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Category Archives: Radio

DiMonte to do noon-hour Q92 show from Calgary

August 25, 2008 – 2:53 pm | Also posted in Montreal, Opinion
Ad for Terry DiMonte in Monday's Gazette

Ad for Terry DiMonte in Monday's Gazette

Corus announced today that Terry DiMonte, the former CHOM morning man who left for Q107 in Calgary because CHOM wasn’t prepared to offer him a long-term contract, will return to Montreal’s airwaves starting Sept. 8 with a noon-hour talk/music show on Q92.

What’s missing from Corus’s press release, and the Presse Canadienne rewriting of it, is that DiMonte isn’t physically returning to Montreal. He’s still hosting his morning show in Calgary. Only now, after his morning shift, he’ll stay in studio and do the Montreal show remotely.

This isn’t the first time that a broadcaster has done “local” programming remotely and tried to fool people (Joe Cannon was famous for it and Global Quebec is introducing it), but the fact that Corus left it out of its press release suggests that their goal is to deliberately mislead Montreal listeners.

Fortunately, I’m relatively confident DiMonte has the moral fortitude not to outright lie to his listeners (saying “here in Montreal” or pretending his weather is the same as ours).

The Gazette’s Bill Brownstein has more.

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Want to host CBC’s Radio Noon?

August 18, 2008 – 5:14 pm | Also posted in Montreal

There’s an opening. I guess that means the current host isn’t coming back (perhaps putting too much faith in a Cory Doctorow endorsement).

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CJLO begins early testing on 1690 AM

August 1, 2008 – 4:33 pm | Also posted in Montreal

Radio watchers around town are noticing some strange noises high up on the AM dial. CJLO, Concordia University’s student radio station, has finally got equipment setup to begin broadcasting on its assigned frequency, 1690kHz, and is beginning tests.

The CJLO saga goes way back to about 2001, when a real campaign to get it on the airwaves began. A Concordia Student Union vice-president remarked at the time that he expected it to be on the air by the end of the school year or 2003 at the latest. The station submitted its application to the CRTC in 2004 for use of the 1690kHz frequency, and the application was approved in March 2006, giving it 24 months to begin broadcasting (they were granted an extension to Oct. 1, 2008).

The antenna is erected and connected in a mud pit in Lachine, just down the hill from the station’s Loyola home. The station is currently limited to short, 5-minute tests (mostly generated tones to test reception and range) until an inspector arrives to do his thing. Once that’s done at the end of August, the station can begin full testing and launch in the fall.

More from the CJLO AM blog.

Now, does anyone have an AM radio lying around? More importantly, one recent enough to have the extended AM band that CJLO is in?

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L. Ian MacDonald fired (from CJAD)

July 23, 2008 – 2:45 am | Also posted in Media

Noted political commentator and former Mulroney speechwriter L. Ian MacDonald has disappeared from CJAD, according to The Gazette, which strangely couldn’t get in touch with one of its own columnists for comment.

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940 union upset at “fire everyone” plan

July 8, 2008 – 4:01 pm | Also posted in Montreal, Opinion

The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union has swiftly moved to denounce the 940 News layoffs, only a month after the fact and a week after the station’s new format launched. Specifically, they’re complaining that the change violates the station’s CRTC license, which establishes an all-news format (at least I’m pretty sure it does — I can’t find the conditions of license on the CRTC website).

But if the TQS situation showed us anything, it’s that the CRTC’s programming requirements for station licenses have an unwritten “it’s not making us enough money” exemption. So not only can you slash staff and radically change a format without getting a license amendment, you can do so without consulting the CRTC, and simply ask for a format change after the fact.

Until the CRTC grows some balls, expect more of these kinds of moves: money-losing broadcasters unilaterally switching to cheap, lowest-common-denominator formats and laying off all but a skeleton staff.

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MP3 isn’t good enough for Corus

June 25, 2008 – 3:26 am

Corus stations in Montreal, including 940 Hits and Q92, have started streaming online feeds from their stations in Dolby AAC format, judging that 128kbps MP3 is just too lossy for the picky tastes of their listeners.

Listeners won’t notice any difference at all, since the streaming is done through a flash player and only the most insanely picky of audiophiles will think high-quality MP3 is too lossy. And those people won’t be listening to the crap music that comes out of 940 or Q92.

