The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » CFNY Morning Duo Now Simulcasting In Ottawa

RadioActive · November 1, 2023 8:52 pm

Scott Tucker & Maura Grierson have been the morning crew at CFNY since January. And now they're doing double duty, with the show also being aired on Jump 106.9 in Ottawa. They were formerly on Virgin 99.9 in Toronto.

Another cost saving move by Corus? I've always wondered how much you're serving your audience when the all-important morning show, which consists of the local headlines you missed overnight, your weather outside and traffic, can't really be discussed much. The duo obviously can't talk about the goings on at Toronto City Hall or the problems with OC Transpo in the nation's capital without leaving some of their listeners out.

I understand Corus' financial woes and that morning talent makes more money than others in separate dayparts, but spreading this over two or more cities, in my addled mind, makes for a show that serves neither place. Still, I guess it's better than the U.S. show that was airing in Ottawa for the past six years.

Tucker & Maura expand to Ottawa’s JUMP! 106.9

RadioAaron · November 1, 2023 9:12 pm

I don’t know of any “local”CHR morning shows that cover City Hall.

In this case, the show this is replacing was an American syndicated show that was itself slightly out-performing the station.

RadioActive · November 1, 2023 9:15 pm

My point is you lose the local flavour when you're a Tale of Two Cities. Hard to talk about how terrible the snow is coming down in Ottawa and it's causing a traffic mess when it's clear and sunny in Toronto. The dual-cities influences what they talk about between the tunes. It's not a problem if you're only on in one market.

Perhaps it's not an issue for anyone else. I like my radio local, music, talk or otherwise.

paterson1 · November 1, 2023 9:38 pm

So the two stations will be playing separate music since they have two different formats? Or is JUMP! waving the white flag to HOT 89.9 and moving more in line with CFNY?

haydenmatthews14 · November 1, 2023 10:22 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
I don’t know of any “local”CHR morning shows that cover City Hall.

In this case, the show this is replacing was an American syndicated show that was itself slightly out-performing the station.

I remember 95.3 airing the same american syndicated show during weekday afternoons when it was rebranded in 2019. But it was later replaced by a local DJ at the station. But still as of today the morning show simulcasted from 91.5 in Kitchener-Waterloo today does not make sense to me.

Last edited by haydenmatthews14 (November 1, 2023 10:25 pm)

brian451 · November 1, 2023 11:34 pm

paterson1 wrote:
So the two stations will be playing separate music since they have two different formats? Or is JUMP! waving the white flag to HOT 89.9 and moving more in line with CFNY?

I have wondered for years how this station survives as it is, for years the morning show was an American syndicated show, but also hot 89.9 just sounds better, in my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised if this station starts to change format or at least tweak it. Especially with Rogers making changes even though that is more Smiths Falls, but there are some rumors that 105.3 is going to Kiss off and possibly become a different station. Word is Jack will go back to 92.3 after Christmas and Santa radio goes away. But 105.3 is rumored to become a Sonic station so that it would compete against Live 88.5 but maybe with Tucker and Maura "in" Ottawa Jump starts to add more rock or alternative to the playlist and slowly they evolve into something that might compete with a Sonic or even with CHEZ.

Radiowiz · November 1, 2023 11:34 pm

RadioAaron wrote:
I don’t know of any “local”CHR morning shows that cover City Hall.

In this case, the show this is replacing was an American syndicated show that was itself slightly out-performing the station.

I'm with RA that it's important to keep the chatter local, whether it be in between tunes or general morning show chatter. However, Talking like this might still work: Tucker saying "WOW! In Toronto...5 centimeters of snow"
followed with Maura saying "Oh that's nothing! Ottawa! Two feet of snow!!!" (example only...)

Being creative covers both cities for weather, but it won't be handy for Hockey...try talking about the Leafs!
(The late great Team 1050/1200 learned that lesson the hard way...)

paterson1 · November 2, 2023 10:42 am

Just checked the playlists from JUMP and CFNY for this mornings show. They definitely are not playing the same music. So I guess on both stations the hosts won't be saying anything about the artists or songs played on either show. Sort of a big flaw for two music oriented stations.

Paul Jeffries · November 2, 2023 11:18 am

Are they voicetracking their bits? I would think it would be extremely difficult to do their bits live simultaneously on two stations playing different music. Or do both stations have to calculate their music sets so that they time out together? Either way, it sounds tricky.

PJ

RadioActive · November 2, 2023 11:19 am

It would seem virtually impossible both could be live.

km93 · November 2, 2023 11:27 am

brian451 wrote:
105.3 is rumored to become a Sonic station so that it would compete against Live 88.5 but maybe with Tucker and Maura "in" Ottawa Jump starts to add more rock or alternative to the playlist and slowly they evolve into something that might compete with a Sonic or even with CHEZ.

