Did he happen to give you a hint of an actual, real, Honest-to-God sign-on date? Or what the delay is? They've had three freaking years+!

Saul wrote:

Any sense of the potential impact on them by the new oldies 88.5?

Classic 1220 goes more classic. (doesn't that sound like a great TV ad? lol)
 

RadioQuiz wrote:

This is showing all signs of a disaster! Now you're paying staff to NOT be on the air playing music on an AM station. Just when I thought it couldn't get more bizarre.

Maybe?

After two-week setback, new Niagara station CFAJ 1220 AM debuts Monday
https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/entertainment/after-two-week-setback-new-niagara-station-cfaj-1220-am-debuts-monday/article_af495b28-0ab5-5b50-8522-d8ad6d5680d2.html
 

I saw an ad for the station on the side of a bus in St. Catharines yesterday.

Last edited by Brad (September 23, 2023 11:13 pm)

So?  Did anything happen?

I listened briefly this morning at around 9:45 and heard the morning show team. They sounded pretty good actually. I didn't hear anyone in the afternoon drive spot but I may have not listened long enough - had trouble with the signal.

They made it to MyTuner. 

I had an incredibly busy day, so I didn't get to tune them in until around 3:15 PM. There was no afternoon show as far as I could tell and I'm not sure what happened but in the half hour I listened, the whole station seemed to go haywire. 

When I first heard them, they were playing a terrible discordant song I've never heard before. (Normally I know 99% of their playlist.) At some point, the song literally stopped on air, started playing again, then disappeared entirely, being replaced by Daniel Boone's early 70's hit "Beautiful Sunday," which began partway into the song. That lasted about 45 seconds, before the original song came back on. 

It finished only to be followed by Henson Cargill's obscure 1968 semi-hit "Skip A Rope." That went on for a good 20-30 secs., before it was cut off and replaced with yet another song I've never heard before. And it wasn't long before THAT one disappeared, too, to be replaced by something else. 

At that point, I had to go and turned them off. But what an absolute mess! The only Peet Dichter mention I heard was a promo for his show. But as far as I could tell, that show never appeared as the computer software appeared to be going through a meltdown. 

Three years and seven months, and they still don't have their act together. What a station!

This is from a message on the CFAJ Facebook left by Canadian broadcaster Rob McConnell:

"Hey St. Catharines! The 'X' Zone Radio/TV Show with Rob McConnell returns to the St. Catharines / Niagara airwaves in Mid-October, just in time for Halloween, on Classic 1220 - CFAJ!"

The "X Zone" was a paranormal, UFO, "Coast-to-Coast" type show that I believe used to air on CKTB. So there's another potential preview of what's coming to the new 1220. Time and air date TBA.

I finally heard what appears to be an actual live voice on CFAJ Tuesday. Chuck LaFleur did the 9 AM news - or at least tried to. He got three stories in before being cut off, and "The Best Disco In Town" by the Ritchie Family started playing instead. What in the world is going on over there?

I finally heard the afternoon jock, Peet Dictor (sp?), today around 5:45. Couldn't hear him very well though the static, but there was definitely a voice there.

Too bad this station isn't on FM. I like the eclectic music mix.

Heard the morning show Thurs 28th.  Tuned in around 6:45 but did not hear morning show hosts till around 7:13.  No intro or extro or any mention of the music.  There was a news cast that ran just before 7.  IMHO it was an excellent local newscast with lots of local news, and local sports coverage.  Also a detailed traffic report including bridges/border crossing wait time, etc.  The news presentation was very professional.

The male/female hosts did a "bit" something called "not the news..." (or a variation on that), with a few showbiz stories, along with local weather.  Not something that I would personally tune to a station to hear, but my tastes are different from 99% of the radio listening population....so be it.    Only heard one promo spot = probably from the CAB, that told the story of the importance of local radio in a time when community newspapers are closing.  Did not hear any other PSA's or actual advertising.   Signal here is very spotty due to electrical interference, so I could only tolerate 1/2 hour of electrical buzzing.

Conclusion, a new AM station is a "hard sell" in 2023 and this one is certainly on life support.   I would not be surprised if a few months from now, the owners go back to the CRTC and ask for a licence amendment in order to program S. Asian programming during significant portions of the week citing financial hardship.  They are technically allowed about 18 hours a week - but had in one of their CRTC filings promised not to run ethnic programming.  

The last days of CHSC were both sad and chaotic. 
Friends who were there told me of having to work in improvised broom closets that doubled as studios at various remote locations. Back office and day-to-day operations were typically "fly by the seat of your pants" affairs and it was often uncertain whether the station would survive on a week-to-week basis.

Take a minute to read the CRTC's 2010 decision not to renew CHSC's broadcast licence. It's pretty painful.
https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2010/2010-533.htm