Toronto radio

[HER MINAJesty]

I know there are quite a few people from Toronto who post here, I was just wondering if any of the current Toronto radio stations will be switching formats any time soon?

In your opinion, which stations have greater chance to flip, and to what format? When do you think this will take place?

We don't really have a TRUE CHR/Pop station in Toronto, but maybe the powers at be think z103.5 and WKSE are good enough and we don't need any more?

but the problem with WKSE is that, it ISNT a Toronto station, so most people dont even know about it, would it be beneficial to have a Toronto based pure pop station? Or is z103 sufficient? They play aot of dance and rhythmic stuff so I dont consider them Pop.

The fall books come out next week, I believe, so do you think we will get a format flip in January?

I've heard rumours of Mix 99.9 or CHUM FM 104.5 switching formats to CHR/Pop or Rhyhtmic...but CHUM is owned by a big media giant, so would they flip that easily, or does that have nothing to do with it?

How realistic do you think that is?

Thanks

[william]

Toronto radio has been very interesting of late.

I doubt any station will go CHR/Pop. It's basically a dying format here, and isn't attractive to advertisers hungry for the 25-54 demo.

CHUM-FM has pretty much ditched all the older announcers (except for RR&M), which might suggest a move to CHR - but they are winning the HotAC war over the MIX. Ratings/revenue seem too good for them to change right now though. Plus what happened to Tarzan Dan? They hired him when Kiss92.5 went the way of the dodo, only to let him go a few months later without even putting him on the air.

I also doubt MIX99.9 will go CHR. Standard does have CHR property with Z95.3 Vancouver and HOT103 Winnipeg, but now that Humble & Fred are in mornings - I don't see it happening. Maybe TripleA or a re-focussed ModernAC.

I have no idea what Rogers was thinking when they decided to move Mad Dog and Billie to the morning slot on CHFI. CHFI has suffered dearly for it, and for the first time ever in the AC wars - 97.3 EZ Rock beat them in the ratings.

Jack-FM is still new so no changes.

Z103.5 has been adding a lot more mainstream pop and rock songs lately. They still sound very schizophrenic, with no balance or real flow.

Edge102 might go Active from Alternative to compete with Q107. The Q is doing excellent with Derringer in mornings, while the mighty Edge continues to slowly lose audience.

I think Flow 93.5 will continue to stay Urban, despite less than spectacular ratings. The owners fought very hard for their licence a few years back.

Country 95.3 is doing worse as a country station then when it was a CHR/Pop under the Energy-FM brand. Maybe Corus will get nostalgic and bring Energy back. Probably not.

[HER MINAJesty]

Wow I didn't even know CHUM hired Tarzan Dan

I wonder what he's doing now, he's been a mainstay on Toronto radio for a while...and even before that he was on YTV's The Hit List

[TheJakes]

Nice synopsis william.

I think Rogers really messed up when they moved KISS92.5 from being a CHR/Pop to a CHR/Rhythmic. Their ratings soften a bit as CHR/Pop but they started to collapse as a rhythmic. And they switched out of CHR/Pop just as Avril was proving to the biggest new CanCon pop act in many a year.

The irony is that the KISS program director, Julie Adams, got rewarded for screwing up KISS by being made PD of CHFI. Maybe they are trying to send CHFI on a downward spiral so they have an excuse to flip formats.

[william]

Funny about Julie Adams. She ran Kiss92.5 to the ground, and now she's starting to do the same with CHFI. But why mess with a good thing? Maybe Rogers is starting to get tired of making all that money off of it? Or maybe they got bored of constantly seeing CHFI #1 in the ratings for the last 10 years.

[HER MINAJesty]

I met Julie once in passing (she said hi to me) in the summer of 2002, I was answering phones for DJ X's show lol

Do you guys think in retrospect (I know hindsight is 20/20) but if Julie Adam/Rogers had a crystal ball and saw the format switch causing a dip in ratings, and then eventually a flip to JACK, they would have just keep Kiss 92.5 a CHR/Pop?

I liked it alot better when it was a Pop station as opposed to Rhythmic. But either one was better than what they have now.

