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  #1  
Old Posted Sep 2, 2008, 3:52 PM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
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Hamilton Media

this is possibly some good news today:

September 02, 2008
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
CHAM Radio is dropping country for talk.

The longtime Hamilton country music station at 820 on the am dial announced this morning at 8:20 that it is going all talk.

The station is owned by Astral Media. It's now called Talk 820.

Watch thespec.com for updates



Hopefully it's decent and adds some much needed competition to CHML.
Now if we can land a CBC station, we'd be getting somewhere.
Astral Media owns CKOC/K-Lite, but not the Main West batch of stations. Let's hope they offer different viewpoints and informed opinion, as opposed to just copying the Spec all the time.
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  #2  
Old Posted Sep 2, 2008, 4:04 PM
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I believe CBC wanted to work with CHAM for a CBC radio station in Hamilton. I guess these guys gave up on CBC and went alone.
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  #3  
Old Posted Sep 2, 2008, 4:23 PM
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I hope it takes on the same format as AM 680: All News, All Day... repeating themselves all day every day. Except with a Hamilton base, obvi.

AM 680's Weather & Traffic on the 1's is really convenient. Trying to get Hamilton Weather & Traffic from 900chml is annoying.
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  #4  
Old Posted Sep 2, 2008, 4:45 PM
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i also like the 680 format. it makes a lot of sense, especially when driving
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  #5  
Old Posted Sep 2, 2008, 5:01 PM
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CHAM Country goes all talk

September 02, 2008
By DOUG FOLEY
The Hamilton Spectator

Hamilton country music station 820 CHAM has headed to Boot Hill.

The venerable radio station dropped its country format yesterday after 25 years and rebranded itself  Talk 820 with a 24-hour schedule of talk shows.

“The bottom line is that music on AM radio is a dying breed,” said Tom Cooke, Astral Media Radio Hamilton Vice-President and General Manager.

“It’s a tough business and the ratings weren’t there on CHAM and there is only so long you can put up with it before you have to make a change.

“We are under a new owner going back to November and we were mandated to produce the best product we can and this was an option we presented and they told us to get our butts in gear and make it happen.”

The switch puts Talk 820 in direct competition with AM 900, Hamilton’s other talk station.

It was AM 900’s FM sister station, Country 95, that put the bullet in 820 CHAM’s country format.

The stations will find out how the new competition is working out when the fall radio ratings are released Nov. 27 by the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement.

Cooke said no jobs were lost in the radio switch, which has been three months in the planning.

The station’s new lineup mixes local broadcasters and syndicated material, including U.S. social comic and critic, Dennis Miller,  whose show will air on Saturdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. with a repeat Sunday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Talk 820 is sticking with long-time morning man Jason Farr, with new co-host Jodi Gaskell from 5 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.

Station traffic man Mike Nabuurs will handle the mid-day time slot and Dave Shuttleworth the drive home show.

Veteran news director Robyn Foley (no relation to this reporter) will host a half hour news magazine show Hamilton at Noon, on weekdays.

The station says programming will also feature traffic, weather and sports, including NFL night game broadcasts.

Cooke said TALK 820’s arrival will not have any affect on Astral’s two other Hamilton station, 1150 CKOC and 102.9 K-litefm.

Astral acquired the stations in November after it took over privately-held Standard Radio for $1.08 billion in cash and stock to the Slaight family for its 52 stations in five provinces. The deal made Astral the biggest radio broadcaster in Canada, ahead of Corus, which owns Country 95, AM 900  and Y-108 in Hamilton.

Suzanne Carpenter, general manager for the local Corus was not available for comment on Astral’s move.

Other programs on Talk 820 will include Coast to Coast, Monday to Sunday from 10 p.m. to midnight (and rebroadcast over night);   Ask The Experts with Mike Wyman and Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown at 6 p.m.; John Biggs and    Go-To Gadget Guy Leo Laporte
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  #6  
Old Posted Sep 2, 2008, 5:03 PM
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They got Prime Time Sports. That will help with the ratings. A lot of sport guys listen and watch Prime Time Sports with Bob McCown.
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Old Posted Sep 2, 2008, 6:47 PM
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Sounds like pretty typical talk radio format: cranky conservative blowhards punctuated by unfunny right-wing comedians (Dennis Miller), with a generous dollop of sports coverage and Sun Media style false populism. We can probably expect plenty of rambling, stream-of-consciousness rants against the Culture War bogeyman du jour with little by way of substantive analysis or real, constructive debate.

