Pouncing on an opportunity left by the shutdown of CINW, CJAD has picked up the syndicated overnight program Coast to Coast AM, which used to air on 940. It will occupy the overnight hours on CJAD starting Monday, March 1.
Chris Bury, CJAD’s program director, said he has been “swamped by e-mails and calls from Montrealers demanding we add this program.”
“We added Coast to Coast AM to the lineup so we would have more live programming overnight and consistent programming seven nights a week.”
These comments were echoed in an Astral Media press release issued today.
The added program bumps off Last Call with Sol Boxenbaum, a local late-night program. Boxenbaum didn’t respond to an email from me, but told Radio in Montreal’s Sheldon Harvey that “It was a decision of CJAD and for the record I had a passion for the show and the audience that was genuine and I would never have quit.”
Update: Boxenbaum emails me:
My phone and e mail have been bombarded with calls from listeners who are confused as to why i was not on air after Tuesday. Some think I am ill with a sore throat. CJAD has been swamped with calls too. Nothing like what is likely going to follow after reality sets in to my listeners that they would be listening to syndicated radio from Monday on. I hope that Coast to Coast does as much for CJAD that it did for 940 radio under the guidance of PD Chris Bury. TG Gord Sinclair didn’t have to see this time in history. Never send a boy to do a man’s job.
I have just read through a lot of the back-and-forth commentaries here re: Boxenbaum and ‘lastcallwithsol’.
I find it amazing that 2 or 3 “writers” seem to be spewing so much venom at one radio host, without even considering the state of late-night radio, Montreal. Perhaps these individuals have some personal reasons underlying their need to ATTACK so consistently.
However, an overall reading of the comments on this site clearly indicates that a great many listeners do not agree with these few vitriolic senders. There appears to be a solid support base made up of the vast number of people who did like his show, did like his format, and did appreciate the good that he did for Montreal and for listeners in general in the four years he was on air at CJAD.
I would like to refer to comments on the posting by Jacques (Laprairie) May 22. This is a very intelligent response to many of the wild and free-floating opinions being flaunted by the “conspicuous few”. Without any need to rant or make insulting statements, Jacques (like many of the other commenters) discussed the issues at hand in a reasonable and rational manner.
It is unfortunate that there seem to be no dissenters or detractors of Sol out there willing to attempt to use this forum as an opportunity to intelligently discuss issues. Instead, they choose rather to exress their extremely negative, personal opinions of the host. In doing so, and expose the fact that they quite clearly miss the whole point of programming choices.
PS: I wonder if any of them realizes how blatantly this revealsl a great deal more about themselves. . . than about Sol . . .
Frist of all I agree the comment to reflect a lot about ourselves. What you do not seem to realize is Boxenbomb’s show was on an amateur radio level. Cjad had made the decision to dump him before Coast to Coast came along. It speaks volumnes that every other station is not interested in him even though there has been probably more radio host opportunites than in the past 10 years. Mikes radio even stated an additional new Fm radio station one month ago and would not even give him a interview. It seems ironic that if you do not like a radio host, whether it is Howard Stern, or Dan Laxer the people on this site
seem to feel you are not entited to express your opiinion. I have my view and you have yours. I know Canada is not a free speech country just ask Anne Coulter or the people arrested at the G20 or the comic Guy Earle. I will now invoke a common Boxenbomb phrase “Let’s agree to disagree”
I wanted to keep this comment separate from some of the others regarding Vipinternetradio.com. This weekend it was buzzing and I was invited by a friend who was hired a host to come by. they have some great shows coming up which are very exciting as they recorded them on Saturday. They also have a major ad campaign coming up in the beginning of September. So lets all be positve about the new station and wish them luck
Well the world is unfolding the way it should. Guy Lafleur is NOT guilty and cjad has had some fresh voices on the air plus the new station VIP internet is coming along. They recently had a grand opening plus they launched a new UFO show was launched with a lot of people showing up. It was quite a happening! I understand they have a few more shows being added so everything is comming along. Congrats to everyone involved!
Yes Rob things are going well in Montreal with grey cup and the Habs plus the toronto maple leafs in the cellar again. Vip radio is going great guns with jazz music and their BACK STAGE PASS show which is excellent
To whom it may concern
I do not like your program coast yo coast. All you talk about is aliens or ghosts. Why dont you have the talk show coming from Montreal like we had before with Sol. It wa much better. We dont have enogh english stations here and you broadcast from Los Angeles. Why dont you stick to Canadian comments.
Thanks for writing to CJAD, Louise. You make some excellent points and we will follow your suggestions effective immediately. Sol will be back from midnight to 6 a.m. seven nights a week. And we will ONLY allow callers from Montreal. We all secretely hate Los Angeles too, but they might win the Cup this year.