Coverage area of proposed FM station in Hudson/St. Lazare provided by Dufferin Communications

Is Hudson part of Montreal?

I'm not asking on a technical level, but more on a psychological one. Do people in that triangle between Montreal and the Ontario border consider themselves part of the metropolitan area, or part of their own region? There's a train that comes once a day to bring commuters into the city, and plenty of people who work on the island live in this region. But is it enough to say that these towns are mere suburbs of greater Montreal?

One Toronto-based company is arguing that it doesn't, and that forms part of the basis for an application they have submitted to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for a commercial FM radio station to serve the Hudson/St. Lazare area.

The company is Dufferin Communications. You might recognize them as the company that recently got CRTC approval to setup an AM radio station in Montreal with programming targeted at the region's LGBT community. That station will be running on 990 AM after CKGM vacates the frequency to move to 690 - hopefully to be up and running by the fall.

I spoke to Dufferin VP Carmela Laurignano for an article that appears in the West Island section of Wednesday's Gazette about the Hudson application.

This application, for an FM music station, actually predates the AM one, even though the CRTC heard the other one first. Much of the application dates from as far back as 2009. Laurignano said she didn't know why the CRTC waited so long to hear this application, but that she understands they have a lot on their plate and such long waits are not unusual for matters that aren't pressing.

Laurignano said the big reason behind this application is the sense that this is an underserved market. The region has a French-language commercial music station, CJVD-FM 100.1 in Vaudreuil, but no corresponding English station yet, even though its English-speaking population is large and getting larger.

The frequency

The application, which can be downloaded from the CRTC's website here, is for an FM station at 106.7 MHz, with a 500 watt transmitter at a Bell tower on Route Harwood in Hudson. As you can see from the coverage map above, it would cover Hudson, St. Lazare, Rigaud, Vaudreuil-Dorion and the area around Oka, but wouldn't reach much beyond that before it started seeing interference from WIZN 106.7 FM in Burlington, Vt., and to a lesser extent the adjacent-channel station CKQB 106.9 FM (The Bear) in Ottawa. There's also a reserved but unused channel of 106.5 for a CBC station in Cornwall.

The frequency is important, because it's considered the last really desirable one in the Montreal area. It was the former frequency of Aboriginal Voices Radio and was subsequently used by the pirate KKIC radio in Kahnawake before it got CRTC approval for a licensed station at 89.9.

And there's another application pending for this frequency, too. Canadian Hellenic Cable Radio Ltd., the company behind CKDG (Mike) 105.1 FM and CKIN-FM 106.3, has applied to move the former to 106.7, keeping its transmitter location on Mount Royal but increasing its power. Because the coverage areas of CKDG and the proposed Hudson station would overlap, it's unlikely the CRTC would allow both on the same frequency. UPDATE: CHCR withdrew its application to change CKDG's frequency this week. Thanks to ATSC for spotting that through an update to the station's Wikipedia page.

Dufferin's application includes a backup frequency should the CRTC judge 106.7 improper. It's 107.9FM. Assigning that frequency might anger National Public Radio fans in Montreal, as that's the frequency used by the closest transmitter, in Burlington, Vt. Its reception here is quite good for a border station, but it would be hard to see it overcoming a much closer transmitter on the same frequency in Hudson.

The frequency is also less desirable for Dufferin because it's adjacent to its own Jewel station at 107.7FM in Hawkesbury.

The format

The proposal calls for a format of adult contemporary/easy listening music, similar to what can be heard at The Jewel, a network of radio stations Dufferin owns in cities including Ottawa, Toronto and Hawkesbury, Ont. This means a lot of Céline Dion, Barbra Streisand, Sarah McLachlan, Michael Bublé and Frank Sinatra.

Dufferin estimates in its application that only about 14% of its Jewel playlist (200 of 1,400 songs) can be heard on Montreal English and French music stations, which it uses as part of its argument for fulfilling a niche.

The station would also be committed to local news and information programming seven days a week, including regular newscasts during the morning and afternoon drive periods on weekdays. A total of four hours a week would be "pure news" - and half of its newscasts would be news local to the Hudson/St. Lazare area - with other talk programming representing almost 12 hours a week.

Unlike the bigger Montreal radio stations, this one wouldn't have a live announcer all day. The morning and afternoon drive programs would be live, but Dufferin says in its application that mid-day and evening programs will be voice-tracked (meaning that the announcer breaks between songs will be recorded in advance), and late night and overnight programming completely automated.

The budget

The proposed station's financial projections show revenue gradually growing from $480,000 the first year to $1 million in the seventh year of its license. Expenses would start at $700,000 (including a $90,000 startup cost) and reach $850,000 in the seventh year.

Under these projections, the station would start making money in Year 4 and pay for itself in the seventh year.

About 95% of its advertising revenue is expected to be local, with 20-30,000 minutes sold a year at an average rate of between $22 and $34 a minute.

The hearing

Those who have opinions on this application can share them with the CRTC by submitting an intervention or comment. The deadline is Feb. 21. A hearing is scheduled March 21 in Gatineau.

If approved quickly, Laurignano says Dufferin would get on the application right away, and hopefully get it on the air by fall 2012.

Related Posts

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• CRTC hears applications for 690 and 940 AM
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• CRTC limits musical montages on French radio stations

Dave Bronstetter (CBC photo)

Dave Bronstetter, the veteran CBC Montreal personality who was most recently the host of radio's All in a Weekend, is hanging up the microphone after more than three decades in broadcasting.

The announcement was made Saturday morning on his show by Sonali Karnick, who has been replacing Bronstetter. Bronstetter has been on leave from his show since last fall for reasons that haven't been made very clear publicly.

Karnick said Bronstetter will return to do one final show with her on Feb. 18. They will be running some best-of clips between now and then, and have asked listeners to send in their favourite memories and leave goodbye messages for him.

Most Montrealers will associate Bronstetter with his long stints as host of weekday shows Homerun (in the late 80s) and then Daybreak, from when Royal Orr left 1996 until 2006, when he stepped away from a five-day-a-week job to take the reins at All in a Weekend.

At the time, Bronstetter said burnout and fatigue we having serious effects on his health.

I've been asked a few times over the past few months about why he's been on extended leave. Bronstetter himself has been asked about it a lot as well, at least through posts on his Facebook wall. In response, he's been mostly vague, saying he hopes to come back soon and he's getting better by the day.

Bronstetter just celebrated his 59th birthday, though his Facebook profile has him listed as being born in 1905.

The announcement didn't include news about Bronstetter's permanent replacement at All in a Weekend. Karnick left her job as sports reporter for Daybreak to take up a job at CBC Sports in Toronto. She was recently brought in as the interim host of All in a Weekend, supposedly until the end of the season. Karnick would be an obvious choice, assuming she's interested in staying.

UPDATE: A story from The Gazette, which confirms no permanent replacement has been chosen but Karnick will continue until the end of the season. The news was also mentioned on CTV's local newscast.

UPDATE (Feb. 6): Brendan Kelly, who worked with Bronstetter as a regular contributor to Daybreak, talks to Bronstetter, who confirms he's leaving on the advice of his doctor because he's burned out and depressed.

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Cogeco President Louis Audet

On Thursday, I got up early (meaning: before noon) and went to the annual shareholders' meeting of Cogeco, the cable company that is also a big player in the Quebec radio industry.

I covered the meeting for Cartt.ca, the online publication about the broadcasting and telecom industry run by Greg O'Brien. If you're a subscriber, you can read my report here. If not, it's not the end of the world. Much of it is industry stuff you probably don't care about that much.

The stuff you might care about is repeated below:

The finances

There is, of course, the financial side: The company released its quarterly results that morning, and depending on how you measure these things they're either really good or disappointing. The company is still very profitable, but its profit margin is lower, mainly because radio doesn't bring in the kind of money that cable television does.

You can read details of their quarterly results here (PDF).

The previous year has been a big one for Cogeco. There was, of course, the finalization of the purchase of Corus Quebec and its radio stations including CKOI, CHMP, CKAC, CFQR and others around Quebec. This acquisition had major effects in radio stations outside Montreal. One former Corus station in Saguenay wasn't bought by Cogeco and now has a new owner. Two stations in Quebec City were sold as required by the CRTC, and a station in Sherbrooke was shut down because Cogeco already owned too much in that market. Meanwhile, in Montreal, the company went ahead with a plan for all-traffic radio stations, converting CKAC into a French-language one when the CRTC process took too long and eventually failing to secure one of two clear channels for its English-language one. They're going to try again (more on that below).

There were also other purchases, like data services providers MTO Telecom and QuietTouch Inc., and transit advertising company Metromedia CMR Plus.

On the flip side, rumours abound about Cabovisao, the Portuguese cable provider that Cogeco owns (its only major asset outside the country). That company's poor performance has been a drag on Cogeco's bottom line, and analysts assume they'll sell it at the earliest opportunity.

The press conference

I was invited to a press conference just before the shareholders' meeting at a conference centre downtown. "Press conference" might be pushing it a bit. It was in a tiny room, at a table with about eight chairs. On one side, Cogeco President/CEO Louis Audet and his flak. On the other, me and three other journalists: One from Cogeco Nouvelles (of course), and a reporter and photographer from Presse Canadienne.

