1968:



A year later, and thankfully, this never happened.