At one time it was briefly CHUM vs CKFH, then CHUM vs CFTR  for the Top 40 crowd while CFRB and CKEY fought over the MOR audience. Now it is the Bell stable of signals vs the Rogers portfolio of signals. All very bland. Bland worked for Bill Davis. Bland works for the bean counters.

As a rule, bland does not work for radio. At least, it shouldn't.

You're right,  but as Mace mentioned, it can work.  CFRB was a pretty bland station and was number one in Toronto for about 50 or 60 years.  Many would say that CBC Radio One is bland, and they do alright across the country. 

Here in KW, CHYM has been the number one station since the 70's and they wouldn't be classified as an exciting or terribly innovative station.

All of these stations in addition to being kind of bland, were consistent during the years of their success.

And less competition possibly could make radio better in some cases.  I always felt CFTR improved greatly when CHUM dropped top 40.  CFTR had their main competitor go away and they in turn improved musically, on air, better promotions and developed their own unique sound.  

The only real AM competition they had was also ran The Hog, and Hamilton's CKOC.  But after CHUM threw in the towel, CFTR seemed to really come into their own, and ratings reflected this. 
 


 

In London the 2 Rock stations compete today are 95.9 CFPL-FM and CKLO-FM 98.1. Does anyone remember 103.9 The Hawk? Or 103.9 More FM? I think they competed against 102.3 BOB FM as Variety Hits or Classic Hits now known as Jack FM before CKDK-FM flipped to Country music in February 2014.

It depends on the radio market. I grew up on Detroit radio and still listen to it at times. Most of it was far from bland for many years. Now most of the market medium and big Metro markets in the U.S. tend to stick to safe playlists because Iheartradio and Audacy own so many of the radio stations. Now K-Love and other Christian broadcasters are taking control of former commercial FM radio stations. AM is being simulcast on FM, often with News, Talk, or Sports. Music fans are tuning into traditional radio less often with each passing year, and the corporate giants are not helping. 

km93 wrote:

Interesting because in small markets where there might just be one or two stations owned by a small company or community/not-for-profit tend to be where radio continues to have the strongest connections to the community, passionate and engaged listeners, and still offer interesting, unique programming.

Here's a perfect example of what you're talking about from Montana in the U.S. It's a small station owned by two brothers - one of whom serves as the morning man. And his wife is his on-air sidekick. 

"I'll tell you what, it's very hard being just a ma-and-pa-owned radio station and having to try and compete with bigger ones with more resources," Jeff said.

Yet the Oliphant brothers have taken their small radio station and turned it into something special. Leslie said his favorite part is offering a service to the community.

"You're basically a volunteer when you're in the radio business," Leslie said. "No matter what you do, you're helping other people out and that's what it feels like we're doing here."

'Montana's home of rock and roll': Family-owned radio station celebrating nearly 30 years in Red Lodge