(I find it funny that 98.5's website ends up using the PC story)

It would be easy to condemn other media for not being present, but they didn't really have to be. The financial results were sent out, and reporters could listen in on a conference call with analysts (the Financial Post's Jamie Sturgeon got a whole story out of that about how cable providers are increasingly moving to a Videotron-style à la carte package system).

Still, it was interesting to attend, particularly for someone like me who doesn't get to play reporter at press conferences too often. The three journalists asked Audet questions about its decisions over the past year, about why it was getting into transit advertising, whether it would sell Cabovisao (they won't announce anything in advance, but he's not exactly defiant that they're never going to sell it), and whether he's worried about Radio X coming to Montreal and competing with CHMP. (He's not).

There were also the questions that I'm sure Cogeco is tired of hearing. Can it continue to survive as a mid-sized telecom as its competitors get bigger and bigger? Yes. Is it planning to set up or buy TV specialty services so it can have better leverage versus vertically-integrated companies like Bell, Shaw and Cogeco? No (the CRTC ensures they don't abuse their positions). Is Cogeco Cable going to come to Montreal? Absolutely not. Will Cogeco enter the wireless phone market? No.

We had about half an hour with Audet before the meeting came to an end so he could prepare for the shareholders' meeting. There weren't any pressing questions remaining, so the journalists packed it in without a fight.

Cogeco chairman Jan Peeters chairs the shareholders meetings of Cogeco and Cogeco Cable

The meeting

I'd never been to a shareholders' meeting like this before, so I decided to stick around for it. There were lots of people in suits, many of them of advanced age. The kind of people who have enough invested in a company (and enough free time) to want to go to such a meeting.

Journalistically, it was boring. When one person has 90% of the voting power (through proxies), there isn't about to be any big power struggle. The meeting had no questions, no one voted against any decision as far as who should be on the board of directors, who the auditors should be or any of the other standard annual general meeting stuff. The motions were moved and seconded largely by the company's directors (who are also shareholders), who read from notes that told them what they should say.

The more interesting part was afterward, when Audet gave a presentation about the company (one that included some promotional videos).

News from Cogeco Diffusion

At the shareholders' meeting, I spotted Richard Lachance, the Cogeco VP who's in charge of its radio operations. He was front and centre at the table when Cogeco made its presentation to the CRTC about its plan for an English-language all-traffic station. During that hearing he seemed frustrated, perhaps because Cogeco's competitors were attacking it, or because he knew he might not get the clear channel he was going for (even though those channels had been vacant for more than a year after the shutdown of CINW 940 and CINF 690). But he was quite friendly with me, answering my questions frankly and even giving me his card at the end.

Like Audet, Lachance isn't panicked about the possibility of another competitor in the francophone talk-radio market in Montreal. He pointed out that they already have one in Radio-Canada, and that they are also fighting music stations for audience. Lachance said content is king, and that is the main reason they would come out on top against Radio X or the new French news-talk station being prepared by Tietolman-Tétrault-Pancholy Media at 940 AM.

Lachance pointed out improvements made to 98.5, including bringing over sports shows and Canadiens games so it has more original content during the evenings, and adding more weekend programming, including a weekend overnight show that is also carried by FM93 in Quebec City and FM98 in Saguenay.

A two-transmitter traffic station?

Asked about Cogeco's new plan for an all-traffic station in Montreal, Lachance maintained what he said during the CRTC hearings, that the 690 and 940 clear channels were the only ones that could adequately cover anglophone areas of Montreal, and that other options like 600 or 990 were not sufficient.

But Lachance said their engineers have devised new plans that they can bring back to the CRTC. He wouldn't get too specific on the details (like what frequencies they'd be on), but he did say that at least one of those plans involves having more than one transmitter. So they could, for example, use their existing Kahnawake tower on an AM frequency, and supplement it with another transmitter in the West Island or Vaudreuil/St. Lazare area that covers holes in its coverage.

Lachance said plans will be presented to the Ministry of Transport next Friday (the station, like its French-language counterpart, would be dependent on $1.5 million a year in funding from the government), and if they can agree on one a new contract will be signed and Cogeco will re-apply to the CRTC.

Tietolman-Tétrault-Pancholy is also readying another application to the CRTC for an English-language AM station - a news-talk station to complement its French one and share some of its costs. Details on that, too, are not public yet but there's also speculation that they might try a multiple-transmitter approach to solve the problem of poor West Island coverage.

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There must be something in the water at CKBE-FM, or maybe a delayed (and unusual) reaction to Aaron Rand's departure last year, because both the morning and afternoon traffic announcers are pregnant.

The video above is from morning traffic announcer Natasha Hall. She's been keeping a blog at The Beat's website chronicling her pregnancy and all the stuff that a first-time mother learns that isn't in the guidebook or in the movies. (It's similar to Lisa's Wedding Blog, a video series done by former CJAD promotions director Lisa Fuoco in 2009-10.) As Natasha's video title says, she's got about a month left before that thing the size of her head gets pushed out and she can go back to walking instead of waddling.

The afternoon announcer, Claudia Marques, has a bit more time to wait. She's at about 30 weeks now.

Cogeco has posted part-time, temporary positions to fill both of their jobs. Requirements include three years of on-air experience and knowledge of Montreal's road network, along with the usual qualities needed to be an on-air talent at a radio station.

The deadline is Monday.

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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

 Sunday

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CKLX-FM 91.9 has applied to the CRTC for permission to change its format from jazz to talk radio, citing its poor financial situation and the lack of francophone talk radio options in Montreal.

You can download and read the application here (ZIP).

Planète Jazz, which launched Dec. 14, 2004, is the last commercial jazz radio station in Canada, its owner says, after similar formats in Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton and Winnipeg abandoned it for other more popular formats. Though it won't release full details to the public, RNC says CKLX has revenues "well below" $1 million a year, about 18% of what was forecast in the station's business plan.

It has come to the conclusion that the format does not work, and it must either change formats or consider shutting down the station.

Though it's not stated explicitly in the application, it's hinted that the new format would be similar to that of CHOI-FM in Quebec City, a station also owned by RNC Media that has controversial opinionators who talk more than they think (people like Stéphane Dupont). It's been dubbed "radio poubelle" and compared to right-wing talk-radio stations in the United States, but it's popular, with more than 200,000 listeners.

RNC Media also owns the similarly-styled CKYK-FM in the Saguenay region, as well as music stations Capitale Rock in Gatineau, Planète-branded stations and other Radio X and Radio X2 stations across Quebec.*

CHOI is so controversial, in fact, that the CRTC ordered it be shut down because of its comments. Only the sale of the station from Genex Communications to RNC Media (and the issuing of a new license) saved it from going dark.

RNC conducted a survey of Montreal listeners to gauge their interest in a new station "that would have a style that discusses subjects in the news, that asks real questions and isn't afraid of its opinions". Based on that, it predicts a new talk-radio station would have a 10% market share, and 20% among the key demographic of men 25-49. It also sees its revenues going from $2.6 million in the first year to $8.2 million in the seventh year of its license, far above what they could have hoped for Planète Jazz.

The market for French-language talk radio has been open for opportunity, particularly since CKAC turned into all-traffic last September. Other than Radio-Canada and community/campus stations, the only talk radio station is CHMP 98.5, which has shot to the top of the ratings. It also has to do double-duty as a sports station in the evenings.

The application, survey and other documents curiously make no mention of the license for a talk-radio station recently given to the Tietolman-Tétrault-Pancholy media group. That station is also expected to launch next fall. It's unclear if they're unaware of the license or if they're just ignoring it in their projections.

RNC Media President Raynald Brière declined to comment on the application, saying "le dossier n'est pas complet."

The application, which would see the license changed from requiring 75% jazz to requiring 50% talk, is a Part 1 application, which means the CRTC has not called a hearing to discuss it, and if there's no significant opposition it could be approved without the owners having to appear in front of the commission.

The deadline for interventions is 8pm on Feb. 13. You can file an intervention or comment here, by clicking "submit" next to the item about RNC Media.

*UPDATE: This move is strangely the opposite of one being done in Abitibi, where RNC Media is abandoning the Radio X format in favour of Capitale Rock, replacing talk radio with music. (Thanks Psychodork for pointing this out.)

Reaction

UPDATE (Jan. 20): The Journal de Québec reports about this move, getting the manager of its Quebec City stations to comment. The company wants to export the CHOI format to Montreal, but adapting to the market. Less talk of bringing back the Nordiques, more talk about traffic. (Is this really what separates Montreal from Quebec City?) The paper also talks to André Arthur, who thinks they should put Stéphane Dupont (the guy who told Haiti "fuck you" after the earthquake) in Montreal.

There was also a discussion on Tuesday on CHOI itself about the application, with an interview with Patrice Demers. They even discuss potential hosts, saying Patrick Lagacé is unlikely and Jeff Fillion is very doubtful, but nothing is set in stone.

The proposal also was discussed on Radio-Canada's Les Lionnes, which prompted not one but two discussions on CHOI. You can imagine how Radio Poubelle and a public broadcaster TV show hosted by three women think about each other.

