Some Montreal ratings analysis from the latest PPM ratings survey, as put together by Astral’s helpful team:
As you can see, not much has changed in the local anglo radio landscape. CJFM Virgin Radio still dominates, with CFQR second and CHOM third. This graph shows weekly reach, which means the number of people who listen to the station at least once a week.
Remember Laurie MacDonald and Olga Gazdovic, of CJAD’s Saturday afternoon Laurie & Olga Show? Almost a year after getting canned from CJAD along with a bunch of others, they’re returning to the airwaves, in their old time slot (1-4pm), starting next weekend.
A (grammatically incorrect) Facebook group has already been started, and the few hundred people who joined the “Bring Back Olga and Laurie” Facebook group will probably be happy.
MacDonald and Gazdovic got their first radio job through a contest at a mall in 1995.
When they were suddenly fired in August 2009, Gazdovic told The Gazette: “It’s the nature of the business. If I had the chance, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
And so, like Ted Bird and Paul Graif in the mornings, Laurie and Olga become new voices from outside the Kahnawake community being added to Kahnawake’s community radio station. And the country music that used to dominate CKRK’s schedule is seeing less and less airtime in favour of castoffs and disgruntled former stars of the big Montreal stations.
It’s up to the community to decide how to react to this. But some were already suggesting that K103 was suffering an identity crisis, and the 250-Watt station was trying too hard to compete with the 50,000-Watt powerhouses atop Mount Royal, a battle they couldn’t possibly win, even with some names familiar to Montreal listeners.
A job posting has gone out for an evening host at CJFM 95.9. It’s to replace “Cousin Vinny” Barrucco, who’s moving from late nights to take over The Rush in the afternoon.
The position requires at least two years of on-air experience, the ability to prepare “relevant content for each on-air shift as scheduled and as per station target” and, you know, the ability to speak English.
What’s noteworthy about this post is that it lists the on-air shift as 7pm to midnight. This would entirely replace not only Barrucco’s old show but the syndicated On Air with Ryan Seacrest as well. Replacing syndicated content with a local DJ has at least one former Astral Media employee giving it a thumbs-up.
I wish I could get you more details about all of this (like whether this would also affect Seacrest’s weekend show), but Program Director Mark Bergman isn’t responding to my emails anymore (probably because I keep making fun of him).
Meanwhile, I just noticed that the station has picked up a (former) podcast to fill an hour on weekends. Man of the Hour features two Montrealers (including someone from Simple Plan), and is now airing Sundays from 9 to 10pm. Unfortunately, this means they’ve discontinued the actual podcast, so you can’t download it. You’d think they’d at least have the podcast on the Virgin Radio website so it can generate some buzz and better connect the station with an audience that doesn’t listen to radio any more.
Nancy Wood
News about Nancy
We know that there is some curiosity about Nancy Wood’s next assignment at CBC and we have some news that we’re happy to share. Nancy will start work representing English services within Radio-Canada’s investigative journalism unit. They are as delighted to be working with one of the CBC’s top journalists as she is to join this prestigious team. She will produce regular reports for CBC radio, CBC television and cbc.ca. Nancy will be working alongside the excellent reporters and producers from Radio-Canada doing the groundbreaking investigative work the unit is famous for. You can expect to see her on television and hear her on radio starting in September.
If you have any brown envelopes full of scandal, you can send them to her at: Local A-18, Société Radio-Canada, 1400, René-Lévesque Est, Montréal Quebec, H2L 2M2
Or if it’s a virtual envelope you’re slipping her, her email remains nancy.wood@cbc.ca
We all wish her the best in her new assignment,
Pia Marquard
Managing Director
CBC Québec
Those of you who watch CBC News Montreal at 5/5:30/6 know that the station routinely piggybacks on Enquête investigations (branding them “CBC-Radio-Canada investigations”). We’ll see how Wood’s presence on this team changes that.
UPDATE: From Wood herself: “I am looking forward to it. The journalism there is fantastic, the people are great. It’s a great opportunity.”
Let’s hope she enjoys and does well at her new job, and her performance there is judged on something more important than ratings.
