New country is so bad 

Within only a few years 93.5 morphed from hip hop to talk/adult hits and now country music... Couldn't really see it coming but really hope the format can stick longer than others. Not sure if the current demographics in GTA can really support that many country stations though, with other competitors such as Hot Country 885 and KX 96/94.7 sharing the same slice. The only current major city in North America without a country station will therefore only be left with New York, which is obvious due to the nature of the market itself.

Yaaaaaaaaawn.....

Are they "Country" in the Johnny Cash/Hank Williams/Waylon Jennings sense or are they "Country" in the Jason Aldean/Carrie Underwood/Luke Combs sense? If the latter, it's arguably more pop than country.

We’ve discussed here before (without any real answers) the mystery of why country never seems to work in Toronto. Not that it hasn’t been tried repeatedly.
 
The most successful twang tuneage came from CFGM-AM, technically licenced to Richmond Hill but for all intents and purposes a Toronto area station. They switched to country in 1964 and stayed with the format for an incredible 26 years, until moving to 640 and entering the CHOG era. And we all know how that ended.

Hard to imagine but CHIN-AM also tried to lasso audiences in with country, with former CHUM D.J. Moose Latrek (aka Fred Snyder, one of the station's production people) trying all night country on the otherwise ethnic station. It wasn't music from the "Old Country" and it didn't stay for long. 
 
CKFH tried its hand at bringing country to the city in 1975, an attempt that ended in 1981 when it became CJCL and went with a short-lived AC format on AM.
 
CKEY also threw a cowboy hat in the ring, becoming CKYC Country 59 from 1991-1995. But when the ratings didn’t keep on truckin’, the latest country attempt went dark.
                                                                                                                
Then Rawlco became the first to try putting the music on FM, with CISS at 92.5 in 1993. But again, there was no home for this range and when Rogers bought the place in 1999, it flipped it to Top 40.
 
Outside of CKDX-FM in Newmarket, which is still a relatively recent country-newcomer, and the more fringe-y signals of the KX re-transmitters, there have been no real C&W successes, hot, modern or otherwise that’s lasted very long, CFGM excluded.
 
Will 93.5 suffer the same fate? Stay tuned. Although given the history of country radio in this city, it’s possible most won’t stay tuned.

I'd say Today will be missed but I don't think many people knew it even existed. 

It will be an uphill battle for sure.

While there are other stations in the format, they are not factors in ratings.

But the 93.5 signal really doesn't go where it needs to for this to be big. But maybe it doesn't need to be "big"

It also helps Stingray nationally with their Country stations. Labels have a reason to care about Yonge & St. Clair now.

Whatever the plan is... the switch was boring.   Unless something impressive happens on Tuesday... the early days are not impressive.

Lying low.
Blah execution.
Cool strategy.

Marc1178 wrote:

This gives Durham Radio the chance to move The Rock to both 95.9's & 89.9 with KX Country going to 94.9
Having two Country stations right in Toronto will not work for very long. Country on 94.9 will continue to serve The Durham Region and points further East than what 95.9 does.

This....is not a terrible idea.

It would still be KX Country. 

RadioQuiz wrote:

Right now - KX remains the Country leader.

When Today first signed on, wasn't the main question "Why didn't they just go Country in the first place?
Now there's people complaining that they did?
At the end of the day, I have no idea what their ratings goals are for 93.5,
but at least now they'll get more than a point 3 share. 
As long as sister station BOOM 97.3 brings in great ratings, there's room to breathe after that whole Today mess...
(plus also, Country is a format that won't take too many ears away from Boom)


 

The peak was the first 4 years. Jane Brown and Cliff Dumas worked well together. When Dumas left to return to 820 CHAM it was Larry Fedoruk who sat in for a few months before he too departed. By these years the Garth Brooks/Hank JR. era of New Country was washing away listeners fast.

CKRZ 100.3 has a country music morning show.

Not a lot new here, but this story has made the U.S.-based Radio Insight, which points out owner Stingray also has 19 other stations with the "New Country" branding. In that sense, Toronto may be late to the game. 

The Calendar Turns In Toronto as Today Radio Comes To An End With Country Preparing To Come To Town