La Presse covers this in the form of a column from Marc Cassivi. There are also blog posts at Voir from Sportnographe's Olivier Niquet and journalist Fabien Loszach. Each of these got criticized on CHOI, which blasted Cassivi for being uninformed about what can be heard on CHOI, and said Voir's complaints that CHOI's programming is sexist, racist or homophobic are simply false.

Stéphane Gendron reacted to the news on Radio X, in which he said he would be interested in an on-air position at the station, because he's more of a radio guy than a TV personality.

Jeff Fillion himself also comments the news on his Radio Pirate.

At least one blogger has called for people to rise up against this move, and another defends the sophistication of Radio-Canada against its Radio X-supporting critics.

Quebec's FM93 wants to go mostly-talk

Coincidentally, the application from RNC Media comes about the same time as one from Cogeco Diffusion to change the license of CJMF-FM (FM 93.3) in Quebec City to allow for more talk. Currently the station offers a hybrid format of talk and music, but its survey numbers show more than 60% of its listeners tune in only for talk programming.

The new schedule would see talk programming in the mornings and evenings on weekends (noon to 4pm would remain music) and weekday evenings. Weekday mornings and afternoons are already all-talk.

As an added bonus to Quebec City listeners, the change would mean the station broadcasts all Montreal Canadiens games. Currently it offers only a selection. This will be welcome news to Canadiens fans in the region who may have been able to tune in to the bleu-blanc-rouge on AM station CKAC but have no hope of listening to 98.5.

The deadline for interventions or comments in the CJMF-FM application is Feb. 6. It is also a Part 1 application and can be seen on this page.

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DiMonte began his first shift back at Montreal's Spirit of Rock on Monday, and I managed to score an invitation to see it from the studio (even if it meant pulling an all-nighter after a late shift at work). This is the story of that day.

Terry DiMonte reads the paper just before he starts his first show. (And by "the paper", I mean the section in Saturday's Gazette seemingly devoted to him)

It's hard to imagine someone like Terry DiMonte being nervous about going on the radio. So I didn't take it too seriously when he warned me the week before that he would be a nervous wreck on his first day.

But as he walked into Astral Radio's Fort St. offices just after 5am, it was apparent he wasn't quite 100% back in his chair and it would take some time to make him fully comfortable. He knew he would be judged from the moment he pressed the button that turns on his microphone, that thousands of people who knew about him coming back (either through the promotional campaign Astral put on or through the full-page piece in Saturday's Gazette) would be tuning in just to hear his voice again.

He was worried about screwing up, absent-mindedly referring to Q107, the station he left a month earlier, instead of CHOM. Thankfully for him there were posters with CHOM's logo and frequency all over the studio, so he needed only look up if he forgot.

In the end, he didn't screw up. He got the call letters right, and the frequency, and the motto. He needed to be reminded of the phone number at one point, but mostly it was like he never left. And if he was nervous at all during his first break ("break" being how radio types refer to "the part where I'm on air"), he didn't show it as he said hi:

The first song for DiMonte's first show was Back in the Saddle by Aerosmith, which came as a suggestion on Facebook when overnight host Ronny Mack asked fans which should be the first song. DiMonte hadn't thought of that song as an option, but considered it very appropriate considering he's coming back from Calgary.

The team

Maureen Holloway joins Terry DiMonte on his first show

Shortly after the show began, DiMonte was joined in studio by Maureen Holloway. Holloway hosts is a big part of the morning show at Q107 in Toronto, and contributed to his former morning show at (a different) Q107 in Calgary. Both are owned by Corus. Because Corus no longer has a Montreal station with the sale of CFQR and others to Cogeco, she wasn't on the air here and Astral managed to reach an agreement to bring her on to do a segment just before 6am and have it repeated at 7:15.

But because Holloway was just finishing a vacation and happened to be in Montreal, she came into the studio and joined DiMonte for a few hours, giving him someone to chat with on air. His actual cohost, Heather Backman, doesn't start until Jan. 16.

Holloway's arrival, a surprise for DiMonte, resulted in a reunion for the two friends who have worked together for many years, going back to when DiMonte hosted the morning show at Mix 96.

The show has two other regular contributors, both of whom come in studio to do their bits: Eric Engels with his once-daily Habs report and Trudie Mason with news on the hour.

Mason did her first newscast at 6am:

DiMonte did some sports news after that, and got in a mention of Calgary Flames captain Jarome Iginla scoring his 500th career goal. It was a legitimate sports story of national interest, but a bit of a reminder that there's still a bit of Calgary in DiMonte.

Engels only comes in once a day. You can listen to his first Habs report here (MP3).

Esteban Vargas sits behind the big board pressing all the cool buttons

The last contributor to the show is the guy behind the scenes, board operator Esteban Vargas. I recognized the name, but I didn't know where I'd heard it. He suggested it might have been when he was doing odd shifts as a traffic reporter, which might have been true. But I think I actually recognize the name, oddly enough, from the Kelly Alexander Show podcast, even though I haven't listened to that in quite a while.

Though he's been at Astral for six years, and clearly knows what he's doing, there were a few jokes about child labour when DiMonte posted a photo of Esteban online.

The magical computer box lists songs, commercials, traffic reports and all the other live an recorded sounds that go into a show.

Terry needs a clock

It was one of those things. If you see in any of these videos DiMonte looking ahead and up as he talks, he's looking at a non-existent analog clock. There used to be one on the opposite wall, but it disappeared some time after he left in 2007. There's one on the wall behind him, but that's incredibly awkward to try to look at when you're on the air from that chair.

DiMonte explains the reason best in the video, but the clock provides a reference not only for the time (which he can just read off his computer screen), but also how much of the show is left, and how long until the top of the hour. After decades in radio, it's become second nature to him to see an hour in terms of the analog clock and to mentally plan accordingly.

DiMonte was repeatedly assured that a clock would be acquired and installed.

Media circus

There were quite a few people around to witness DiMonte's return. In addition to myself, the studio was visited by cameras from:

Global Montreal

CTV Montreal

... and CHOM's own promotions department. (There was a second, more professional-looking camera also taking video)

The CHOM video of DiMonte's first day has been posted online. It includes his first and last words on his first show. The latter part includes a specific thank-you to me, which I didn't expect. My mom heard it, but in case you want to listen to just that part, here it is (MP3).

A complete list of DiMonte's news coverage is at the bottom of Monday's post. So far it includes a Saturday feature and live chat with The Gazette, a story and later in-studio interview at CTV Montreal (they've produced a behind-the-scenes video vignette), and a brief on Global Montreal, plus wherever Astral's press release has been republished.

But DiMonte has also been talking to non-traditional media. Besides me, he's talked to Gazette blogger Bugs Burnett and the Cornwall Free News, besides one-on-one chats with people on Twitter and Facebook.

Terry appreciates you calling

Plenty of DiMonte's critics say he has a huge ego and everything is about him. While I'd never accuse any successful media personality of not having an ego, DiMonte spent quite a bit of time his first day answering calls from listeners, even with the studio filled with people and everything else going through his mind.

The calls were relatively short, and some had to be interrupted because DiMonte had to go back on the air. In general, they went something like this:

Even Andrew Carter at CJAD was getting calls from people welcoming DiMonte back, one Astral employee walked into the studio to report with a laugh. (I tweeted that, resulting later in Carter coming in and asking "who's Fagstein?" - after a bit of nervous panic, we introduced ourselves, and it turns out he likes the blog.)

DiMonte also communicated via Facebook and Twitter, as he's become a bit more adept at social media in the past few years.

Cake

A special cake was brought in to celebrate DiMonte's first show

A special "welcome back Terry" cake was brought in, much to DiMonte's surprise. That missing bit on the left is where he stuck his finger in to taste the icing. "I bet that's fantastic," said the guy who continues to be worried that his return to Montreal is a one-way ticket to extreme weight gain.

What's next?

In case there are still people in Montreal who don't know about DiMonte's return, the big promotional push will come next week when Heather Backman joins the show and things start moving on all four wheels. I haven't been told of any extreme promotional plans, just the usual contests (including their "man cave" watch-the-Super-Bowl-with-Terry deal) and advertising/marketing.

Maureen Holloway and Terry DiMonte share a hug as she departs for Toronto

UPDATE (Jan. 16): CHOM's website has some audio clips from DiMonte's show. They include more episodes of Holloway's Dirty Little Secrets, Engels's Habs Report and Pierre Houde of RDS talking about Michael Cammalleri, as well as interviews with visiting artists like Martin Short, Mark McKinney and Demetri Martin.

There's also a short-answer get-to-know-Heather segment, in which we learn they haven't yet decided whether they'll call her Heather Backman or Heather B.

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• Terry DiMonte returns to CHOM, and is back in Montreal for good

Terry DiMonte does his first show back at CHOM on Jan. 9.

The news that Terry DiMonte was coming back to CHOM came out all the way back in June. The date was set and publicized in November. But details on such things as who his cohosts would be and what happens to the rest of the schedule were kept under wraps until Monday when DiMonte started his first show.

Here's the details of its new schedule:

Mornings Rock with Terry DiMonte

The morning show, from 5:30 to 10am weekdays, is being completely reconstructed around DiMonte. His cohost, starting Jan. 16, will be Heather Backman, who left CJFM a year ago for an opportunity in Cleveland, which she's leaving to come back to Montreal.

