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AM640's Holiday Line-up Will Change The Station's Sound
It's that time of year when the holidays are on - and the regulars are off. If you're a listener to AM640, you won't recognize the station this week.
For some reason, Greg Brady came back on Wednesday, for three days, before going back on another week's vacation. (Who comes back for three days and then leaves again? Very odd scheduling.)
Alex Pierson is gone until Jan. 9th, with Stephanie Smyth taking her place.
The role of Kelly Cutrara will be played by Dave Kaufman, who used to work for CJAD and did occasional fill-in work for competitor CFRB.
And John Oakley won't be around to hear weekend host Ben Mulroney take his place.
Across the dial at Newstalk 1010, Jason Agnew is sitting in for John Moore, with John Tory doing the honours next week, while someone will be in the air chair for Jerry Agar, who does not return until well after the New Year. The Reshmi Nair afternoon show mystery continues. She hasn't been heard on the station in weeks, but is still listed on their website as hosting the drive home slot. My guess is Mark Towhey will make more than one appearance before the calendar hits January.
Oh, and Marc Patrone will be missing in the morning on Sauga960 for at least another week. No one will likely notice as they air best-ofs.
- RadioActive
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Re: AM640's Holiday Line-up Will Change The Station's Sound
Jerry Agar's place is being taken by Andrew Pinsent, a CFRA host, as the station continues with a skeleton staff. (Could be a very long week at the place!) But hey, at least it's live and it's new.
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Thread Starter- 67GreenRambler
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Re: AM640's Holiday Line-up Will Change The Station's Sound
I heard Agar tell Moore during a crossover that he would return Tuesday January 2nd.
- RadioActive
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Re: AM640's Holiday Line-up Will Change The Station's Sound
Alex Pierson told listeners her return wouldn't be until Jan. 9th - which is long time for a regular host to be gone. No word yet on who will take her place long term, although Stephanie Smyth is the fill-in this week. So a lot of musical chairs going on at both of Toronto's main talk stations.
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Thread Starter- Walter
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Re: AM640's Holiday Line-up Will Change The Station's Sound
Don't really care who fills in for any of them, or how long they'll be gone, except for Vassy, who is the top of the class, and maybe Oakley, because daily doses of Ben Mulroney may cause the loss of brain cells.
- echomaster
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Re: AM640's Holiday Line-up Will Change The Station's Sound
My gosh - 640 is so, so, so bland - right behind 1010 - does it even matter?
Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs...
~ John McClane
- jughead jones
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Re: AM640's Holiday Line-up Will Change The Station's Sound
Allow me to provide a contrary opinion. I think 640 Toronto has improved immensely since going under "new management." MD has changed the sound of the station significantly. Interviews are shorter and crisper. The hosts offer a tremendous amount of information. I cannot comment on 1010 since I do not ever listen to it. However, 640 is, in my humble opinion, a smart station for smart people. Lastly, the fill in hosts are excellent - a nice combination of veterans and new voices. Happy new year to all.
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Re: AM640's Holiday Line-up Will Change The Station's Sound
I do have to say to Mr. Jones that I often find myself listening more to 640 now than to 1010. I would agree that it's made vast strides since the days it had almost no back-up and seemed a lot less focused. (It certainly has a better newsroom than CFRB, which no longer has a newsroom at all.)
Still, improved or not, I'm sad about its apparent lack of ratings, which book after book after book, shows no real increase. Have they ever made it over a 2 rating? If so, I can't remember when it happened.
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Thread Starter- RadioAaron
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Re: AM640's Holiday Line-up Will Change The Station's Sound
It has!
Spring to fall, 640 is up 87%, while 1010 is down 17%.
Disclaimer: These percentages can swing wildly due to the overall numbers for both stations being small, but 640 is on a clear upward trend.
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Re: AM640's Holiday Line-up Will Change The Station's Sound
That's encouraging news. But it's still only a drop in a very large bucket compared to the rest of the stations in the market.
What's odd to me is that almost every market in Canada has at least one heritage AM talk/information station that still ranks in the top 10.
I believe CJAD does well in Montreal as a non-music outlet, CJOB in Winnipeg attracts a number of ears and CKNW in Vancouver is a long time winner. While they may not be #1 and may never be again, they do OK survivable numbers. Yet in Toronto, only the CBC (which is on FM) manages to continually find itself in the upper reaches of the Numeris chart book after book.
Is it the stations themselves or is there something in a Toronto audience that just doesn't like talk, similar to the seeming rejection of country here? I find 640 entertaining during many dayparts and I would be very unhappy to see Corus one day change its mind about keeping the place going. Not that there's any indication that's going to happen.
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Thread Starter- RadioAaron
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Re: AM640's Holiday Line-up Will Change The Station's Sound
It's really only CKNW, CJOB, and CFRA left as well-rated AM N/T outlets.
CHED and QR in Alberta have been falling hard.
The Saskatchewan ratings are a bit of a mess with companies pulling out of Numeris, so I'm not sure what's happening there.
CJAD is #5 of 6 Anglo stations in Montreal, ahead of only TSN. On the Franco side, 98.5 FM dominates.
In the Maritimes, the only commercial talk outlet is News 95.7, and it's beat handily by CBC