So have all the hosts from Lite been let go? It appears they are basically simulcasting Hot Country from Brantford with the same lineup of Tracy Lynn in the morning and Cruise in the afternoon.

Last edited by km93 (November 17, 2023 12:20 pm)

This certainly might explain Thursday's sudden announcement that 26-year morning man Gary Gamble would have his last show on the station Friday morning. 

They announced on their now deleted website that his co-host would be taking over. Was that just a smoke screen for the format change? 

I don't listen to music on the radio much anymore, but Lite88.5 was on my presets. I will miss having that option and I'm kind of sad they've turned off the Lite. 

That said, we've spoken a lot here over the years about why country simply never seems to really make a dent in the GTA. Will this finally be the breakthrough? Time will tell. And given the sheer number of formats Evanov has tried on this frequency, I'm not sure what's left. 

km93 wrote:

RadioAaron wrote:

I'd be keeping my eye on Lite in Ottawa. It's the only one of any significance left, has never had any real ratings, and is now without its parent station.

Country not an option in that market.

Do you mean that you think some of the former Lite 88.5 staff will turn up there?

There were only two local hosts left on 88.5, and Gary Gamble is staying with Evanov in a management role, and I think Stacy may be staying on 88.5 for local news? So no.

I mean format change.
 

From Broadcast Dialogue, comes the rationale for the switch:

“After assessing the market and its various needs we determined that there was a large unfulfilled demand for a local country music station in this part of the GTA,” said Paul Evanov, President and CEO of Evanov Communications, in a company announcement. “We believe the time is right to provide GTA country music listeners and advertisers with a much-needed country station and Hot Country 88.5 will do just that.”

Evanov introduces Hot Country 88.5 to GTA

My concern is for PM drive host Kent Chambers, who I admired very much and got to work with alongside now and then with CTN.  I'm not sure that he's remaining on, and I'm unable to reach out to him on Boomer Book because it's blocked from my workplace.

I'll keep him in my thoughts today.
 

evanov yuck now i have to wash my screen

From Radio Insight:
 
"The new format launched with the “Lite 88.5” morning show introducing Lynn and the old format signing off with Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” before launching into Steven Lee Olsen’s “Hello Country”, Luke Combs “Lovin On You”, and Jelly Roll “Need A Favor”. 

"September" as the final song? I'm not entirely sure why they picked that one.

I have 88.5 programmed into two radios as presets. Can anyone suggest what I can replace it with? Country does not me interest me even a little bit. But I also have no real interest in the CHFIs or the CHUM-FMs of the world. I have no idea what to put there now. 

RadioActive wrote:

I have 88.5 programmed into two radios as presets. Can anyone suggest what I can replace it with? Country does not me interest me even a little bit. But I also have no real interest in the CHFIs or the CHUM-FMs of the world. I have no idea what to put there now. 

Zoomer Radio (96.7 FM Downtown) is the closest thing I can think of format-wise, although not as consistently soft.

Thanks. I've got all those programmed in. I have a feeling, based on the current choices, that it will be hard to find a replacement that fits. There are so few FMs I listen to or like these days that I think I have most of the ones I do already plugged in, including 92.1 from Brantford. 

And by the way, does this finally scotch the never-ending rumour that Corus was looking to take CFNY country? I never believed those stories and I suppose we'll never really know, but if that was true, it wouldn't be the first time they got caught with their format pants down. 

From 1993:

RadioActive wrote:

I have 88.5 programmed into two radios as presets. Can anyone suggest what I can replace it with? Country does not me interest me even a little bit. But I also have no real interest in the CHFIs or the CHUM-FMs of the world. I have no idea what to put there now. 

92.1!  I know, atleast for me here comes in clear in Etobicoke.

RadioActive wrote:

markow202 wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

I have 88.5 programmed into two radios as presets. Can anyone suggest what I can replace it with? Country does not me interest me even a little bit. But I also have no real interest in the CHFIs or the CHUM-FMs of the world. I have no idea what to put there now. 

92.1!  I know, atleast for me here comes in clear in Etobicoke.

That's there already. I would program The Grand, but it really doesn't come in here. Neither does CKDO-FM.  I'm going to have to think long and hard about what deserves that spot. But thanks for all the suggestions!

And by the way, I just had to go out and erased 88.5 from my car's presets while I was at it.

Closest Toronto station to  what 885 was but not as "light" sounding would be Boom 973. 

There is also K-Country 93.7 in Keswick.  Can't think they are too happy about this format change as CKDX covers their market.  Maybe they will flip to lite hits :-)

https://kcountry937.com/

RadioAaron wrote:

It’ll be fine. 93.7 is unrated and sold as the “local” station.

Yeah, the "Local" Digital storage station!