New Calgary radio stations

[401_King]

bring back the old Vibe 98.5 when they actually played urban music.

[The Kid]

Originally Posted by johnnyc

I still think Jerry Forbes is good for a laugh. I don't get the satellite radio craze, why not just get an mp3 player and put it on shuffle.

Because sat radio is not just about music, of which there is a zillion choices.

It's got tons of talk, news, comedy, sports....you name it. And if you travel all over the place, no dead air!

[entheosfog]

I haven't been a big FM radio person since the '90s but I used to listen to CJSW quite a bit. But there's only so much german music I can digest on a Saturday morning.

Ever since buying my iPod and having 4000+ songs on shuffle, it's hard to listen to anything else.

Which brings me to my main complaints about commercial radio: too many damn commercials, annoying announcers, having to sit through crappy over-played Can-Con just to hear a song you like, etc etc. Satellite could be good but I'm too much of a music nerd to not be in total control of what I listen to.

So, yeah, that's where I'm at...

[fatboy]

Originally Posted by Distill3d

What oddly disappoints me about Calgary FM radio is that there is only 1 country station while Edmonton has two (Big Earl and CSIN)...not that I'm a big country music fan, but we are home to the largest rodeo in Canada, and we have a large agricultural region around us, you would think we had more then one Country station on FM

That aside, my perfence is QR77 or Q107.

1 country is too manyyyyy
XM is the way to go, no talking idiot dj's and no commericials.

[Jay in Cowtown]

[QUOTE=fatboy;2798312]1 country is too manyyyyy
XM is the way to go, no talking idiot dj's and no commericials.[/QUOTES]



Sirius is the best... There's no morning show like Howard!!!

[0773|=\]

I should also mention I listen a fair bit to CJSR in Edmonton (88.5) the U of A station.

Some of the shows are worthwhile, Tuesday afternoons, there is one called Backpocket Songbook, with an extremely good ecclectic blend of independent artists. This station also has one of the best bluegrass shows around on Thursday evenings, some prog-rock on Wednesday, folk-roots at various times during the week, and various genres that I'm less into, myself, but have very worthwhile playlists all throughout the week.

I don't mind if hosts talk a bit, but they need to sound intelligent-- particularly with regards to the music they're playing. They should also sound like they're actually talking to me, not this pretentious "look at me I'm so cool" kind of radio attitude...

[christopherj]

Originally Posted by 0773|=\

They're turning into an album-rock station like The Bear, or CJAY, and they'll only play indie groups when they're coming to town before dumping them again. I also can't understand the appeal of Garner Andrews. Does he actually ever sound like he's talking to you or does he just seem to be riding some make-believe ego of his?

Sadly, it's called making money. And now that Rogers owns the station, they want to make lots of it. The fact is Fall Out Boy, etc bring in more listeners (and therefore more money) than most indie bands.

Not sure what you mean about Garner. I find him to be great. Better than just about everything in the city (although I have a weak spot for Pepper and Dillon on the Bouce, although I don't like the music there).

The real gem on Sonic was Adam Thompson. He had great music knowledge, kept in short on the air while still being interesting/funny/informative as needed. Sonic has not been the same since he left.

[krazycanuck]

Originally Posted by Calalb

Has there been any news about a specific date for the launch?

no, radio stations are generally pretty secretive with long-term launch dates. This is just a recent story which I gathered this from:

Kent Newson Named Station Manager @ Rawlco Calgary
Ottawa ON from MMU

Kent Newson has resigned as Program Director for Majic 100 and 939 BOB FM in Ottawa.

He has accepted an opportunity with Rawlco to be the Station Manager at their new station in Calgary. He'll remain with CHUM Ottawa until the fall.

rereading this, perhaps a winter launch is more likely.

Originally Posted by Distill3d

What oddly disappoints me about Calgary FM radio is that there is only 1 country station while Edmonton has two (Big Earl and CSIN)...not that I'm a big country music fan, but we are home to the largest rodeo in Canada, and we have a large agricultural region around us, you would think we had more then one Country station on FM

That aside, my perfence is QR77 or Q107.

Edmonton actually has 3 with CFCW broadcasting from I believe it is Camrose. Calgary also has 2, with classic country on 1060. Unfortunately for Big Earl in Edmontonthey have never had much in the way of ratings since they launched. The listeners of CISN are much like Country 105 here (both Corus stations as well) in that they are pretty loyal and wouldnt be likely to change stations. Newcap might try to flip California to a country station once their initial CRTC licence is up as well.

Originally Posted by mersar

What will be interesting is to see how the market share changes, Vibe and CJay both got new direct competition that will probably eat a chunk of their listener base.
.

from the most recent ratings survey only X was online at this time, but there was a definate shake-up:

S1 07 S4 06 S3 06

CKRY 10.9 12.7 13.7 Country 105
CHFM 9.8 10.5 9.4 Lite 96
CFGQ 8.9 5.9 6.8 Q107
CJAY 8.9 12.4 12.3 Cjay 92
CIBK 8.8 8.9 11.0 Vibe 98.5
CKIS 8.2 9.7 9.3 Jack FM
CHQR 8.1 9.8 7.3 AM770
CBR 7.3 7.4 5.6 CBC radio 1
CFEX 3.9 x92.9
CFAC 3.8 2.4 2.0 Fan 960
CBRFM 3.5 3.4 2.8 CBC radio 2
CKMX 3.2 2.9 2.8 classic country 1060
CIQX 2.4 2.5 2.6 California
CFFR 1.9 1.5 1.5 660 news

