Two and a half months after Natasha Hall left 92.5 The Beat with a mysterious new gig lined up that she couldn’t talk about, we finally know what it is: She’s taking over, along with Jon Pole, as the hosts of the weeknight talk show on CJAD, which replaces The Exchange as of next week.
The Exchange’s current hosts, Dave Kaufman and Dan Delmar, are both leaving that job. Kaufman is moving to London to be with his girlfriend and Delmar is taking a step back to focus on his PR business.
The new show is called The Night Side, and begins Monday at 8pm, CJAD announced. Pole hosts Mondays and Tuesdays and Hall hosts the rest of the week.
Pole, who founded My Broadcasting Corporation and has experience as a radio host mainly in Ontario, filled in a couple of times on The Exchange. You can hear one of his shows here:
https://soundcloud.com/the-exchange-cjad/the-exchange-with-jon-pole-september-6-2016
Does evening radio get measured in the ratings reports? Does anyone listen?
Yes and yes.
I do listen to evening radio but not all the time. So I’m sure people listen.
If what I heard of Jon Pole during his passage at the helm of The Exchange in September is what we can expect with this new show, I will be looking for another station to listen to on weeknights. The level of discussion on his shows were of the type I’d expect on a CEGEP radio station. His “Let’s call people in the U.S. named Angus Reid” was sophomoric at best.
I think that CJAD Program director Chris Bury squandered a chance to give someone like Toula Drimonis, who’s filled in quite a few times on the Exchange, a more permanent spot. She brings a smart and varied perspective to issues and would have given CJAD a different take on the questions of the day.
Besides CJAD your only choice for talk radio becomes CBC Radio One 88.5FM but you lose all local aspects weeknights.
Toula Drimonis? Oh please! She screwed up when she was running the weeklies at Transcontinental publications..
She was either let go or left on her own before they would have given the axe.
She might be OK on ethnic media, but too out there on mainstream major media, maybe go in a small market to hone her craft.
At any rate, if not playing music or broadcasting play by play, the evening shift is virtually a graveyard shift.. And probably more so if being run by Bell.
CJAD continues to flail around looking for a solution to their evening ratings issues. They face a basic issue that the vast majority of their listeners coming out of the Aaron Rand show stop listening when they park the car and go into the house, and don’t come back until morning.
If they were on FM, they could probably do better just playing music. As an AM station, that’s pretty much NOT going to work out. So they keep trying different types of talk radio shows, and for the most part they fail to really get any more traction than anything else they have had in that time period.
One of the reasons I think is that CJAD spent a very long time training their listeners that their evening shows were unimportant compared to various sports, especially hockey. They have a lot of work to do to overcome that issue.
I also think they need to overcome “news talk fatigue”. Having gone at the issues all day, especially in the 9AM to 6PM cycle, they may have already burned out most of the talkable stuff.
Good luck to the new players. For Natasha Hall, I hope that this is just a small warm up gig before she gets moved into a more useful daytime period. The CJAD lunch time ratings aren’t as good as they could be, and perhaps changing it up with a younger female voice might make a difference. Don’t be shocked if a reasonable evening performance turns into a daytime gig by the time spring ratings period comes around.
What a cluster-F of a show!
Agreed w/ the news talk fatigue comment! Jon Pole was on all week and it was enjoyable. Big step up from the Exchange. Given time, may have possibilities.
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Ive been listening to CJAD 800 AM since i was 11 yrs old back in 1968….Blackman,Balcan,Gord Sinclair.Bill Haldermann(weatherman)Jack finnigan,..Neil McKenty Dave Fisher Rick Leckner traffic reports..Its on everyday……MY FAVORITE was Gord at Noon awwe schucks…It brings me back to a time in I was a boy..The talent has been nothing but the best Montreal has to offer.And YES it is the Voice of English Montreal….However after the Noon news The moment the news ends I switch it off right away and listen to CBC or CFRA in Ottawa…I simpley cant listen to Natasha Hall…All she babbles about is things that dont really matter..Millennial things at make me want to change stations..I have never done this before…she whines and really didnt have something to add to my day at all..She should not be in the Noon Slot at all…Please bring in some new blood…BTW..Aaron Rand is Gold smart..quick..I always learn something…he is great…And Jon Pole is awesome everynight he is on..he is a breath of fresh air and unique,Dry humour and very hipp…His Show is always interesting….But Miss Hall boring,dull and too much Millennial family life my kids need this….I dont want your personal life…Im a guy…….I really do enjoy CJAD its in my veins….But after 12 noon new.I click her off until 2pm when Evan Solomon appears…then Aaron Rand then Jon Pole……SINCE im not a morning person anymore(wHEN i WAS WORKING AS A FIREFIGHTER I always listen to Andrew Carter too..Another Gem and Awesome Host…..Please Let Aaron and Jon know and Andrew they deserve credit and I enjoy them everyday……And God bless Gord!!!Was the best!!!!!
BTW I like Barry Morgan..was sad to see him go…..Good luck Barry Hope you find another radio job….