Backman and DiMonte don't have any history, which makes the choice a little out of left field. But she did a demo with DiMonte and there was something about it that he and Brand Director André Lallier liked. "She's very witty," Lallier said. "She brings a certain edge. She has a good laugh. A fresh perspective."

Backman and DiMonte together just sounds good, he said, and in radio that's what's important.

The show also includes some regular contributors:

Maureen Holloway will do entertainment segments twice each morning from Toronto.

Maureen Holloway will do entertainment segments (called "Dirty Little Secrets") at 5:50 and 7:15am daily. Holloway works out of her home in Toronto for Corus stations across Canada, and was a feature of DiMonte's morning show at Q107 in Calgary. She's also an old friend of DiMonte's.

Holloway previously contributed to CFQR, but since it and other Corus radio stations in Quebec were sold to Cogeco, there's no Corus station in this market, so they were able to negotiate having her on CHOM.

Because she happened to be in the area finishing off her vacation, Holloway joined DiMonte in studio on his first day.

(As an aside, I find it funny that DiMonte comes from Q107 in Calgary, Holloway comes from Q107 in Toronto - both owned by Corus - and Backman comes from Q104 in Cleveland. Gives you an idea of the lack of imagination when it comes to branding radio stations.)

Trudie Mason does newscasts on the hour

Trudie Mason of CJAD walks down the hall just before the top of the hour and gives the news headlines (usually preceded off-air by an apology from DiMonte for not being on time).

Eric Engels talks about the Habs

Eric Engels continues contributing his Habs report to CHOM's morning show, though it's moved to 6:55am. Engels is a Habs reporter who writes for HockeyBuzz and does the Engels Angle on CTV Montreal's website, among other things. You can follow him on Twitter at @EricEngels.

Esteban Vargas sits behind the big board pressing all the cool buttons

Esteban Vargas is the unsung hero behind the big board, queueing all the songs and audio clips and traffic reports and everything else. He's been at Astral since 2005, working mainly as an operator and in promotions.

• Tootall (Weekdays 10am-3pm). His shift remains unchanged, as does his noon-hour Made to Order show.
• Bilal Butt (Weekdays 3-8pm). Bilal gets upgraded back into the afternoon drive slot vacated when Pete Marier left the station last month. The afternoon drive show expands in length to five hours.
• Jason Rockman (Weeknights 8pm-midnight). Rockman shifts earlier to take over Butt's slot. His Amped show runs weeknights instead of one day a week.
• Brandon Craddock (B.C.) and Ron MacKinnon (Ronny Mack) continue to share overnight duties from midnight to 5:30am.

Weekends

• Sharon Hyland stays on weekend mornings, shifting earlier so she starts at 6am instead of 8. "It's all good," she writes on her blog.
• Rob Kemp takes on the midday shift on weekends, from 11am to 4pm each day.
• Randy Renaud remains the weekend evening person, 4-8pm Saturday and 4-10pm Sunday
• Jay Walker maintains his Montreal Rocks show from 10pm to midnight Sundays.

Chantal Desjardins moves to CJAD

The one personality leaving CHOM is morning co-host Chantal Desjardins. But she's not leaving the building. Instead, she's joining Aaron Rand's show on CJAD weekdays from 3-7pm, essentially doing the job of sportscaster that Barry Morgan did. Now Morgan can concentrate on his own show, which comes on after Rand's.

Desjardins says she's "really enjoying" her new job already. "I think Aaron and I have natural chemistry...he is very encouraging and his energy is contagious. And have I mentioned I've slept in until 9am the last two days? Amazing."

She says she also plans to keep doing stuff for CTV on the side and is "looking forward to a new adventure."

Rand says he's excited about Desjardins. "Chantal is funny, opinionated, and smart, AND she brings a female perspective to the show, which is something I’ve always thought was a good complement my style," he told me. "We’d worked together before on a couple of occasions, and I immediately liked her style and personality."

"And, it gives Barry Morgan a chance to spend all his time focusing on his evening show from 7-10, without having to worry about doing the afternoon sports run on my show."

"So as far as I’m concerned, it’s a win/win all around."

Rand has made Desjardins a part of the last half-hour of his show, from 6:30 to 7pm, when the two chat about weird and funny stories. "I figured that would be a good way to incorporate her into the show beyond her sports reports,  and give her a feel for how I work so she can get comfortable with my style," Rand said. "After that it’ll be a matter of getting her more involved on a regular basis."

Desjardins let her Facebook friends know about her new job, drawing dozens of encouraging comments.

Rob Kemp okay with weekends

Kemp also put on a happy face about his new job. Kemp posted on his CHOM blog taking the bright side of being on the radio only two days a week.

Lallier talked up the new weekend lineup, saying that ratings show that 30-35% of the audience is now on weekends, which means Saturday and Sunday are no longer audience wastelands. Weeks after the Q became the Beat and put big names Ken Connors and Nat Lauzon on the weekend, resulting in ratings boosts, it seems CHOM is also paying attention to weekends.

What about Pete?

I asked Lallier about Pete Marier, and the possibility of him coming back. A cursory look at the new schedule suggests it wouldn't be that difficult to shift things around to put Marier back on the afternoon drive show.

Lallier's answers differed little from what Astral VP Martin Spalding told me just before Christmas. They wanted Marier to stay and form one of the "three pillars" of the station. They offered him a "very, very good" contract for an afternoon drive host, and gave him multiple opportunities to accept. Lallier pointed out that even after it became clear Marier wouldn't take the contract and his show was terminated, management still let him go on air one last time (something that is very unusual in professional radio because it can lead to people saying things on air that make the station look bad) but that again Marier said no.

Marier himself remains quiet, despite lots of activity from his fans (a protest had been planned via Facebook for Monday morning outside CHOM's offices, but was called off because a poor showing would have seemed worse than none at all). At least one other radio veteran who works at Astral has expressed hope that Marier can put his emotions aside and work out a deal with management to come back.

Coverage

Astral's press release explaining all these changes was issued Monday morning.

The Gazette's Bill Brownstein had a feature on DiMonte in Saturday's paper, in case you haven't read it yet. It includes a sidebar on what happened to Marier.

Global and CTV both sent cameramen to document DiMonte's first show. CTV later sent reporter Cindy Sherwin to talk to DiMonte. Global's brief is at the end of Monday's newscast (skip to 23:15).

CTV Montreal also interviewed DiMonte on the noon newscast on Thursday.

A live chat with the Gazette

UPDATE (Jan. 11): The Gazette invited DiMonte to do an hour-long live chat on Wednesday, in which he talks about his favourite music, his weight loss and what it's like to come home. Even his mom stops by and asks him to get some rest.

Of interest to us, he offered the following on Pete Marier:

I feel bad that Pete left but have been hopeful that there is a raprochement possible. He chose to leave. I hope we can change his mind

(Answering a question on whether Marier would come back) I hope so Pat... there seems to be a detente brewing there

On Ted Bird:

I would LOVE to have Ted back..the best fun I ever had...and maybe someday...but right now he loves what he's doing at K 103...so not in the NEAR future I don't think...unless we can change his mind

DiMonte also called Rob Kemp a "talented young broadcaster" and said he met Backman for the first time in October but "liked her very much".

UPDATE (Jan. 14): Richard Burnett talks to DiMonte for his Gazette blog. DiMonte also talks to the Cornwall Free News.

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• Terry DiMonte’s first day at CHOM … again
• Pete Marier leaves CHOM over contract dispute
• Terry DiMonte returns to CHOM Jan. 9
• Astral’s Martin Spalding on Terry DiMonte, CHOM, CJAD and Virgin Radio

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The only portable AM radio I could find at a huge electronics store - a $10 radio with analog tuner

I did some Boxing Week shopping Thursday night. Despite the cold, I went wandering for about three hours around various stores, though for the first time in years I didn't have any big-money purchases in mind.

One thing I had been looking for was a portable device capable of receiving AM radio. Ideally it would have had a digital tuner, an antenna of some sort and an internal memory capable of recording the radio. As someone who writes about radio a lot, it helps to be able to record as well as listen.

But going through the aisles of iPods and other MP3 players at Future Shop and Best Buy, I discovered that such a device does not exist. Well, actually, it does, but it's kind of expensive and you can't buy it in one of these stores.

In the end, I bought the radio you see above, a Dynex (read: cheap as hell) FM/AM pocket radio. It has an analog tuner and cheap plastic parts (and obviously no recording capability), but it has an antenna and a headphone jack, and though it's a bit noisy it receives CJAD and CKGM.

It used to be, even as little as a decade ago, that no one in their right mind would try to sell something as a "radio" and not include one of the two bands. But as portable CD players were replaced by smaller MP3 players with lower power demands and no moving parts, FM has become less of a priority and AM has been all but abandoned.

A portable CD player sports a ferrite bar AM antenna (left) about 4cm long and 3mm thick.

There are a few technical reasons for this. For one, because the AM band is at a much lower frequency than FM (centred around 1 MHz vs. around 100 MHz), the antenna has to be much longer. For older portable devices (like my old CD player pictured above), this is accomplished by coiling a long antenna inside the device. Ideally it would be strung out in a straight line for maximum reception, but coiling it is a compromise that works here, though its reception isn't as good and it's highly directional (which is why the angle at which you're holding a portable AM radio affects its reception).