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Natasha has a new job

June 24, 2008 – 1:01 pm | Also posted in Media, TV

Natasha Aimée Hall, who won 940 News’s Talk Show Idol and was hosting a show on Sundays until the station as a whole went under, is now working for CTV, co-hosting its Entertainment Spotlight program with perennial Mirror Tackiest Personality winner Mosé Persico.

I’ll let her explain the rest:

I shot my first show last Thursday and it will air this Sunday, June 29 at 6:30. Here’s hoping I didn’t do anything really weird on camera! I can only hope because shooting was a total blur. Doing it all again this Friday.

I’ll be doing jazz fest blogging again for the Gazoo (can’t believe that starts on Thursday!) and I’m still waiting to find out what the future holds for me at Corus Quebec.

Natasha blogged the Jazz Fest as a freelancer for the Gazette last year.

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We never get enough of Rod Stewart

June 17, 2008 – 3:21 am | Also posted in Montreal, Web design

As if 940 AM couldn’t get more pathetic, I give you the new AM 940 non-News website. Almost makes you want to cry.

Official “launch” of the new, crappy station is scheduled for July 1.

Meanwhile, I should mention there have been rather large, visible ads for CBC Radio One and CJAD in the Gazette suggesting that people listen to them for news and information. Hint, hint.

UPDATE (June 18): Mike Boone today has a hilariously scathing review of 940’s new format:

The Mozart Requiem was composed in 1791. But its sombre, funereal tones would be perfect for a radio format that will be DOA.

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940 News switching formats, slashing staff

June 6, 2008 – 4:29 pm | Also posted in Montreal

Workers at 940 News (including host Dennis Trudeau above) came in today to find out that the station is switching to an all-music “greatest hits” format as of the end of next week, eliminating its news division and most of its anchors.

18 people, including 14 journalists, will be out of a job.

Apparently the week’s notice they did get wasn’t the company’s idea. They had to spill the beans because of a leak.

Info 690 is unaffected.

UPDATE: Here’s the Gazette story from Paul Delean. Dennis Trudeau is out of a job. And here’s 940’s announcement. And a Canadian Press story.

The change takes effect 8pm next Friday.

UPDATE (June 10): Host Jim Duff says his goodbye.

UPDATE (June 11): From Mike Cohen of the Suburban:

940 Montreal officially becomes AM 940 — the Greatest Hits on Friday night. While the station let a lot of staff go, staying put are program director Chris Bury, newscasters Barry Morgan and Caroline Phaneuf and traffic reporters Greg Charlebois and Sean McMahon. I will miss the talk format, but I look forward to hearing the greatest hits from the 60s, 70s and 80s…

UPDATE (June 13): It’s over. CBC discusses how this move relates to the overall gutting of private broadcaster newsrooms in Canada.

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The Mario Dumont Show

May 15, 2008 – 1:45 am

Mario Dumont is getting his own eight-minute weekly show on Corus radio stations in Quebec, following Premier Jean Charest’s 10-minute weekly radio address.

Can’t be any worse than what’s already on Quebec talk radio, I guess…

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Vogels to talk dirty on CBC Radio

May 10, 2008 – 12:55 am | Also posted in Media, Montreal, Opinion

Ex-Montrealer Josey Vogels, who was replaced as Hour’s sex columnist in October but is still doing weekly columns on sex and dating, will be joining CBC Radio One, where she gets her own “sexuality” show called Between You and Me.

That was part of a lineup announcement that included an interesting-obit show hosted by Gordon Pinsent, as well as a multiculturalism identity show hosted by CBC Montreal’s Geeta Nadkarni (CBC’s article calls her “Geeta Nadkami”).

The news about Vogels’s new show comes coincidentally at the same time we hear that Torontonian sex superstar Sue Johanson will be hanging up the dildo and retiring from full-time sex advising and ending her show’s run on the Oxygen network.

Roberts revisited

Speaking of Vogels, her replacement at Hour, Laura Roberts, asked me to critique her column. I admit that I’ve stopped reading Hour and Mirror regularly because they don’t have RSS feeds and have a very small news-to-advertising ratio.