Unfortunately, demographics pretty much drive this format, since liberals will listen to conservative radio but conservatives will not listen to liberal radio.
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  #8  
Old Posted Sep 2, 2008, 7:27 PM
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geez....forget I even started this thread.
More of the same bullcrap. No good news in there at all.
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  #9  
Old Posted Sep 2, 2008, 10:33 PM
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And no chance of a CBC station under a Conservative government.
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  #10  
Old Posted Sep 2, 2008, 10:49 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by highwater View Post
And no chance of a CBC station under a Conservative government.
I thought that David Sweet, the Ancaster Tory MP was pushing for this.

Anyways, as a Hamiltonian I'd prefer massive CBC cutbacks or outright
privatization. It is not like they even have a CBC reporter even stationed
here anymore.
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  #11  
Old Posted Sep 2, 2008, 11:07 PM
FairHamilton FairHamilton is offline
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Anyways, as a Hamiltonian I'd prefer massive CBC cutbacks or outright privatization. It is not like they even have a CBC reporter even stationed here anymore.
Now, that's pretty narrow-minded. You mean you'd prefer all media to be run on advertiser driven station, and as such position their news/reporting based on not offending current or prospective advertising clients?

BTW, they had a segment on Saturday morning's Fresh Air highlighting day trips to Hamilton.
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Old Posted Sep 2, 2008, 11:44 PM
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Originally Posted by FairHamilton View Post
Now, that's pretty narrow-minded. You mean you'd prefer all media to be run on advertiser driven station, and as such position their news/reporting based on not offending current or prospective advertising clients?

BTW, they had a segment on Saturday morning's Fresh Air highlighting day trips to Hamilton.
I'd be willing to accept that yes, although with the caveat that sites like this one and raisethehammer are far better suited than at disseminating local Hamilton information than anything that comes under the aegis of the CRTC.

With regards to a single Fresh Air segment, I would say perhaps that you're a bit of a cheap date with the portion of your Hamilton tax dollars that go to the CBC and what one ends getting back from it. Sorry if it sounds like I'm being a jerk, but I've listened and watched the CBC enough to know that we rarely get mentioned (and we're certainly not the only community that gets ignored).

I should say that I don't really have a huge hate on for the CBC, but lately I've been thinking that strong centralized goverments both provincially and federally haven't really served Hamilton's interests as a non-capital city over the past few decades. With large government revenues, inevitably a huge chunk ends up being recycled in Toronto and Ottawa, benefitting those communities with public sector jobs, scads of lawyers and on and on. The US used to be better in this regard, but the massive military and government spending of late (and really since Reagan) has been fueling massive growth in the DC region. Generally now when I hear someone in the media extolling strong centralized governments in Canada I figure it is probably someone who lives in the Glebe.
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Old Posted Sep 3, 2008, 2:22 AM
FairHamilton FairHamilton is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drpgq View Post
With regards to a single Fresh Air segment, I would say perhaps that you're a bit of a cheap date with the portion of your Hamilton tax dollars that go to the CBC and what one ends getting back from it. Sorry if it sounds like I'm being a jerk, but I've listened and watched the CBC enough to know that we rarely get mentioned (and we're certainly not the only community that gets ignored).
Cheap date, huh. Well my life, travels and experiences extend past Hamilton's city limits. With your reasoning, it seems yours is limited.
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Old Posted Sep 3, 2008, 2:25 AM
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I'd prefer little or no profit-based media, but whatever.....
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Old Posted Sep 3, 2008, 12:31 PM
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I think a far bigger 'crime' in Hamilton is CHCH being the E! Network.

There was a time when they produced their own programs, and had a closer connection to the community than they appear to have currently.

And they are located within the city.
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Old Posted Sep 3, 2008, 2:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by drpgq View Post
I thought that David Sweet, the Ancaster Tory MP was pushing for this.
Sweet himself was supportive, but his government refused to follow the heritage committee's recommendation to extend CBC funding for more regional broadcasting such as Hamilton. If your're miffed at the CBC because they don't cover Hamilton, you should be directing your ire at the government which consistently underfunds it. CBC brass would like nothing more than to set up a radio station here.