In smaller devices, such an antenna - about the size of a AAA battery - becomes prohibitively large. Smartphones and iPods don't even have room for that AAA battery, much less an antenna for what has become a secondary function. For FM reception, portable devices ingeniously use the headphone cord for an antenna, but that doesn't work for AM.

In addition to the size of the antenna, AM radio is more susceptible to interference, requiring even more electronic real estate being used for filtering and amplifying.

"AM RF IN" marks where the AM antenna connects to the circuit board ("RF" means "radio frequency")

And then there's the simple matter of demand. Music stations long ago moved from AM to FM, as has CBC and Radio-Canada in Montreal. We're left with only three large commercial AM stations (CKAC 730, CJAD 800 and CKGM 990) and a handful of smaller AM stations that would be very difficult to capture with a portable antenna anyway.

That's about to change. The CRTC recently awarded two new frequencies (the previously dormant 690 and 940 kHz), and two new AM stations will be on the air at some point in 2012. Two others, who lost in the bidding for those frequencies, may also reapply for other vacant frequencies. By the end of 2013 we could have four new high-power AM radio stations in Montreal, at a time when most broadcasters have all but abandoned the band.

But can these stations survive if there's nobody left who can listen to them? It's not just iPods and smartphones. Even larger desktop alarm clock radios have started to abandon AM in favour of iPod connections. Unless a device's main function is broadcast radio, you're much less likely to find AM on it. And people like multifunction devices.

The one big thing keeping AM alive is the same thing keeping most radio alive: cars, which are so large there's no need to worry about space for an antenna. Entertainment for drivers obviously can't be visual in nature, so radio has become the perfect source for them. And radio has responded in kind by catering to drivers, focusing on rush-hour programming and having regular reports on traffic.

The industry has also responded by offering online streaming as an option, via apps for iPhones or other smartphones. Rather than capture a noisy signal through the air with a big antenna, smartphones can download a high-quality audio stream through the cell network they already use for phone calls and checking their Facebook.

But switching to the Web opens up these broadcasters to competition from all over the world. For people who don't care as much about local content, there is a seemingly infinite choice of things to listen to.

Five years ago, when asked by Forbes about why its MP3 players didn't have AM radio, a representative of SanDisk explained the technical reasons behind it, but added that "SanDisk is exploring the possibility of adding an AM receiver to some of its MP3 players."

I'm still waiting. Hopefully AM radio will still be around by the time a solution is found.

UPDATE (Jan. 9): La Presse has an arts section cover story today about the future of AM radio, which discusses this issue as well as the larger market for the band. It includes quotes from broadcasting consultant Michel Mathieu painting a dire picture for AM radio, which is kind of ironic because Mathieu was hired to get many smaller community stations their broadcast licenses, including stations like CJLO on the AM dial.

There's also a story about Paul Tietolman and his upcoming French-language talk radio station, with some thoughts from experts about its viability.

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Pete Marier

 Last update: Dec. 27 at 2am, adding a comment from Marier at the bottom.

"My show on CHOM was terminated last night."

That was the extent of the comment from Pete Marier Friday morning, on Facebook, to the fact that he's leaving CHOM.

Rumours about Marier's impending departure have been flying about for a few weeks, but things came to a head this week when Marier was given an ultimatum, a source close to Marier said. (Marier himself isn't talking - his only communication with me directly was to confirm the news of his departure.)

According to the source, who asked not to be named for fear of pissing off Bad Pete, Marier was told Thursday after his show to sign a contract that would have decreased his salary by more than half, otherwise he would be terminated as of Friday. Marier refused, which led to a heated verbal confrontation in Astral Media vice-president Martin Spalding's office on Friday morning. Marier was thrown out of Astral's Fort St. offices, and called the police to press for charges of (very minor) assault against Spalding, according to the source, who was in the office at the time.

Spalding wouldn't get into what happened in his office, saying he didn't want to air dirty laundry, but he did say that emotions got the better of both of them. Spalding confirmed that Astral exercised an out clause when Marier made it clear he would not accept a new contract with a reduced salary, and his last day was set at March 8, 2012. Spalding said the new salary figure, which he wouldn't specify but said was nowhere near a 50% pay cut, was "very competitive" for an afternoon host in this market, and that even if it's less than what he would make in mornings, it's higher than what he made the last time he was doing the afternoon drive show.

Spalding said Marier was given five chances to accept the offer and stay at CHOM. He maintained that Marier was to be one of the three "pillars" with Terry DiMonte and Tootall, and that they wanted him to stay. "He was in our long-term plans," Spalding said.

"No choice"

"He left us no choice," he explained. With DiMonte set to return Jan. 9, management wanted to get its schedule finalized by then. Spalding said he and Brand Director André Lallier didn't want to go through a big launch Jan. 9 and have to make a big change two months later when Marier left.

Spalding said the decision was made Thursday night, after one final offer, to make Friday Marier's last day. That still gave Marier the chance to say goodbye to listeners, which he seemed to accept on Thursday. But on Friday morning, Marier changed his mind and said he wouldn't go on air.

Marier remains on CHOM's payroll, as per the terms of his contract, until March.

"It saddens me because I think he's a great guy," Spalding said. Despite their falling out, Spalding had nothing but praise for Marier's talent and said it was unfortunate that he wouldn't accept Astral's offer.

The timing is probably the worst part about this. Marier's last contract wasn't set to expire until next September, but with DiMonte's return so close in the new year, the decision had to be made now.

On Friday, as they have done in the past with acrimonious departures, CHOM scrubbed Marier's name and photo from its website. The 3-7pm timeslot on the schedule now just reads "The Drive"

Listeners fight back

Marier's Facebook wall was flooded with comments from angry listeners, one of whom has started a Facebook group to demand CHOM rescind its decision, but its chances to success are just about zero now that the decision has been made. After initially allowing non-profane comments to stay, the people managing CHOM's Facebook page deleted all comments about Marier. That didn't stop them, of course, and they kept posting, adding more anger and some sarcasm to their voices.

It used to be that broadcasters, newspapers and other media could control their means of communication, and simply make people or issues disappear. But with social media like Facebook, their power is limited. They could shut down the page completely to comment, but that would throw away the baby with the bathwater.

Unfortunately for Marier, this kind of thing blows over. People aren't calling in to CBC anymore to complain about Nancy Wood, or calling in to Q92 to complain about the axing of Tasso and Suzanne. CHOM can only hope that the protest about Marier dies down enough by Jan. 9 that it doesn't harm their promotional plans.

Pillar of CHOM

Marier, 52, has been at CHOM since 1989 (except for a stint in Winnipeg from 2002 to 2005), mainly hosting morning and afternoon programs. He stepped back into mornings with Ted Bird and Chantal Desjardins, then went back to the afternoon drive when CHOM rejigged its schedule to prepare for the return of Terry DiMonte.

At the time, Spalding agreed with myself and many others that Marier's voice was probably more suited to afternoons than mornings. (Even though CHOM's ratings actually went up with Marier in the morning show chair.) There was no indication at the time that Marier's future at the station was in doubt. In fact, Spalding referred to Marier as one of the "pillars of CHOM" - a description he maintained even when discussing Marier's departure.

Not DiMonte's fault

There's been speculation that Marier's departure is related to DiMonte's return. It's true that the timing of that is why this decision came now, and that DiMonte's return is why Marier moved back to afternoons (and hence was offered less pay), but neither of these things are DiMonte's fault.

Still, many comments online are extremely negative toward DiMonte, suggesting his return is why Marier is leaving, in part because CHOM spent big bucks for DiMonte and has little left for the rest of its staff.

That's just not true, DiMonte says.

"The notion that I had anything to do with it is complete nonsense," DiMonte wrote to me on Saturday. "I was REALLY disappointed that he left. I've known Pete for years and we always got along great. He's a great broadcaster, a Montreal favorite and part of the fabric at CHOM... and I thought with me, him and TooTall it was going to be a helluva lineup. I'm really sorry he left."

DiMonte also denied that Astral is breaking the bank to bring him home (he denied similar rumours about the kind of money he was supposed to be making in Calgary). He said he's getting a pay cut, not a pay increase, to come back home. "The notion that there's nothing left for others is internet claptrap. It's just not so."

Spalding similarly flatly denies that other announcers are being offered less because DiMonte got more.

Though DiMonte is getting a say in his morning cohosts (no decision has been announced yet), he said he had no part in Marier's contract negotiations and was only told about everything after the fact.

"It's not going to be as much fun without Pete, but I'm not sure what I can do about that."

Team Pete or Team Astral?

I don't have access to the dollar figures involved here, so I can't say whether CHOM's move was justified or whether the contract was fair. A 20-plus-year veteran is obviously going to attract a lot more sympathy than a faceless corporation, but that doesn't mean the latter has to cave to the former.

That said, if Marier's only demand was that he get paid the same salary, it's hard to be too outraged by it. If Marier was a "pillar" of CHOM, he should have been treated as one. Unless his salary as a morning DJ was unreasonably through the roof, would it have hurt the bottom line so terribly for it to remain at that level?