Pierre Trudel thought it was Quebecor, but Quebecor had it right: Cogeco, a cable provider in Ontario and parts of Quebec, which also owns the Rythme FM radio network and used to own TQS before that went into bankruptcy, has announced that it will acquire Corus Quebec’s radio network, pending CRTC approval.
The transaction, valued at about $80 million, includes:
In Montreal:
Elsewhere:
It’s hard to tell from a simple press release what this all means. Cogeco has experience in radio, so I wouldn’t expect any major overhauls immediately (except, I guess, having to rename “Corus Nouvelles”). But CFQR would be Cogeco’s first anglophone radio station, for what that’s worth.
On the francophone side, this would mean a loss of competition. Instead of three major players (Astral Media is the other, owning the NRJ and Rock Détente networks), there would be two. CKOI and CFGL would come under the same owner, working together instead of competing with each other for music listeners.
In Sherbrooke, it’s worse: Three of the four five commercial music stations, CKOY, CHLT and CFGE, would all be owned by Cogeco, leaving CITE-FM-1 Rock Détente 102.7 and CIMO-FM 106.1 NRJ in nearby Magog as the only competition.
In Trois Rivières, it would be two for Cogeco, two for Astral. Same for Quebec City, though there’s more competition there from independents.
It’s also worth noting that this sale comes mere months after Corus cut local programming at Souvenirs Garantis stations CJRC, CHLT and CHLN.
CKRS 98.3FM in Saguenay, the fourth Souvenirs Garantis station that got its morning show cut to be replaced with Paul Arcand, is not part of the transaction. Corus has been looking to get rid of that station, and the deadline for bids was yesterday, and the new owner (if there is one) should be known soon.
UPDATE: Nathalie Collard also has some thoughts on the matter.
Ted Bird's new haircut, from K103Radio.com
K103 thought to bring a video camera as Ted Bird got a mohawk shaved into his head during his first show.
He said during the show that he had decided not to shave his head because he wanted to be embraced by the community rather than do some silly stunt thinking it would impress everyone.
It was all an act, though, part of the publicity stunt for the station that is betting quite a bit on Bird’s personal popularity to bring listeners and advertisers. They insisted he get his haircut, and he obliged.
Bird will be appearing with his new haircut on his Bird’s Eye View segment on CFCF tonight at 6, where I assume he will explain why he looks like he does. Bird the chicken wussed out and wore a Habs cap during his Bird’s Eye View segment on CFCF, though he did explain at the end, and included footage of the shaving.
Bird has a post about his haircut on his blog. There’s also a short story about Bird and the new show at KahnawakeNews.com. Other than that (and this post), not much bite from the media.
Radio watcher Sheldon Harvey has some thoughts on the debut at Radio in Montreal. Noah Sidel also weighs in.
Oh, and K103 Operations Director Chuck Barnett sent in this pic of Bird at his new roost:
Ted Bird struts his stuff at K103 (photo by Chuck Barnett)
UPDATE (April 21): Bird has also started writing a column for Iorì:wase (aka the Eastern Door, aka KahnawakeNews.com) about his experience working in the community.
UPDATE (April 22): I’ve gone through my recording of their first show, and compiled this 15-minute excerpt of banter between the hosts. It includes Bird’s first words on air at 5:30am, a conversation over the phone with Terry DiMonte, the new Revisionist History, and a couple of promos.
Ted Bird
It’s gratifying that I was able to say what a lot of people in radio want to say but can’t, even if it meant dynamiting every professional bridge in my wake.
Well, not every bridge. There’s still the Mercier.–Ted Bird, on his blog
Even he admits it was the worst kept secret ever: Ted Bird, who left CHOM-FM over “creative differences” in January, will be one of the co-hosts of the morning show at CKRK 103.7 FM in Kahnawake, starting April 19.
This will be in addition to his weekly segment on CFCF television, as well as those blogs he isn’t being paid to maintain.
Mike Cohen broke the news on his blog based on “reliable sources” about a day before what should have been a Gazette exclusive Monday morning, followed by an official announcement from the station.