So I perused through the archives, and I’m not entirely sure what to make of it. It’s a bit wordy, a bit opinionative (in the sense of spouting opinions without much analysis or research to back them up), and a bit too focused on the author’s personal life. These are all fairly common for new columnists still trying to figure out what works, and even then it may appeal to others more than it does to me.

In the end, even though it’s been six months already, it’s still a bit too early to tell if the column works or not. It’s definitely not Josey, nor should it be.

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The real culprit

April 25, 2008 – 2:10 am | Also posted in Canadiens, Montreal, Video

I think we’ve found the real reason there was a riot around Crescent St. on Monday night: Bilal and CHOM’s Hockeyville (not to be confused with CBC/Kraft Hockeyville). Time to repent, Bilal…

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Team 990, RadCan to air Impact games

April 11, 2008 – 4:57 am | Also posted in Montreal, Sports, TV

The Montreal Impact (you know, one of our other sports teams) has signed deals with Radio-Canada and The Team 990 to air games this season.

The Team 990 will air all 15 Impact home games throughout the season and all playoff games, with CTV regular Brian Wilde doing the play-by-play. He’ll be joined by former Impact player Grant Needham and The Team’s Noel Butler, who will also host a weekly, one-hour soccer show beginning in May. The same is the case for the 2009 season. The station is the team’s only English broadcaster. 

Radio-Canada will air 10 games (9 home games and one away game) on TV, online and on Sirius satellite radio. Play-by-play will be done by Claude Quenneville, with Guillaume Dumas on analysis and Marie-José Turcotte, Marc Durand and Andrea Di Pietrantonio hosting. Radio-Canada is the team’s only television broadcaster, and “could” also air the playoffs.
The Impact’s home opener, which will be covered by both stations, is May 19, playing host to the Vancouver Whitecaps. The first game of the season is Saturday at Vancouver.

Home games are also on CKAC and all games available at USLlive.com (if you’re willing to pay for it)

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Mix 96’s solid news judgment

April 10, 2008 – 10:07 pm | Also posted in Canadiens, Web design

Top sports story on Mix 96’s website tonight: “Sharapova beats Garrigues to advance at Bausch & Lomb Championships”

It’s not like anything more important happened or anything.

(I realize nobody’s going to go to Mix 96’s website as their source for news, which just makes me ask why they bother subscribing to Associated Press in the first place)

UPDATE: For good measure, the Team 990’s website’s current top sports story: “Jets agree to long-term deal with Rhodes” (and I can’t find out more details because their website is misconfigured)

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Frank McCormick retires from CBC Radio

March 7, 2008 – 5:27 pm | Also posted in Montreal

Exactly one week ago as I write this, Frank McCormick read his last newscast for CBC Radio One in Montreal.

Though you might not recognize the name if you’re not a die-hard fan, you’ve probably heard his voice. McCormick, who has worked in radio for more than four decades, has a booming made-for-radio-news voice that’s given the station an air of authority for years now.

On CBC’s Homerun last week, the final half-hour of the broadcast (after his final news report of the afternoon) was dedicated to celebrating his life and career.

The website has archived both the newscast and the half-hour special for those who want to listen after the fact. Unfortunately they’re in streaming RealAudio format (RealAudio? Seriously?), and my efforts to convert it into something else have failed:

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A new radio station in Vaudreuil

February 25, 2008 – 3:16 am | Also posted in Montreal

The CRTC is accepting comments about an application they’ve kind of already approved for a new radio station in Vaudreuil.

The station, CJDV-FM, would broadcast at 1,000W on 100.1 MHz (the station was forced to pick a new frequency after another one, Canadian Hellenic Cable Radio Ltd., was given the 106.3 MHz channel). That power is better than nothing, but you’ll be lucky if you can hear it from the West Island. The further you go south, the more interference problems with WBTZ (99.9 The Buzz) in Plattsburgh, New York, which puts out 100 times more power.

The station will be low-budget, low-power, and the only one based in Vaudreuil-Dorion. Its focus will be on local news and oldies music.

More details in articles last year in Première Édition and L’Étoile.