As with any negotiation, the two sides choose what they can live with. Marier believes his talent (or his dignity) is worth more than Astral offered, and if he's right he won't be unemployed for long. (He's still doing freelance voice work, including a lot of radio commercials - many that are still airing on the station he left.) Astral believes it's more profitable to let Marier go than to keep paying him a morning-show salary. If it's right, the company will either save money by not having Marier on payroll, it will do better on ratings and revenue with the money it would have spent on him, or both.

No matter how this ended, or which side is right, it really sucks for something like this to happen two days before Christmas.

Lineup decisions coming soon

No decision has been made about the rest of the CHOM lineup, including who will replace Marier on the drive show. Spalding said Rob Kemp and Chantal Desjardins, who will get the bump from the morning show unless they become DiMonte's sidekicks, are still part of their plans, and roles for them are being finalized. He said an announcement should be expected within the next two weeks. In any case, it'll come before Jan. 9.

UPDATE (Dec. 26): From Marier, on Facebook:

Dear Friends, Thanks for the tremendous support and well wishes. Both are greatly appreciated. In spite of recent events (on which I cannot comment right now), my family and I had a great Christmas! I hope you all did too. Merci encore!

"Happy to sit down"?

UPDATE (Jan. 6): A Gazette story from Bill Brownstein on Terry DiMonte coming back to CHOM includes a sidebar that mentions Marier. It includes quotes suggesting reconcilation is possible:

Spalding: “If Pete called me today and if we could come to terms, we’d make it work. We would have him right back in drive. The last thing I ever wanted was to lose him. He’s an incredible talent.”

Marier: “If Astral Media is willing to negotiate a contract with me, I’d be more than happy to sit down with Martin Spalding and try to work it out.”

Related Posts

• Astral’s Martin Spalding on Terry DiMonte, CHOM, CJAD and Virgin Radio
• Terry DiMonte’s first day at CHOM … again
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• Terry DiMonte returns to CHOM Jan. 9
• Terry DiMonte returns to CHOM, and is back in Montreal for good

Lisa Player is leaving Montreal for Northern Ontario

As I sat in the conference room at Astral's studio on Fort St., interviewing people for my article in The Gazette on the change in the morning show at Virgin Radio, the discussion turned to how unusual it is for radio personalities to stay in the same job for long. For some reason, Montreal seems to be an exception, perhaps because of its two languages or because it has a particular connection to its media.

Still, at CJFM, most of the voices are new. "Freeway" Frank Depalo, Andrea Collins and Nikki Balch have been there less than a year. "Cousin" Vinny Barrucco and Tony Stark not much longer than that. Mark Bergman has been around for a while, but he's behind the scenes now.

So when Lisa Player leaves her post as the morning show co-host at Virgin Radio (she and Kelly Alexander are the only hosts to predate the name - unless you include MC Mario), her seven-year tenure is remembered as being exceptionally long (she says it's the longest she's ever had a job in radio) and relatively short by the standards of people like Aaron Rand, Terry DiMonte, Tootall and Andrew Carter.

A look at this video posted less than two years ago, and you see that of the nine personalities, listed, only two (plus Player) are still on the air here.

Friday is Lisa Player's last day at CJFM

Done

"I feel like I honestly don't have a great deal to say anymore," Player says of her decision to pack it in. "It starts to get a little repetitive after a while."

As she announced to CJFM's listeners last week, Player is not only leaving the show and the station, but the city and the business entirely. Her replacement is Natasha Gargiulo, who starts Jan. 3.

"Radio's an extremely fun career and I've had an exorbitant amount of fun," Player said. "When it stops becoming fun then it's time to seek fulfillment again."

So Player and her hubby Joey are moving to a small town in Northern Ontario (is that redundant?), where they're fixing and flipping a house. It seems a bit crazy, but she insists she's "turning a new chapter" and wants to go back to her small-town roots.

"I'm not really a city person," she confessed, even though her 20-year career has taken her to cities, from Cornwall, Ont.'s CJSS, where she said her first job was to read the obituaries, to Barrie, Kelowna, Calgary and Toronto, before ending up at what was then called Mix 96 in 2004.

The move came during what Player described as a "dark period in my life," as she was undergoing a separation. But she credits this city for helping her to heal from that.

"It's the favourite city that I've worked in. If I had to be stuck working in a city it would be Montreal."

But she's un-sticking. The Toronto-born but small-town-Ontario-raised Player is going back to "the same thing I couldn't wait to get away from" at the beginning of her career. And she made it clear it's not because of the audience.

"Our listeners are amazing," she said. "They're the most normal, grounded, caring people."

"I'm excited i had the chance to share with them, and I know they won't be disappointed with what's to come."

She's also promised to visit.

Natasha Gargiulo and Lisa Player have known each other since Player joined Mix 96 in 2004.

"The ultimate pro"

It could have been because she was in the room at the time, but her boss, her former co-host and the person who's replacing her all had nothing but praise for Player.

"Lisa, she's the ultimate pro," Depalo said of his on-air partner for only a few months.

"I always admired her quick wit," said Gargiulo. "She's on the ball and there's a lot of things to admire about Lisa."

I'd have far more quotes than this, but suffice it to say there was lots of praise going around, and everyone loves everyone else.

Player has also been receiving a lot of messages via the station's Facebook page (and the show's Facebook page) from listeners who are sorry to see her go, even as they wish her well.

While the news came as a surprise to many listeners, Bergman said a succession plan was discussed as early as late summer. Player said over the past year she's been thinking it's time to go back home.

No tears

Player's last show is Friday, and she's promised a brief goodbye. "I don't like being in the spotlight," she says, before laughing at how silly that seems because she's a morning show personality on a major-market radio station. Still, she'll keep the goodbye talk brief, probably just before the show ends at 9am.

She says she doesn't expect to break down on air, though she admitted she did get a bit choked up on Monday.

"I think when it's really going to hit me is when I turn off the mic for the last time," she said.

Change is good

Montrealers may be against change, sometimes in a completely irrational way, but Bergman says it's important.

"My biggest learning experience as a person as programming director was a year ago when Cat left. It made me realize when one opportunity is missed another is gained." Bergman hired Depalo to take over for Spencer, a decision that he thinks has worked out great for the station.

"Change is a good thing," he said. "It doesn't mean that it's anything is negative about what happened before."

Player agrees, and adds: "Astrologically, 2012 is a year of change. Positive change."

Lisa Player blows a kiss to her loyal Montreal listeners

See also: Natasha Gargiulo joins CJFM morning show

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"Freeway" Frank Depalo and Natasha Gargiulo form the new CJFM morning team

After just under a week of anticipation, Virgin Radio (CJFM 95.9FM) announced Thursday morning at 7:10am that Natasha Gargiulo is going to be the new morning co-host in the new year, taking the place of the departing Lisa Player. Starting Jan. 3, she will co-host Freeway and Natasha in the Morning with "Freeway" Frank Depalo.

You can listen to audio of the announcement and a chat with Gargiulo here (MP3).

Virgin Brand Director Mark Bergman graciously allowed me to break the news a few hours early so it could be in Thursday morning's Gazette. It was, surprisingly enough, the first time I had been inside the Virgin studio with its giant branding star (and a giant CHOM logo in the hallway visible through a window), and I got a chance to talk to Gargiulo, Depalo, Player and Bergman about this big change.

Meet Natasha

First, an introduction to the new girl. She's definitely not new to the station. She started at what was then Mix 96 way back in 2000, and was so desperate to get into the industry she worked for free.

"I gave up a really good job in university to do telemarketing at night and work for free (in the Mix promotions department). My parents thought I was crazy," Gargiulo told me during our chat in a conference room in Astral's Fort St. offices.

She continued working at CJFM until she was hired at Global Quebec in 2003. ("I always wanted to be on television," she says.) From there she worked as a weather presenter and an entertainment reporter for Global's local newscast. She also got other gigs, including working for Entertainment Tonight Canada, hosting Ciao Montreal on ethnic station CJNT (back when it and Global were both owned by Canwest), and a few other television gigs.

About a year and a half ago she came back to CJFM as a contributor to the afternoon drive show with "Cousin" Vinny Barrucco. Since then her role has expanded to de facto co-host of that show. She also filled in on the morning show this summer while Lisa was on vacation. Those two facts had led some people to correctly speculate that she'd be a strong candidate for the job.

As for the afternoon show, Bergman says Barrucco will continue it solo for the time being. There are no immediate plans to give him another co-host.

In addition to all her other activities, Gargiulo is also a mother. You can see a video done for ET Canada of her and Leticia, now 15 months, at a photo shoot earlier this year.

Many jobs

Here's the part where I question this young lady's sanity. In addition to a radio gig that requires being at work at 5am five days a week, and the hectic, inflexible schedule that comes with being a mother, Gargiulo says she will continue working for ET Canada.

"I figured I can't put all my eggs in one basket," Gargiulo said of having so many things going on at once. "If Ryan Seacrest can do it, why can't I?"

Not that she's some sort of superhero. She credits her "very supportive husband" for allowing her the flexibility to jet off on weekends to do entertainment reporting.

Besides, she says: "My motto is never say no, because you never know how long this ride is going to last."

