Weeks after ratings showed a surprising surge for CHMP 98.5, which suddenly vaulted into the top position among Montreal radio stations, the Cogeco-owned talk station is beefing up its weekend lineup slightly.
The company announced this week it is adding three new hosts for weekend programming on the station: Eric Arson, who will host music programming in the afternoons, Mario Langlois who will host an hour-long sports talk show on Sundays, and Isabelle Ménard who will do overnights Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Though 98.5 has a strong lineup on weekdays, as well as weekday evenings since sports programming moved there from CKAC, its weekends are mostly music, which competes poorly with established music stations.
The new schedule doesn’t change that much. Guy Simard and Sylvain Ménard keep their weekend shows as is, and much of the schedule is still devoted to music (particularly when the Canadiens aren’t playing).
One would think there would be more sports or talk programming they could air on weekends, rather than continue to leave it to mostly music.
Here’s how the schedule change compares to what it was previously (changes in bold). The new schedule took effect Jan. 21.
Saturday
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| 12am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Quart de nuit (Isabelle Ménard) |
| 1am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Quart de nuit (Isabelle Ménard) |
| 2am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Quart de nuit (Isabelle Ménard) |
| 3am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Quart de nuit (Isabelle Ménard) |
| 4am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
| 5am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
| 6am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
| 7am | Que le Québec se lève (Guy Simard) | Que le Québec se lève (Guy Simard) |
| 8am | Que le Québec se lève (Guy Simard) | Que le Québec se lève (Guy Simard) |
| 9am | Que le Québec se lève (Guy Simard) | Que le Québec se lève (Guy Simard) |
| 10am | On aura tout vu (Sylvain Ménard) | On aura tout vu (Sylvain Ménard) |
| 11am | On aura tout vu (Sylvain Ménard) | On aura tout vu (Sylvain Ménard) |
| 12pm | Souvenirs garantis (Denis Grondin) | Fan de musique (Eric Arson) |
| 1pm | Souvenirs garantis (Denis Grondin) | Fan de musique (Eric Arson) |
| 2pm | Souvenirs garantis (Denis Grondin) | Fan de musique (Eric Arson) |
| 3pm | Souvenirs garantis (Denis Grondin) | Fan de musique (Eric Arson) |
| 4pm | Souvenirs garantis (Denis Grondin) | Fan de musique (Eric Arson) |
| 5pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Fan de musique (Eric Arson) |
| 6pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
| 7pm | Canadiens (when playing) | Canadiens (when playing) |
| 8pm | Canadiens (when playing) | Canadiens (when playing) |
| 9pm | Canadiens (when playing) | Canadiens (when playing) |
| 10pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
| 11pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
Sunday
| Before | After | |
|---|---|---|
| 12am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Quart de nuit (Isabelle Ménard) |
| 1am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Quart de nuit (Isabelle Ménard) |
| 2am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Quart de nuit (Isabelle Ménard) |
| 3am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Quart de nuit (Isabelle Ménard) |
| 4am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
| 5am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
| 6am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
| 7am | Que le Québec se lève (Guy Simard) | Que le Québec se lève (Guy Simard) |
| 8am | Que le Québec se lève (Guy Simard) | Que le Québec se lève (Guy Simard) |
| 9am | Que le Québec se lève (Guy Simard) | Que le Québec se lève (Guy Simard) |
| 10am | Paroles de politiciens (Louis Lacroix) | Paroles de politiciens (Louis Lacroix) |
| 11am | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Les amateurs de sports week-end (Mario Langlois) |
| 12pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Fan de musique (Eric Arson) |
| 1pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Fan de musique (Eric Arson) |
| 2pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Fan de musique (Eric Arson) |
| 3pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Fan de musique (Eric Arson) |
| 4pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Fan de musique (Eric Arson) |
| 5pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Fan de musique (Eric Arson) |
| 6pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
| 7pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
| 8pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
| 9pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
| 10pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
| 11pm | Souvenirs garantis (music) | Music |
Bravo pour vos articles sur le monde de la radio! J’aime beaucoup vous lire! Longue vie à votre blogue !
I feel for Denis Grondin, you to love him at the time , when he was at CHOM.
I am not entirely clear how going from canned network music source to “DJ with a name” music is a big improvment. I find it especially odd that they think the midnight to 3 AM time is so freaking important, but that 6 pm to midnight isn’t.
I think their only step up is the “fan du sport” show. They could probably do with an hour or two of that before the Canadians games on Saturday night. Considering they merged one 18 hour a day sports radio station with one 15 hour a day blah-blah-blah station, you would think they could find 18 hours a day of stuff to put on air.
On Saturdays, the evenings are filled with Canadiens games. Sundays might also be kept clear for live sports. And the overnight show isn’t exclusive to CHMP. It’s also carried on CKRS (FM98) in Saguenay and CJMF (FM93) in Quebec City.