3 alt-leaning stations in Ottawa would be excessive, not to mention that CHEZ and Rebel also include a fair amount of modern rock now.

brian451 · November 2, 2023 11:51 am

km93 wrote:
brian451 wrote:
105.3 is rumored to become a Sonic station so that it would compete against Live 88.5 but maybe with Tucker and Maura "in" Ottawa Jump starts to add more rock or alternative to the playlist and slowly they evolve into something that might compete with a Sonic or even with CHEZ.
3 alt-leaning stations in Ottawa would be excessive, not to mention that CHEZ and Rebel also include a fair amount of modern rock now.

I would assume CHEZ would move the alternative over to Sonic. And rebel has a lot of issue with signal. Even live 88.5 has signal issues in plenty of areas of the city or surrounding areas. When I used to live in the city there were plenty of areas with limited or no signal. But 105.3 has a huge signal so they would be able to build an audience and probably do quite well with it.

paterson1 · November 2, 2023 12:28 pm

The show could be a mix of live and voice track. Since they are playing different music it would be hard to do live breaks. Any news updates, traffic and weather will still be live and separate along with commercial sets. Any "bits" likely would be voice tracked. JUMP has been handling a syndicated morning show for six years out of Seattle, so this with CFNY shouldn't be that difficult.

Radiowiz · November 2, 2023 12:41 pm

Hopefully Hot 89.9 will continue to do morning radio the way RA likes morning radio shows to be done.
Hopefully their ratings will continue to show RA to be correct about what works best for ratings...

RadioAaron · November 2, 2023 1:11 pm

Radiowiz wrote:
Hopefully Hot 89.9 will continue to do morning radio the way RA likes morning radio shows to be done.
Hopefully their ratings will continue to show RA to be correct about what works best for ratings...

That show is also in multiple markets and the content reflects it.

Chrisphen · November 2, 2023 2:32 pm

paterson1 wrote:
Just checked the playlists from JUMP and CFNY for this mornings show. They definitely are not playing the same music. So I guess on both stations the hosts won't be saying anything about the artists or songs played on either show. Sort of a big flaw for two music oriented stations.

At first I assumed that it's be a full simulcast, which would've been OK. I guess. Gives Ottawa a taste of the bland irrelevance that is CFNY. But if it's just the voices and not the music? Well, this is one of the single dumbest ideas I have heard of in a long time.

Radiowiz · November 2, 2023 2:51 pm

Chrisphen wrote:
Gives Ottawa a taste of the bland irrelevance that is CFNY. But if it's just the voices and not the music? Well, this is one of the single dumbest ideas I have heard of in a long time.

I'm not sure how you can say that. Tucker & Maura deliver ratings...or at least they deliver better ratings for CFNY than that station has had in a while.

RadioAaron · November 2, 2023 5:34 pm

Chrisphen wrote:
paterson1 wrote:
Just checked the playlists from JUMP and CFNY for this mornings show. They definitely are not playing the same music. So I guess on both stations the hosts won't be saying anything about the artists or songs played on either show. Sort of a big flaw for two music oriented stations.
At first I assumed that it's be a full simulcast, which would've been OK. I guess. Gives Ottawa a taste of the bland irrelevance that is CFNY. But if it's just the voices and not the music? Well, this is one of the single dumbest ideas I have heard of in a long time.

The show’s history is in talking to CHR audiences. They’re replacing an American syndicated show. I think this will turn out to be a good move.

Chrisphen · November 2, 2023 7:48 pm

Radiowiz wrote:
Chrisphen wrote:
Gives Ottawa a taste of the bland irrelevance that is CFNY. But if it's just the voices and not the music? Well, this is one of the single dumbest ideas I have heard of in a long time.

I'm not sure how you can say that. Tucker & Maura deliver ratings...or at least they deliver better ratings for CFNY than that station has had in a while.

CFNY has been irrelevant for close to thirty years. The very fact that the voice talent is so separated from the musical content that it can be interchanged into other music formats only bolsters that fact.

This is less the idea of an Bell MBA intern than it is the idiot bastard son of a Bell MBA intern. Just awful.

Jody Thornton · November 2, 2023 8:34 pm

Chrisphen wrote:
CFNY has been irrelevant for close to thirty years.

I'd have to disagree there. Maybe up to eighteen or nineteen years ago, yes. However, the Edge years were pretty strong through the 90s and early 2000s.

RadioAaron · November 2, 2023 8:36 pm

Jody Thornton wrote:
Chrisphen wrote:
CFNY has been irrelevant for close to thirty years.
I'd have to disagree there. Maybe up to eighteen or nineteen years ago, yes. However, the Edge years were pretty strong through the 90s and early 2000s.

"Relevant" is sort of a matter of opinion - but in mine - those years were the peak of their relevance and actual success.

MonteVideo · November 3, 2023 6:49 pm

paterson1 wrote:
Just checked the playlists from JUMP and CFNY for this mornings show. They definitely are not playing the same music. So I guess on both stations the hosts won't be saying anything about the artists or songs played on either show. Sort of a big flaw for two music oriented stations.

This isn't unique for CORUS. Willy on Rock 101 Vancouver did Q107 Calgary mornings for a number of years. My understanding is that they would jump from personality to personality in different Vancouver studios delivering bits to Calgary one or two breaks ahead, but kind of in real time. That sounds like lots of work.