That's certainly true. Though some radio personalities in Montreal seem to last forever, most don't last a decade. Case in point is CJFM itself. It's turned over most of its daytime staff in the past year (losing Cat Spencer, Heather Backman and Nat Lauzon) and just about everyone since the station became Virgin Radio in 2009.

Target demo

Not that Gargiulo's stint should be considered temporary. Bergman, at least, is happy with her appointment.

"I think Natasha is a young Montreal working mom who lives everything that the Virgin Radio brand represents: fun, entertainment, she's into social media, pop culture. I think she's a great reflection of the typical virgin radio listener."

If that sounds a bit like a radio program director, it's because that's what it is. Bergman is up front about the fact that this is about targetting a key demographic, which is like Gargiulo: Young mothers, people who enjoy hit music and have the spending power to please advertisers.

No big changes

Asked what, other than the personality, would be changing with the new so, everyone involved agreed that there wasn't going to be any drastic changes. But the team is constantly discussing new ideas and could put some of them into force slowly in the new year. But even then, don't expect fundamental changes. They're still the number-one music radio station, and they don't need to reinvent themselves to improve.

"We wanted four words people would think of about the show," Bergman said about the more philosophical thoughts. The words they came up with are fun, real, local and entertaining.

"If we can accomplish those four goals, we'll be happy," Bergman said.

"The show is always evolving," said Depalo. "I've only been here seven months, so this is not it."

Natasha Gargiulo starts Jan. 3. You can follow her on Twitter at @NatashaGargiulo.

UPDATE: Lots of congrats for Gargiulo on Twitter and Facebook. If you want to read the announcement in press release form, Astral Media has posted it to their website.

See also: Lisa Player stops playing

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Overall market share for anglophone Montreal (note that this includes only BBM members)

Ah, ratings. That time of the every-few-months where people who own radio stations gloat about their rising numbers, and if they don't have rising numbers they selectively comb through demographics and time periods until they find something to gloat about, and if they don't find anything there either they just bullshit their way through a press release.

Normally I don't pay much attention to them, because the changes are so insignificant. But with some major programming changes this fall, and some corresponding jumps and plummets in audience, it's worth taking a closer look this time.

Here are some more objective highlights from the ratings numbers from what I've been able to find. The top-line numbers from BBM Canada are here (PDF, first page is English audience, second page French audience). You can compare that to the spring report or last year for the same period.

Astral Media also does a presentation (PDF) that looks into the numbers overall for key demographics, and for important time periods for adults 25-54, which advertisers apparently covet.

CJAD 800AM (Astral)

Programming changes: Aaron Rand show added to evenings, moving Ric Peterson to early afternoons and Kim Fraser to weekends. Barry Morgan does 7-10pm weekdays, replacing Dan Delmar. Loss of Canadiens games to CKGM.

Overall (adults 2+, seven days a week), CJAD is still the highest-rated station in the Montreal English market. It has a 24% market share, within 0.2 percentage points of this spring and last fall. But it's losing audience in key demographics, especially young adults. In the 18-34 demo, it's down from 17% this spring to 11%. Though losing rights to Canadiens games is undoubtedly part of that, it's not the whole story.

If CJAD thought Aaron Rand would give a ratings boost for its evening drive, that hasn't happened. Its audience for 4-7pm weekdays is stagnant, and it has dropped to fifth place, behind Mitch Melnick on CKGM, for 25-54.

CKGM 990AM (TSN Radio 990, Bell Media)

Programming changes: Rebranding. Acquisition of Canadiens games. Denis Casavant leaves morning show.

The biggest change to CKGM is the addition of Canadiens games, which is giving a significant boost to the evening audience, making it No. 1 on game nights. "Canadiens games are registering an impressive 28.2 share among males 25-54," Bell Media's Greg McIsaac tells me. Previously, the station was fifth place with a 3.7 share during that time period. Now, overall, it's 19.8, ahead of Virgin Radio, station manager Wayne Bews tells Mike Cohen.

But the station is seeing ratings gains everywhere. Overall, CKGM is reaching more listeners, 131,000 a week compared to 93,000 in the spring. Its market share overall has gone up from 2.7 to 4.

Mitch Melnick's afternoon show has the most impressive gains, going from 3,490 to 4,540 listeners during an average minute, representing a 30% increase in audience. It was enough to push CKGM past CJAD for this time period among adults 25-54, particularly impressive since he's now up against Aaron Rand.

For me, the big question out of this is: Was getting Canadiens games worth it? Obviously they won't get into details about their business plans, but the mood seems to be pretty positive.

Bell Media also wouldn't comment on whether the station is still losing 30% of its audience after dark, as it complained to the CRTC during hearings that eventually granted it the right to move to the clear channel of 690 kHz. But critics might argue it's hard to get a 28% share if you're having significant reception problems.

There was also speculation that the station might be picking up francophone listeners after the closure of CKAC Sports. Though there has been a "moderate increase", Bell Media's McIsaac says, the overall numbers among francophones have remained unchanged since the spring. Overall, CKGM has a market share of 0.0 among francophone listeners.

If anything, the more likely scenario is that anglophone listeners who tuned into CKAC are coming back to CKGM. The French all-sports station had a 0.5% share among anglophone listeners. Stands to reason many of them would prefer hearing sports-related news and commentary during the day.

CKBE 92.5FM (ex-CFQR, The Beat, Cogeco)

Programming changes: Complete station rebranding. Cat Spencer replaces Aaron Rand on morning show, Ken Connors moves to weekend mornings, Nat Lauzon does weekend afternoons (starting Oct. 15).

They called it a brand new radio station. They wanted to shed all remaining remnants of the old Q92. But despite all the changes, it has still inherited the old Q ratings. The station has a 16% market share overall, which is actually down slightly from last year.

But program director general manager Mark Dickie still has a happy face. (Well, I assume he does. He seemed content when I chatted with him over the phone.) That's mostly because CKBE has made the strategic decision as part of the Beat rebranding to target the 35-44 female demographic that competitor CJFM seems to have abandoned, and it's seeing corresponding gains there, and Dickie says they've managed to do that while continuing to grow its 45-54 female demo. Overall, from 9am to 4pm, it has a 30% market share for women 35-54.

"It's pretty well what we were hoping for in the first book," he said. Among his cherry-picked highlights, the breakfast show with Cat Spencer and Sarah Bartok has surpassed CJFM among the key demo and has gone from fourth to second (behind CJAD) among adults 35-54. (Expanding to adults 25-54, it's still third, but gaining on second-place CJAD.)

Besides the new morning show, the Beat has also focused on weekends, moving Ken Connors to a beefed-up weekend morning show and bringing star Nat Lauzon in for weekend afternoons.

Lauzon's numbers are good, even though she's been on for only half the ratings period. Her numbers are up 6% on Saturdays and 7% Sundays compared to the spring. Among adults 35-54, afternoons are up 12% on Saturdays and 15% on Sundays.

But it's Connors who is making the biggest impact, with double-digit growth on weekend mornings. Among women 35-54, the station's audience has grown 37% on Saturdays and 53% on Sundays on weekend mornings.

"It's definitely paying off," Dickie says of the decision to focus on weekends, and of the Beat rebranding in general.

Of course, a lot of that is the promotional blitz that comes with a station rebranding. We'll have to give it another ratings period to see if this audience is sticking around.

CJFM 95.9FM (Virgin Radio, Astral)

Programming changes: Freeway Frank replaces Cat Spencer on morning show, Nat Lauzon leaves midday show for CKBE.

Virgin is still the market leader among adults 18-54. The only big demo it's lost control over is men 25-54, where CHOM has snuck into first place. The morning show, which took on Freeway Frank Depalo this year and is about to lose Lisa Player, has kept its audience. Its audience during midday, which has lost veteran Nat Lauzon, hasn't seen a significant change among adults 25-54.

Virgin's on-air lineup is young, and midday hosts Andrea Collins and Nikki Balch are new to the station over the past year. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it, I suppose. "As the leader our plan was not to react," Brand Director Mark Bergman tells Cohen.

CHOM 97.7FM (Astral)

Programming changes: Pete Marier moved to afternoon drive, Rob Kemp to morning show, Tootall to middays and Sharon Hyland to weekends.

Even though CHOM is in a period of transition as it awaits the return of Terry DiMonte on Jan. 9, this has actually been a pretty good ratings period for the station. It's up just about everywhere, except among women and during the drive-time show, where it's stagnant. It's now first overall among men 25-54, overtaking sister station CJFM. Even the morning show has picked up listeners, though it still sits fourth among English-language stations overall.

CBC Radio

Overall, Radio One's market share is still 8% among anglos, which hasn't changed over the past year. For Radio Two, there's been a slight drop in overall audience, going from a 3.1% to 2.6% market share.

CHMP 98.5FM (Cogeco)

Programming changes: Incorporation of sports programming in evenings after closing of CKAC Sports.

Cogeco Nouvelles, in a totally unbiased press release masquerading as news, declared 98.5 the most listened-to station in Canada. I'm too lazy to confirm that, but they're not making up their significant market gains.

Overall, the station has jumped from a market share of 12% last fall to 20% this fall. That's incredible. It's gained throughout the day weekdays (it's stagnant on weekends, when it plays music). The morning show, hosted by Paul Arcand, has gone from 33,000 to 45,000 average listeners a minute since last spring, a 37% increase. It's a 47% increase if you count from last fall.

