Smith Falls' JACK becomes Variety Hits WOW 92.3 at 11am.

darcyh wrote:

Thanks for the update.

I guess they never heard of 98.1 CKLO a few miles away.

Why would they care? 98.1 signal has nothing to do with Oxford County.

RadioQuiz wrote:

darcyh wrote:

Thanks for the update.

I guess they never heard of 98.1 CKLO a few miles away.

Why would they care? 98.1 signal has nothing to do with Oxford County.

In fairness, previous ownership did try to target London with 101.3….hence pointing out the format duplication.

RadioActive wrote:

Love the bribe at the start of the station.

The official announcement in print:

"MBC will build new studios in both Tillsonburg and Smiths Falls in the coming months. The upgraded facilities will enhance local journalism and community programming, aligning with MBC’s mission to strengthen hometown radio.

 The stations will also be backed by digital news platforms, including the launch of OXFORDtoday.ca."

MBC launches new radio brands in Tillsonburg and Smiths Falls after acquisition from Rogers

It’s actually great; the stations currently have *no* studios in those markets, operating out of London and Ottawa.

If you listen towards the end of the debut, Jon Pole comes on and offers anyone listening $20 for letting them know. they're tuned in. But he says he only has 4 20's so no more than that can win. A fun way to begin. I wonder if he gave any of the cash away. 

In an early July post
https://gta.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=14872

CKLO 98.1 came in 5th in the London ratings with 8.7.

Given the strong CKOT signal into London it would be unwise to ignore the 450,000 population of the city despite someone commenting why would they care about London. I wonder what impact it will have on CKLO's ratings. CKOT is promoting itself as Southwestern Ontario's Classic Rock.

Thinking about the CKSL 1410 vs CJBK 1290 competition in the 70's both stations upped their game. And both stations were great.

Not sure this will be the case today.


 

Last edited by darcyh (August 3, 2025 12:00 am)

darcyh wrote:

In an early July post
https://gta.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=14872

CKLO 98.1 came in 5th in the London ratings with 8.7.

Given the strong CKOT signal into London it would be unwise to ignore the 450,000 population of the city despite someone commenting why would they care about London. I wonder what impact it will have on CKLO's ratings. CKOT is promoting itself as Southwestern Ontario's Classic Rock.

Thinking about the CKSL 1410 vs CJBK 1290 competition in the 70's both stations upped their game. And both stations were great.

Not sure this will be the case today.
 

Look way down and you'll see CKOT / EASY at the bottom. ... it's a long way to the top... I think the impact on "London" will be minimal. Although I listened for 3 hrs yesterday and they are playing some great tunes with some fun bumpers and stuff.

I tuned it in today for less than a minute. It was awful. A sad ending for a once decent, small town radio station.

 I've never worked in broadcasting but there is one practical and logistical question that has always puzzled me. When a station suddenly changes its format, how do they acquire a new music library? What do they do with their old?. I suppose it might be easier nowdays with digital files as opposed to recodings (records or tapes.)

I recall the day of JFK Assassination. All US stations went immediately to playing Hymns and Patriotic songs for the entire next week, even stations that were normally top 40. How did they do that?

Last edited by turkeytop (August 3, 2025 7:02 pm)

turkeytop wrote:

I tuned it in today for less than a minute. It was awful. A sad ending for a once decent, small town radio station.

 I've never worked in broadcasting but there is one practical and logistical question that has always puzzled me. When a station suddenly changes its format, how do they acquire a new music library? What do they do with their old?. I suppose it might be easier nowdays with digital files as opposed to recodings (records or tapes.)

I recall the day of JFK Assassination. All US stations went immediately to playing Hymns and Patriotic songs for the entire next week, even stations that were normally top 40. How did they do that?

Hi TT:

I agree with your assessment of CKOT. I don't know why management chose classic rock given 98.1 already covers  the genre. I suspect CKOT will pick up some of 98.1's audience and gain a piece of that 8.7 rating. Let's say they get half. Now we have two stations at the lower end of the ratings in London. 

I could never understand why London has two country formatted stations given the potential audience for anther format. I guess the owners think their share is enough?

With respect to your question about format changes, a modest size hard drive will hold tens of thousands of lossless digital music files.

In the case of the JFK question, I am speculating that most established stations had large archives of records - they simply needed to dust them off and play them.
 

turkeytop wrote:

For a town its size, London radio listeners are not well served. With the exception of CBC everything else all sounds the same. I listen to SXM almost exclusively.

When I'm in a real city like Toronto, Montreal or Tampa Bay, I rarely even turn on the SXM. But London is a radio wasteland.

How do 92.7, 95.9 and 97.5 sound the same? Toss in not one but two campus-community stations (94.9, 106.9). And three CBC stations. Not to mention stations in immediately outlying areas, like Woodstock, St. Thomas. Not bad for a town...

darcyh wrote:

turkeytop wrote:

I tuned it in today for less than a minute. It was awful. A sad ending for a once decent, small town radio station.

 I've never worked in broadcasting but there is one practical and logistical question that has always puzzled me. When a station suddenly changes its format, how do they acquire a new music library? What do they do with their old?. I suppose it might be easier nowdays with digital files as opposed to recodings (records or tapes.)

I recall the day of JFK Assassination. All US stations went immediately to playing Hymns and Patriotic songs for the entire next week, even stations that were normally top 40. How did they do that?

Hi TT:

I agree with your assessment of CKOT. I don't know why management chose classic rock given 98.1 already covers  the genre. I suspect CKOT will pick up some of 98.1's audience and gain a piece of that 8.7 rating. Let's say they get half. Now we have two stations at the lower end of the ratings in London. 

I could never understand why London has two country formatted stations given the potential audience for anther format. I guess the owners think their share is enough?

With respect to your question about format changes, a modest size hard drive will hold tens of thousands of lossless digital music files.

In the case of the JFK question, I am speculating that most established stations had large archives of records - they simply needed to dust them off and play them.
 

I guess if you believe a Tillsonburg based radio station wants to be a London station - you could be right.  However what makes more sense is having a great local station in Tillsonburg that can also be partnered with their other stations in St thomas and Simcoe.  Will it do well in London?  Likely not... However CKOT has never done well in London on a genuine competitive level.   I believe they were #1 50+ but that doesn't being back much value.   Maybe you can talk them into doing some nifty 1050 Chum promos so you'll be happy?

Last edited by RadioQuiz (August 4, 2025 9:06 am)

NW wrote:

I find that 1290 (CJBK) and 1410 (CKSL) sound the same to me.
 

I wish more of them sounded like that.
 

RadioActive wrote:

If you listen towards the end of the debut, Jon Pole comes on and offers anyone listening $20 for letting them know. they're tuned in. But he says he only has 4 20's so no more than that can win. A fun way to begin. I wonder if he gave any of the cash away. 

They did.  I won $20 LOL.
It was a fun promo.  I've been listening quite a bit.  I think the station is going to be a fun listen ( granted its a music format I favor )

If Jon Pole does one thing really really well it's the launch.  This station they stunted the stunt.  The guys talking in the shed prior to the 3 pm Friday " launch" were pretty funny.. This 10000 song launch is pretty cool ( it's not " The Pole" but I don't think you can replicate that.  For like a day I even thought it was the actual station and we just tripped over it at work by accident online) I'd imagine we start to hear the real thing sometime near September based on how long it will take to play 10000 songs... 

Their Facebook page is pretty funny too.   Search 101.3 GIANT FM.