After getting the news from a “reliable source” of my own, I got Bird to confirm the news under the condition that I hold off publishing it until the first editions of the Gazette were published at midnight. Basem Boshra’s article on Ted Bird headlines Monday’s Arts & Life section. There’s a similar piece at KahnawakeNews.com with a photo of the three new hosts.
The 250-Watt station on the south shore isn’t exactly burning up the ratings. In fact, most Montrealers probably haven’t even heard of it. But it was the only one that could offer Bird what he needed: a radio job in (or rather near) his city that could offer him a salary and complete creative freedom, he tells me via email:
I’m really excited. K103 is about the only place left on the dial where the announcers are left to their own creative devices, and that’s hugely appealing to me. Also, because of who it is and where it is, there’s a pirate radio element to it. The main differences are that instead of pirates, it’s Mohawks, and if it doesn’t work out I won’t have to walk the plank, although they may tie me to an anthill and smear me in honey.
Paul Graif
Bird won’t be alone on the morning show. Joining him will be Paul Graif, the former local TV sportscaster who rejoined the station in February, and James “Java” Jacobs, a CKRK veteran who, you know, actually lives in Kahnawake.
“The worst that will happen is I’ll have a shitload of fun doing the kind of radio you’ll be hard-pressed to find anywhere else,” Bird says. “I defy you to name me another morning show with a West Island WASP, a Kahnawake Mohawk and a Hampstead Jew.”
The show will run 5:30am to 10am, which is a slot Bird is used to. Fans of his regular segments Bird Droppings (sports commentary) and Revisionist History (just making shit up about the past) will be pleased to know that he’s planning to bring them with him to his new gig, at least as long as Astral Media doesn’t sue.
Bird says he’s committed to the station for at least a year, and while the salary is nowhere near what he got at CHOM, the ability to keep his integrity and freedom is more important than the money. He’s hoping that bringing a big name to the station might also give it an increased audience, which might bring in sponsors. A big “if”.
“It’s definitely not a between-radio-jobs job,” Bird says, “because the only way I would ever go back to mainstream commercial radio is on my own terms, and there’s not much chance of that happening, considering the fine job I’ve done of dynamiting professional bridges in my wake – a circumstance with which I’m totally at peace.”
Oh, and one more thing: Bird said the day he joins CKRK is the day he shaves his hair into a mohawk. So he’s doing exactly that (as a publicity stunt, mind you).
So when you see him on TV on April 19 with a half-shaved head, now you’ll know why.
Meanwhile, Bird has opened up on why he left CHOM in January. Saying his contractual obligations to the station expired on April 1, Bird posted on his blog that:
Within the past five to ten years, CHOM and most of the rest of the country’s radio stations have been acquired by corporations who jettisoned the majority of the creative people in favor of bean counters beholden only to shareholders. The impact was swift, enormous and predictable. By the time I left CHOM, it was about as much fun as working at the Soviet Ministry of Agriculture.
Though he points to a trend happening at radio stations across the country, Bird takes particular aim at Daniel Tremblay, CHOM’s program director:
He barely paid lip service to the insights and opinions of staff members who’ve been on the front lines of English radio in this town for decades. That spoke volumes to me, and I could not in good conscience continue to work for someone who was making decisions in a vacuum that were running a treasured Montreal institution into the ground.
Bird also says CHOM offered him a lesser job – at reduced salary – after he quit. Says Bird: “He was – or at least appeared to be – genuinely surprised that I took offense at being thrown a bone on the assumption that I was desperate and could be lured back on the cheap.”
As the featured guest on Mitch Melnick’s web show Melnick Underground, Bird also let lose on CHOM and Tremblay and the state of modern commercial radio. Melnick can relate, as he also values his creative freedom and has found one of the few jobs left in commercial radio that lets him do what he wants.
I’ve been invited by Tremblay to meet with him to discuss what’s going on at CHOM. Once that happens I’ll try to get his side of this story.
UPDATE (April 12): Bird himself discusses the new job, as well as the elephant in the room of a white guy working for a Mohawk radio station. A Facebook group has been setup welcoming Bird to the community.