Last edited by highwater; Sep 3, 2008 at 2:37 PM. Reason: additional comment
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Old Posted Sep 3, 2008, 2:52 PM
raisethehammer raisethehammer is offline
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Originally Posted by FairHamilton View Post
I think a far bigger 'crime' in Hamilton is CHCH being the E! Network.

There was a time when they produced their own programs, and had a closer connection to the community than they appear to have currently.

And they are located within the city.
absolutely.
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  #18  
Old Posted Sep 3, 2008, 5:01 PM
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I'm waiting for the first person to say, "You mean that quality program, The Kardashians isn't about a local family......"

It proves a local address and a newsroom doesn't make a TV station local ............ Global blows for what they've done to CH.
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Old Posted Sep 3, 2008, 6:01 PM
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I tried listening to 820 today and was all ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz
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  #20  
Old Posted Sep 3, 2008, 7:36 PM
drpgq drpgq is offline
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Originally Posted by FairHamilton View Post
Cheap date, huh. Well my life, travels and experiences extend past Hamilton's city limits. With your reasoning, it seems yours is limited.
Thanks for your insightful comments on an idea I was trying to flesh out.

What I'm interested in and I didn't explain fully is the idea that Hamilton is subject to strong forces of city primitization with regards to Toronto and Ottawa and what Hamilton can do to combat these forces from making us into more of a bedroom community than we already are. I realize that these centralizing forces aren't just governmental.

With regards to such centralizing forces in the media in Hamilton, Torstar is a perfect example. It owns the Spec, the Star, the KW record and so on. The Spec doesn't even have a fulltime Queen's Park reporter, relying on joint Torontocentric coverage from Coyle and before that Urquhart. Every once in a while Hamilton will get mentioned, but it is usually only a few sentences. Dreschel covers provincial issues too, but a full timer would be better. Obviously newspapers across North America have been cutting back on reporting, but I think that Hamilton loses out on relations with the provincial government when our issues aren't discussed properly.

Commercially in Hamilton, I'm envious of the regionalization of the banks in the US. I'm amazed when I look at the fact that Buffalo (which I admit I'm guilty of deriding at times) has the M&T bank headquartered there, which is fairly sizable with almost 14,000 employees. All across the US there are a litany of regional banks catering to their communities. In Canada we have the big five pretty much, with most of the good employment and decision making concentrated in Toronto. I certainly think that if over the last twenty years communities like Hamilton, London, Windsor and Sudbury had their own regional banks, their local economies would be better off.

Talking about government centralization again, raisethehammer has often commented how in the past Hamilton was an important city in Ontario in relation to some other smaller cities. What are the factors that have led to Hamilton's relative decline over the years? Obviously the decline in local manufacturing from Studebaker on has been critical, but Toronto has lost plenty of manufacturing jobs itself. However over that time, Toronto has benefited from a substantial increase in the government's share of GDP in that time period and the spoils that go with it. Ottawa was a relatively sleepy place until the Trudeau years and has obviously benefited from the increase in the relative size of the federal government to the rest of the economy. I don't have a PhD in geography or the economic history of Ontario, so I'm no expert, but I am interested in these factors and what they have meant to Hamilton and what they will mean going forward.

Finally with regard to the CBC, I think it is a microcosm of how government centralization has benefited Toronto economically, partially at the expense of Hamilton and other communities, regardless of the inherent value of the service. From wikipedia the CBC employed approximately 6000 employees in 2005, which I'm guessing a decent chunk of that is in Toronto. I remember a number of years ago Paul Wilson interviewed the last CBC reporter in Hamilton as he was packing up his office, as they were closing it down. I'm not exactly sure when that was, but I'm pretty sure it was during the Chretien years, so it seems that unfortunately no government has made CBC service in Hamilton
much of a priority. Would I like to see the CBC decentralized somewhat, with a shiny studio on Gore Park and 50 employees telling the stories of Hamilton, Burlington and Niagara? Unlikely, no doubt, but I'd love to see it.

While I'm dreaming I would love to see a provincial ministry with its HQ here (maybe there is one I don't know about) and I'm glad that CANMET is coming although I'm disappointed at how long it has taken. I'll admit that I could well be wrong that increasing governmental, media and commercial centralization has hurt Hamilton over the years, but I think it is worth discussing and what if anything we can do as a city to move forward.

And just one final point, living and working in Germany for three years and observing the relative decentralization that government and industry have across the country and the constituent Bundeslande made me see how centralized some institutions in Canada really are and got me thinking about Hamilton in that regard.
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