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Terry DiMonte’s secure financial future

February 13, 2008 – 11:34 pm

The Calgary Herald has a profile of Terry DiMonte and Peppermint Patti in their new jobs as morning hosts at Q107 FM in Calgary. It discusses a bit of their history in Montreal, his challenges ahead and the fact that he missed half his first month sick.

You’ll recall DiMonte left CHOM FM here in November for a financially secure job at Q107 which pays him (according to the Herald’s sources) a sweet $450,000 a year, guaranteed for five years. (And really, who wouldn’t eat a steaming pile of dog poo for that kind of cash?)

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Bienvenue aux écouteurs de Rythme FM

January 25, 2008 – 8:39 am | Also posted in Montreal, Navel-gazing

Pour les gens qui m’ont entendu ce matin à Les matins de Montréal de Rythme FM, voici un lien vers ma carte des structures au Québec:

At-risk overpasses

Légende:

  • ROUGE: structures démolis, fermés ou qui vont être remplacés
  • JAUNE: structures dont la ministère a décidé de faire des travaux majeures ou qui ont encore des restrictions de poids
  • VERT: structures qui ont passé l’inspection et n’ont pas besoin de travaux ni restrictions
  • BLEU: structures dont l’inspection n’est past complet ou un décision n’est pas encore publié

D’autres liens utiles:

Autres pensées:

  • J’ai jamais pensé que le Courrier international à décidé que je suis un “ailleurs” ici. (En regardant le blogue encore, c’est plutôt parce que je suis anglophone, et il aime mon blogue alors j’ai rien contre lui)
  • Ma mère n’est pas fâché contre moi pour le truc “Jim FM” (je savais pas qu’ils lisait mon blogue en direct!). Mais elle pense que j’étais un peu nerveux. C’est vrai, mais j’étais plutôt fatigué!
  • Ma carte n’est pas à 100%, ça prend un autre mise-à-jour fini!
  • Je retourne à mon lit maintenant.

(Voici un enregistrement “rush” de baisse qualité de l’entrevue. Je vais le remplacer par un plus meilleur: .mp3, .ogg)

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CRTC looking at eliminating top-40 radio restrictions

January 6, 2008 – 4:33 pm | Also posted in Opinion

In one of those “we have a law for that?” moments, the CRTC has decided to (again) take a look at a rather archaic regulation they have that limits FM radio stations on the use of “top 40 hits.”

The regulation was created to protect AM Top 40 stations from the FM Radio Menace that sought to kill them off with their better sound. Sure enough, now AM stations are disappearing, being replaced with talk radio, all-news stations, all-sports stations and some community and student radio stations. Portable music players are being built with FM-only tuners (where radio tuners are built-in at all), which will lead to further erosion of the AM listening base.

What does this law say about our radio broadcasting industry? Sadly, radio stations are failing to realize that having a 1,000-song playlist and virtually no indie content or DJ autonomy means that nobody wants to listen to your stations. Now they’re really starting to feel it as people tune to podcasts, Internet radio and songs they’ve ripped from their own CD collection.

I certainly hope their solution to that problem isn’t “more top 40 hits.”

Deadline for comments is March 4.

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Info 800 to be stripped of its info

January 3, 2008 – 6:46 pm | Also posted in Sports

CHRC Info 800, the Quebec City version of Info 690/940 News, is going to be eliminating its news-gathering operation by firing all its journalists, a move which journalists aren’t too pleased about.

Ironically, Info 800 is being sold to local interests (including Patrick Roy) by Corus Entertainment for $282,177.40, becoming one of the few locally-owned media outlets there. It’s the new owners who want to make the cuts, despite reassuring the CRTC that the takeover wouldn’t reduce local programming (they even referenced the “montrealization of the airwaves” in their submission as an argument in favour of the purchase), and that they didn’t expect any journalists to be affected:

Exceprt from CRTC-2007-1374-4

The idea is to turn Quebec City’s only remaining AM station into a news/sports talk station, with emphasis on sports. Its schedule will be all-sports in the afternoons and evenings, and the station would cover local sports events such as Rouge et Or university football games and Roy’s Quebec Remparts junior hockey team.

CHRC proposed schedule

The request for transfer of ownership of the station will be heard by the CRTC on Feb. 26 in Vancouver. Submissions are due by Jan. 23.

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