A more critical Facebook group has also been setup, with some saying Bird’s hiring is directly tied to budget cuts at the station and other people losing their jobs. Bird comments on the group, saying he doesn’t recall saying anything derogatory about the community.
Patrick Charles
After a year on the CJFM (aka Virgin Radio 96) morning show, Patrick Charles, aka Sir Patrick, is being shuffled into an off-air job at Astral Media.
As seems to be the usual procedure in this town, when a host is removed from a show there’s no announcement or long goodbye. The name of the show is simply changed – it’s now just “The Breakfast Show with Cat and Lisa” – and the offending host’s image scrubbed from the website.
Charles made the announcement himself to his Twitter followers on Saturday night (his new Twitter handle being itself scrubbed of links to Virgin Radio). “The company has new plans for me,” he said, indicating that this wasn’t his decision.
Sources who support Charles tell me this is the outcome of a personal conflict between Charles and co-host Lisa Player. Because Player is the more senior co-host, it’s Charles who gets the boot. (I’ve asked Player for comment, and will update this post with any response.)
But Charles isn’t leaving Astral Media. He says he’ll be doing “new stuff for the company” – he’ll be working in an off-air capacity, continuing to do his parodies for CJFM and CHOM. He will also have a regular segment on CJAD, joining morning host Andrew Carter at 8:20am weekdays starting April 19. And he appears semi-regularly as a pop culture columnist on CFCF newscasts.
It’s expected Charles will return to the air in a more permanent capacity soon, possibly at CJAD.
UPDATE (April 12): On the first show as Cat and Lisa, a pathetic 35-second announcement (MP3) about Charles’s departure suggests that this decision was somehow his and that he’s welcome to be a guest “sporadically”:
Spencer: By the way, as you probably have mentioned, or probably have noticed by now if you’ve been listening this morning, it’s now Cat and Lisa. Sir Patrick is still with us in the building and with all three of our radio stations now. He will be doing other work behind the scenes and he’ll be welcome to join us on the air here and there sporadically.
Player: That’s right, when he gets a chance. When he has time.
Spencer: But the show now is Cat and Lisa, but it’s nothing that he has been asked to leave or let go or anything like that –
Player: No no no.
Spencer: He’s still working with us and all three of our stations in a different capacity.
Player: Yeah, we’re trying to use him even more.
Spencer: There you go.
The announcement aired only once during the three-and-a-half-hour show, at about 7:37am.
Compare this to the multiple announcements throughout the morning totalling almost 17 minutes given on sister station CHOM-FM when Ted Bird left in January. Is Charles less important to CJFM than Bird was to CHOM, or did they want to sweep this under the rug and hope people wouldn’t notice?
From Mark Bergman via Milkman Unlimited comes news about new appointments at CJFM 95.9 aka Virgin Radio 96, two of whom replace Bergman himself, who has been holding a few titles since being named the station’s program director and has been looking for new blood for the past few months:
The big one is behind the scenes. Madhvi Shah becomes the station’s music director, taking over from Bergman. “Madhvi is part of the reason that Virgin Radio has been enjoying the success that it has. Her attention to detail, strong work ethic, love of music, and her strong desire to win, will make Madhvi a successful and strong Music Director,” Bergman writes.
Vince Barrucco
Vince Barrucco, aka “Cousin Vinny”, who has been getting the really crappy shifts of late (late night weekdays and early morning weekends), takes over Bergman’s afternoon show The Rush.
Bergman writes:
“Over the last 2 months I searched across the country for Montreal’s next big star. Throughout my search, I began to notice that Montreal’s next big star was right here in Montreal! Cousin Vinny possesses a rare quality that allows him to raise his game faster than anyone I’ve ever met. Vinny has been working with Cat Spencer over the last couple of months in order to get the gig of his dreams. Well today his dreams come true! Vinny’s slick on-air style, hot phone calls, and targeted material will give The Rush the fuel that it needs to continue owning the #1 afternoon drive position in Montreal!”