I kinda do hope she brings CHFI down, so maybe we can get a true Pop station here in Toronto.

Why do u guys think they rewarded her by making her PD at CHFI?

She obviously stayed loyal, bringing Mad Dog and Billie along with her. Are those two still on in the mornings?

[TheJakes]

Yes, Mad Dog and Billie are still on CHFI Mornings but it is not exactly a great fit. Kind of like a round peg in a square hole.

[william]

Even if CHFI does tank, don't look for it to go CHR. Rogers is getting out of the under 25 demo business fast. All that's left are the 2 X-fm's, and they'll be history come early next year.

[HER MINAJesty]

What are X-fm's? Do you mean XM satellite radio?

Kiss 92 was so schizophrenic around this time last year

They had just finished a summer of overplaying "Complicated" by Canada's next big thing, Avril Lavigne, but then at the end of August, they flipped to CHR/Rhythmic, BUT, that didn't stop them from adding Avril's "Sk8er Boi" to the playlist, and they DID play that song. I'm not sure if they got to "I'm With You", I dont rember them playing that.

They also added No Doubt's "Underneath it All" VERY late, they started playing it in like February, when it was a hit around this time last year. They also played Christina's "Dirrty" as well as "Beautiful" and a disco remix of "Fighter". "Can't Hold Us Down" would have fit in perfectly and not sounded out of place, had Kiss still been around at that time.

I remember just finding it odd, that you had Christina's "Beautiful" #2 on the Top 7 @ 7, behind 50 Cent "Wanksta", lol.

Very schizophrenic, its like, you made the flip to Rhythmic, why are you throwing in these 5 non-urban/rhythmic songs??

You made the choice, now stick with it

[william]

What are X-fm's? Do you mean XM satellite radio?

No. The X-fm's I'm referring to are the two Rogers owned Alternative stations in Vancouver and Ottawa.

[Leafstorm]

Oh yeah, X-fm has gone all Christmas earlier this month... looks like a switch in format is coming for the new year.

[HER MINAJesty]

What exactly is an X-fm ??

and Leafstorm, are you referring to 97.3 FM EZ Rock here in Toronto? Will that be switching formats in the new year?

[M]

Well, if you look at it, CHUM-FM is definitely leaning more towards CHR/pop as of late.

Kiss92.5 made a big mistake by switching to a CHR/Rhythmic. I still remember their playlists, which basically consisted of 30 songs at most, give or take a few.

I think Toronto definitely needs a pure CHR/pop station.

[HER MINAJesty]

Yea sometimes CHUM FM does lean towards Pop, but for the most part, it's Hot AC.

I hope Toronto gets a pure POP station in the new year, like around February or so...better yet, January.

but the argument could be made that we already have a Pop station, and that's Buffalo's Kiss 98.5, and if that isn't good enough because it isn't Toronto, then they can say that we have z103.5

I know z103.5 is very schizophrenic, but if a new Pop station came along, they'd essentially be playing most of the same music...unless then z103.5 would let the other station have back the more traditional pop, like rock songs and so on, and go back to the more dance/urban feel

[william]

As I said in my last post, X-fm is the name of a radio station. There are 2 X-fm's in Canada. 104.9 X-fm in Vancouver and 101.1 X-fm in Ottawa. Both are Rogers owned and have an Alternative format. Leafstorm was referring to 104.9 X-fm in Vancouver which is now playing all Christmas music.

[william]

Z103.5 isn't technically a Toronto station either. It is Orangeville based and is hard to pick up in certain parts of the GTA. Energy 95.3 was Hamilton based come to think of it, but Energy 94.9 in Oshawa helped them cover the GTA pretty well. If CHR/Pop does come back to Toronto, it should be in Toronto and have good coverage. CHUM-FM looks like the only one who might make the move, if Z doesn't do it before them. A winning formula might be to go HotAC during the day and CHR/Pop at night, like KOOL-FM Ottawa did throughout the late 90's to much ratings success. Heck, Mix97 Belleville are AC during the day and CHR/Pop at night, and their numbers are spectacular.