In the noon and early afternoon periods, CHMP has rocketed past three other stations, CITE, CKMF and CKOI, to jump from fifth place to second among adults 25-54.

Demographically, the spike is most pronounced among men 25-54, where it was once in a three-way tie for first place with NRJ and Rythme FM, but is now way ahead (28% to 20%). But it's also ahead among women and young adults.

Unsurprisingly, the station has seen an increase in ratings during the evening, where it has replaced repeats of the day's talk shows with sports talk and Canadiens broadcasts. "Its new sports programming has proven a contributing factor to the station's growing success," says Cogeco. But that's not the whole story. Simple math shows that adding all of CKAC's former audience to CHMP only accounts for about half its increase in market share. Something else is causing more people to listen to the station and/or for longer.

CKAC 730AM (Radio Circulation, Cogeco)

Programming changes: Complete station rebranding, replacing sports and sports talk with 24/7 traffic information.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that since its switch Sept. 6 from sports talk to traffic, CKAC has plummeted in the ratings. But that was expected. Last fall, it had a 4.1% market share. This fall, it's 0.5%.

Where CKAC's morning show had an average minute audience of about 9,000, Radio Circulation is only 1,290. Similar drops happen across the schedule and across demographics.

Still, CKAC reaches more than 1 million listeners a week (counted as those who listen at least a minute in a week).

In its application to the CRTC this spring to put a French-language traffic station on 690AM, Cogeco estimated a French-language traffic information service as having a market share of 0.8%, with a total 265,200 weekly listening hours. That number, they said, would double as of the third year. As it turns out, they're behind that estimate a bit (even though there's one fewer station to compete with).

Fortunately for Cogeco, its agreement with Transport Quebec doesn't set any minimums concerning market share or total audience.

Other French-language stations

There haven't been much changes to the music stations on the French side, certainly not much of interest to anglos.

Among young adults (18-34), Astral's CKMF (NRJ) has overtaken Cogeco's CKOI for first place, going up six points with a corresponding drop of six points for CKOI.

CKOI's overall market share has dropped from 9.8 last year to 6.6 this fall, a significant drop. Why Cogeco would say it's proud of the station's performance is beyond me.

Quebec City

In brief:

• CFEL (CKOI), recently sold by Cogeco to the Leclerc family on orders from the CRTC, has slid significantly in market share among adults 18-34. It's now 16%, compared to 24% last fall, dropping it from first to third in the market.
• There's a corresponding spike for Astral's CITF (Rouge FM) in that same demographic. It has gone from 5% to 11% market share over the same period.
• CHOI (Radio X) is losing a lot of audience during weekday midday, and Rouge FM has a corresponding spike in audience for that period.

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The closing leaves 12 people out of work, and Cogeco is not offering them jobs elsewhere.

Coverage at the Journal de Sherbrooke, La Tribune and Cogeco Nouvelles.

CJTS-FM used to be CKOY-FM, and a sister station of Montreal's CKOI. When the Cogeco deal closed on Feb. 1, it moved the CKOI format and branding to CHLT-FM 107.7. That station is now CKOY-FM. CJTS picked up the Souvenirs Garantis format, which it held until noon on Tuesday when it shut down.

Cogeco's original plan for the station, which they hoped would satisfy CRTC commissioners, was to turn it into a retransmitter of CKAC Sports. That would have made things interesting when CKAC was turned into an all-Montreal-traffic station.

The other two stations Cogeco was forced to sell, CJEC-FM (Rythme FM 91.9) and CFEL-FM (CKOI 102.1) in Quebec City, were sold to businessman Jacques Leclerc.

Cogeco also announced on Tuesday that it purchased Métromédia CMR Plus Inc., a company that does advertising for public transit systems, including Montreal. (It's not to be confused with Métromédia CMR Montréal Inc. or Métromédia CMR Broadcasting Inc., which were holding companies for Corus Quebec radio stations including CFQR, CKOI and CHMP, and have since been amalgamated as Cogeco Diffusion Acquisitions Inc. Both Métromédias were started in the early 90s by Pierre Beland and Pierre Arcand.)

UPDATE (Dec. 15): Quebecor's Pierre Karl Péladeau confirms (after Agence QMI somehow managed to "learn" about it) that Groupe TVA submitted a bid to buy the station. Normally the CRTC doesn't allow the same company to own a major newspaper, a TV station and a radio station in the same market. Quebecor does own a weekly, the Journal de Sherbrooke, but no daily paper there, which I suppose Quebecor would use to argue it should be allowed to own it. Still, it would have been the media giant's first radio station.

Cogeco wouldn't confirm it, because such bids are confidential, but it says no bids met the criteria set by the liquidator. It would be interesting to see which one it didn't meet.

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Cogeco: No final decision

Metromedia (owned by Cogeco Diffusion), which in September launched a French-language all-traffic station on CKAC 730, had its application for an English station on 940 kHz rejected because "the Commission is not satisfied that the proposed service would represent the best use of a high-power AM frequency in Montréal," and the group said it would not accept the other frequency that was available as part of the hearing, 990 kHz. Still, the commission suggested Cogeco reapply for another frequency.

Now Cogeco is planning what to do next. Mark Dickie, who is the general manager for CKBE The Beat and part of the committee planning the anglophone traffic station, said he's been in regular meetings since, but no final decision has been made on whether to reapply. Another meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.

There are many factors that suggest Cogeco will reapply for another frequency despite its earlier assertion that only a clear channel would work. For one thing, the station is part of an agreement between Cogeco and the Ministry of Transport, which would pay the broadcaster $1.5 million a year to operate the station. Though the agreement requires the station to have coverage around the Montreal area, how that's determined is not clearly defined.

A similar agreement governs the French all-traffic station, which is also worth $1.5 million a year for Cogeco. Because the agreements are the same for both languages (meaning their value is based on the cost of providing the service, not the potential audience) and because there are no guaranteed minimums in terms of audience reach, it's clear the ministry doesn't actually care how many people listen to the station, just that it's there.

Guilaume Paradis, spokesperson for Transport Quebec, told me they are awaiting another submission from Cogeco, and that "we will study it," but that they still want to see an English all-traffic station in Montreal.

When asked about specifics, Paradis said that they are not experts in radio broadcasting, which is why they hired Cogeco to do the job in the first place, and they will leave the details of how such a station would reach the Montreal area to Cogeco.

The agreement between Cogeco and the government originally called for both stations to be operational by Oct. 31. That was amended with a new deadline of Feb. 29 in light of the elongated CRTC process. Clearly that will need to be amended again if the project is to continue.

Tietolman-Tétrault-Pancholy will reapply

The other group, 7954689 Canada Inc., known as Tietolman-Tétrault-Pancholy Media, scored a half-victory at the CRTC, getting clear-channel 940 kHz for a French-language news-talk station, but the English station was rejected for lack of available frequencies (like Cogeco, the TTP group rejected 990 as an option).

One of the group's partners, Paul Tietolman, originally wouldn't comment on their plans, but now says the group will make an application for another frequency. He wouldn't say what frequency that is, but did suggest it would be a unique technical setup (perhaps not limited to one frequency or one transmitter), without going into details.

Tietolman said many people have already approached the group expressing an interest in joining them. They are currently in the process of setting up their management team, who will then hire talent.

He said the goal is still to have the station running by fall of 2012.

Asked whether the group is sticking to its stance that it would not proceed with a radio station in one language without getting approval for the other, Tietolman would say only that he expects everything will work out, and that a solution has been found that will make everyone happy.

Meanwhile, the group has applied for an FM radio station in Calgary, one of 11 applications for FM stations on a few remaining vacant frequencies in that city. The application is for a music station that would be based on current and classic hits (from Katy Perry to the Beach Boys), based on requests, and with commitments to promote emerging Canadian artists as well as comedians. It would also hire 12 journalists and have newscasts 24 hours a day.

Tietolman said other applications are coming for other cities.

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Until recently he had a job at Espace Musique, Radio-Canada's music radio network. But when RadCan wanted to kill his show and move him online, he left. He took a job back at MusiquePlus, where he hosts two shows, Rajotte (Fridays at 7pm) and Hors Circuit (Sunday mornings at 1am). They're not exactly big-budget shows (Hors Circuit in particular looks pretty cheap), but the quality is in Rajotte's biting commentary (like tonight where he trashed Nickelback by saying they seem to be stuck in a 90s time-warp).

Having gone back to MusiquePlus, Rajotte wondered if maybe he could get a job at CHOM as well. But, La Presse reported, CHOM said no.

It's not because they're not interested, explained Astral Media VP Martin Spalding, just that they don't have any openings for him. "There wasn't an opportunity," Spalding said. "But that doesn't mean there won't be an opportunity in the future."

Spalding explained that giving Rajotte a show would mean cutting the time of existing staff like Bilal Butt, who hosts evenings. "For the time being, we want to allow Bilal to grow in that timeslot," Spalding said.

Sadly, the radio market isn't what it was even a decade ago, and the anglophone music stations aren't as eager as the francophone ones to grab big names to do an hour a day.

Could fate open up an opportunity for Rajotte at his other former home? As Spalding would say, never say never. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

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