darcyh wrote:

Perhaps the new owner(s) could consider returning this station to a full service operation with some actual live announcers and a return to more traditional easy listening music. The old CKOT had a pretty long list of advertisers. There is no shortage of potential sponsors: car dealerships, funeral homes, appliance, furniture, flooring, renovation, drug stores etc. that could benefit from a station that makes no apologies of catering to an older demographic.

The station can't get any worse than it is... 

I agree please restore the easy listening.
 

Older demo for local sales? Absolutely. Live announcers? Two at most.

Yes. The old CKOT was great. Even when we lived up in the Owen Sound area I could get it once in a while.

They still get a good signal into London here, but it's not worth listening to.

mace wrote:

When I lived in Oakville, I had access to an outdoor Wineguard non directional FM antenna. CKOT would come in occasionally. I think they were the last of the "Beautiful Music" format stations in Southern Ontario.

The simple and stark reality is there is a reason the "beautiful music" format has disappeared from the commercial dial - there's no money in it. The demographic would be mostly 75 plus, of little interest to most advertisers. I'm not saying that's how it should be, it just is.
 

turkeytop wrote:

kevjo wrote:

mace wrote:

When I lived in Oakville, I had access to an outdoor Wineguard non directional FM antenna. CKOT would come in occasionally. I think they were the last of the "Beautiful Music" format stations in Southern Ontario.

The simple and stark reality is there is a reason the "beautiful music" format has disappeared from the commercial dial - there's no money in it. The demographic would be mostly 75 plus, of little interest to most advertisers. I'm not saying that's how it should be, it just is.
 

Got a call from an outfit that compiles radio listening statistics. The guy asked me if I'd be willing to participate. I told him I would. So he started asking for my personal information. As soon as I told him my age, he said they weren't interested in hearing from people in my age group.

I can't understand why. We're a demographic that is mostly debt free. We have a steady and disposable income.Wouldn't their advertizers want to speak to us, if there was radio we listened to?
 

I'll type this again so it can be ignored: They DO survey your demographic, but you're also the easiest demographic to get ahold of on the phone. So by the time they got to you, they had enough sample of your demo already and were looking for harder-to-get-ahold of younger demos.

kevjo wrote:

mace wrote:

When I lived in Oakville, I had access to an outdoor Wineguard non directional FM antenna. CKOT would come in occasionally. I think they were the last of the "Beautiful Music" format stations in Southern Ontario.

The simple and stark reality is there is a reason the "beautiful music" format has disappeared from the commercial dial - there's no money in it. The demographic would be mostly 75 plus, of little interest to most advertisers. I'm not saying that's how it should be, it just is.
 

Easy favourites is the term I think I am more accustomed to hearing in 2024, which DOES grab a younger audience. I really miss the old CKOT from before Rogers took it over.  It was nice hearing instrumentals of songs anywhere from yesterday to yesteryear that I knew the words to.  I'm also decades younger than 75.

RadioAaron wrote:

Radiowiz wrote:

kevjo wrote:

The simple and stark reality is there is a reason the "beautiful music" format has disappeared from the commercial dial - there's no money in it. The demographic would be mostly 75 plus, of little interest to most advertisers. I'm not saying that's how it should be, it just is.
 

Easy favourites is the term I think I am more accustomed to hearing in 2024, which DOES grab a younger audience. I really miss the old CKOT from before Rogers took it over.  It was nice hearing instrumentals of songs anywhere from yesterday to yesteryear that I knew the words to.  I'm also decades younger than 75.

You're an exception. Soft instrumentals doesn't get a younger audience or much of an audience at all. The closest you'd get is ambient or chill music, but that's far too niche for radio.
 

CKOT had a good strong audience before Rogers took it over, and it wasn't all old people either. I have solid faith in the idea that it could still work today.  

Here is some audio of CKOT from 1991. The same tape also has a show called the Beat of the Band from CFCA and a country station from London called BX 93 both of which are from 1980. Cant remember when or how I obtained the tape.

CKOT 1991

Last edited by Fitz (November 23, 2024 6:19 pm)

darcyh wrote:

I thought I would start a new thread about CKOT 101.3 from Tillsonburg. A few years ago this was an independent station that was unique in the market. With its 50 kilowatts (now 22kw) of power it got a good signal into London, Kitchener, Brantford, Guelph and Woodstock. It was generally live from 6:00 am until midnight with automation overnight. I would be driving on the 401 on a Sunday night and Easy 101.3 would be the only station with weather and road condition reports.

The music content was pretty good with a diverse playlist. The station probably benefited from a change in format at CFCA FM 105.3 Kitchener (another once great station) when it abandoned its 'old fogy' programming and targeted a much younger demographic. 

Long story short; once Rogers took over they started playing the most annoying supposed easy listening music. Live programming was reduced. The station lost all of its local charm. Just another scan pass station on the FM dial. I wonder what its ratings are today?

Perhaps the new owner(s) could consider returning this station to a full service operation with some actual live announcers and a return to more traditional easy listening music. The old CKOT had a pretty long list of advertisers. There is no shortage of potential sponsors: car dealerships, funeral homes, appliance, furniture, flooring, renovation, drug stores etc. that could benefit from a station that makes no apologies of catering to an older demographic.

The station can't get any worse than it is... 

I'm seeing a lot of positive reaction about CKOT becoming 'Local' again. But how many local people are actually employed at an average MY FM station? In checking out their different brands, it seems like they are running the same playlist, with the same voicetracked announcers on multiple stations. And although newscast content may be local, that actual newscaster may be reading from 300km away. This is exactly what the big boys are already doing.

I hope I'm wrong and I have no connection with MBC, but I've known several people who've worked there and they've all told me they run a skeleton staff at most of their operations. I'm not sure if CKOT is going to become 'local' again.