This has all the makings of a 600/940 Montreal situation, except 20 years later. 

Good call. 

paterson1 wrote:

This could go on forever.  Got to go...Talk amongst yourselves...

I've always found it fascinating that threads about low-rated AM stations often garner the most amount of responses on this board. 



PJ
 

RadioAaron wrote:

It makes sense given that the average member here is a 64 year-old white male - the same demographic as low-rated AM stations.
 

I hope this board is still here when I reach the age of 64. 

paterson1 wrote:

... an association with CHCH, and even The Spectator would benefit the parties involved and most of all the audience and advertisers. And if you could entice a Bill Kelly, Gord James or great sports talk host like Bubba O'Neil or former CHCH sports director Ken Welch would right away give CKOC some much needed credibility.  A community station on AM with large coverage area and 50,000 watts, in an area that has strong growth.  Might be well worth the gamble.  

Both are absolutely needed. Bigger names in Hamilton area broadcasting combined with as many partnerships as possible. The Spec and CHCH are good ideas. Could even extend that to community non profits. Talk show hosts who can get the local CEOs/decision-makers/higher-ups from public-facing organizations and school boards and city hall in for interviews rather than just foaming at the mouth like a rabid animal... The problem might be balancing the ability to attract the needed talent with the ability to afford it... But there are ways to build. One challenge will be establishing an atmosphere where the Spec and CHCH don't see you as competition... but the right people in the right place might be able to pull it off with very careful planning and execution so that radio is seen as complementary to TV and newsprint (and online).

I have a feeling 1150 will be music intensive for the first couple of years. After that time Mr. Ray might try to increase the amount of third language programming. It has been mentioned elsewhere that the Arabic language is underserved by radio stations in Southern Ontario. One possible music format is A.C. Gold which is mellow version of Oldies. 

Glad the discussion continued.

No, I was not talking about hiring "a bunch of seasoned talk show hosts and newscasters".  I was throwing out some names. If the station got one or two great.  Hiring a few retired or recently layed off broadcasters is not uncommon for community radio.  Those that are retired and interested in working at a station like this are not doing it for the money anyway.    

The length of the thread likely doesn't have a lot to do with the average age (64?) of the the members of SOWNY.  The person that made that estimate has no idea of the average SOWNY members age, all 1,585 of them.  I do fall proudly into this 60's category but don't listen to AM that much.  We are dreaming and talking about an opportunity and a unique situation, nothing more.  The new owner will do whatever he wants, and likely 100% different that what has been talked about here. 
 
I have known and understand that AM radio is long past it's due date.  However as we have seen, there are still opportunities for reasonable ratings and results for a few.  CKOC could be one of these, focusing on a large, underserved and growing market with programming and ideas not currently found anywhere in the region.  Utilizing some promotion or even staff either officially or unofficially with CHCH and the Spectator benefits all three, in a community often overshadowed by Toronto.   

Thanks SteveClarkMedia and Saul for your comments.  Agree with both of you. And through all of this we haven't even talked about the great advertising/partnership opportunities that are out there right now. 

But let's see what Neeti does...

As far as I know, John Novak is still kicking. He did a few years at Vinyl 95.3 after his departure from CKOC, but I don't think he's done anything radio-related since then.



PJ