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by krazycanuck

from the most recent ratings survey only X was online at this time, but there was a definate shake-up:

S1 07 S4 06 S3 06

CKRY 10.9 12.7 13.7 Country 105
CHFM 9.8 10.5 9.4 Lite 96
CFGQ 8.9 5.9 6.8 Q107
CJAY 8.9 12.4 12.3 Cjay 92
CIBK 8.8 8.9 11.0 Vibe 98.5
CKIS 8.2 9.7 9.3 Jack FM
CHQR 8.1 9.8 7.3 AM770
CBR 7.3 7.4 5.6 CBC radio 1
CFEX 3.9 x92.9
CFAC 3.8 2.4 2.0 Fan 960
CBRFM 3.5 3.4 2.8 CBC radio 2
CKMX 3.2 2.9 2.8 classic country 1060
CIQX 2.4 2.5 2.6 California
CFFR 1.9 1.5 1.5 660 news

I'll be very interested in seeing things shake up once the next ratings come out with all these new stations being represented.

At least now I can surf the stations and usually find something on that I can listen too. And anything with increased competition that can help rid us of Gerry Forbes is more than ok with me, there is a person that I just can't stand. And let us not forget he used to do the voice work for the radio ads for Point of View developments!!

[chenmau]

Musically, I think Sonic is better than x92.9. But they have Garner - and he's annoying. Not so annoying as Forbes, but annoying enough.
I listen to AM660 for the news.

[krazycanuck]

[QUOTE=chenmau;2799361]Musically, I think Sonic is better than x92.9. [QUOTE]

agreed 100%. Although I haven't listened to Sonic since they were taken over by Rogers, so that might have changed. From what I recall though Sonic played a bigger variety of music. X does not have a very large playlist in comparison and plays some artists that make me scratch my head as to why they are on an alternative rock station at all (see tragically hip).

[chenmau]

Originally Posted by krazycanuck

Although I haven't listened to Sonic since they were taken over by Rogers, so that might have changed.

I didn't hear about that. When did it happen?

[krazycanuck]

Originally Posted by chenmau

I didn't hear about that. When did it happen?

I believe it was about 6 months ago. They used to be independantly owned.

[Surferguy]

[QUOTE=krazycanuck;2800044][QUOTE=chenmau;2799361]Musically, I think Sonic is better than x92.9.

agreed 100%. Although I haven't listened to Sonic since they were taken over by Rogers, so that might have changed. From what I recall though Sonic played a bigger variety of music. X does not have a very large playlist in comparison and plays some artists that make me scratch my head as to why they are on an alternative rock station at all (see tragically hip).

X plays the hip because the Hip were the biggest Canadian act rolling through the nineties. See: DAY FOR NIGHT. And for a station that plays alot of popular nineties music (Nirvana, pearl jam and soundgarden etc) the tragically hip fit that time period and fill Canadian content. Not to mention that it is good music in general.

[yads]

Originally Posted by The Kid

No Forbes has been the best part. Couldn't take any more fart jokes!

Jerry Forbes is such a hack. I cannot believe he actually thinks he's funny. Anyone listen to Mike Richards on the Fan. It's gotten worse with the additions of Jenna and the new guy, but it still has some really funny bits.

[yads]

Originally Posted by Surferguy

X plays the hip because the Hip were the biggest Canadian act rolling through the nineties.

I think it has more to do with satisfying CANCON rules. This is why you hear the same Hip/Rush/Bryan Adams/BTO songs on the radio, over and over and over.

[chenmau]

Originally Posted by Surferguy

X plays the hip because the Hip were the biggest Canadian act rolling through the nineties. See: DAY FOR NIGHT. And for a station that plays alot of popular nineties music (Nirvana, pearl jam and soundgarden etc) the tragically hip fit that time period and fill Canadian content. Not to mention that it is good music in general.

I like the Hip, but there are so many Canadian acts that are truly independent and are considered alternative or modern rock that X could be playing. This is the biggest reason why they're not as good as Sonic: pure laziness. They don't want to try anything new.

[Surferguy]

^^^ well if you look to see the actual songs that are played on X in relation to the songs played on the other stations

example - CJAY and 107.3 - Hip - new orleans, blow at high dough, courage and Ahead by a Century

X- Grace too, greasy Jungle, pigeon camera

I agree that can con gets a huge over kill with pop bands (prime example with Nickleback) but X in regrads to the hip alone seems to play a few of the dark horses - which I like. They are not going to pump out the same three songs by the band because that was there "big hit."

All that said - x still has a way to go before it gets to bitchin status - I am still heavy on my Ipod...

[christopherj]

Originally Posted by chenmau

I didn't hear about that. When did it happen?

January 1, 2007.

The former owners were a private company with shareholders who wanted to retire, so they sold all of their Alberta radio stations to Rogers, and BC ones to some other company.

[Hootch]

I have to listen to the Bounce at work, and I swear if I hear "Girlfriend" one more time, I'm going to start mailing bombs to Avril Lavigne.

I'm totally kidding but she makes me want to rip my hair out. I can't stand that no-talent skank.