Natasha Gargiulo
Finally, Natasha Gargiulo, who you might recognize from Global Quebec, Entertainment Tonight Canada and CJNT’s Italian show, will be a contributor to Vinny’s show, with segments three times a week.
Unlike some other radio stations in Montreal, CJFM has been enjoying climbing ratings of late. So it’s all happy fun time with no downside.
We’ll see how long that lasts.
I’ll get more details from Bergman just as soon as it’s no longer 1:30am on a Saturday.
I'm pretty sure this was the original idea behind this photo of NRJ people with Alouettes' Larry Smith
I’m kind of a stickler for format purity, in that a broadcaster that specializes in one thing shouldn’t try to be something else just because that something else gets ratings.
So I’m not crazy about live-action movies airing on Teletoon, or funny pet video compilations airing on the Discovery channel. Unfortunately, I’ve seen both in the past week.
When it comes to radio, the genres aren’t so specific, at least for over-the-air broadcasting. They really come down to two camps: music and talk. The latter can have news, sports, comedy, documentary, or whatever else they can think of. The music stations (at least commercial ones) just play music, perhaps with the occasional goofball listener contest thrown in.
NRJ, a music network based off a brand developed in France, announced that it will be carrying Alouettes games until 2013, a job formerly (and quite logically) left to CKAC, the AM sports station. The Alouettes also have a release in English and French.
So once a week, for a few hours, NRJ will stop playing music and start airing football play-by-play. Not just in Montreal, but all over Quebec.
This has already happened on the anglo side. CHOM-FM has been airing select Alouettes games, even though all of them are available on CJAD.
It’s worth pointing out, by the way, that CHOM, CJAD and NRJ are all owned by Astral Media. CKAC is owned by Corus.
As for CKAC, well, they still have the Canadiens, of course. And they carry home games of the Impact. They’re also adding a few baseball games to their schedule.
One of the things actually being advertised in this release is that the play-by-play won’t be done by NRJ or anyone at Astral Media, but will basically just be taken off the audio feed of RDS.
CKAC tried this back in 2007, and the result wasn’t particularly favourable. The next season, they brought in Charles-André Marchand to do their own play-by-play.
We’ll see if NRJ learns the same lesson, or just decides that, even though TV play-by-play doesn’t work on radio, it’s cheap enough that they can live with the mediocrity.
CHOM has gone through a pretty big change over the last year, and particularly since the beginning of 2010. The morning team has gone through a complete turnover since Pete Marier joined in August. Chantal Desjardins joined in January, and PJ Stock was brought in to replace the departing Ted Bird.
On Feb. 1, the station rebranded itself, promising more and better music, though without being too specific about it.
Whatever they did, it isn’t working. According to the latest ratings numbers, CHOM is losing listeners just about everywhere.
The ratings cover the period from Nov. 30 to Feb. 28, which means only about a third of the latest ratings period covers the “new CHOM”, but it gives the first indications of how listeners reacted to the format change, and that reaction isn’t good.
Astral Media, which compiles ratings information into boring webcasts, has created charts showing numbers for the Montreal region. They’re not complete (and, for those interested, they don’t give very useful information about non-commercial stations like CBC), but for the commercial market, it gives a good perspective of what’s going on.
CHOM, like CJFM and CJAD, is an Astral Media radio station, though the numbers come from BBM.
The chart above shows adults 18-49, a key demographic for advertisers. You can see that CHOM has dropped from second to third, and now sits behind Corus’s CFQR in the ratings (this will be a common theme in the numbers below). In the slightly older 25-54 bracket, it’s the same story, although there CFQR, CHOM and CJAD are neck-and-neck-and-neck with 21% market share each. CJFM holds a commanding lead with 33%.
Conan O’Brien, who isn’t allowed to “be funny on television” until the fall as a condition of his $45-million buyout from NBC, has launched a North American comedy tour to pass the summer until he’s inevitably picked up by Fox.
The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour has three stops in Canada: Vancouver (two shows April 13-14), Enoch, Alta.(just west of Edmonton, April 17), and Toronto (May 22).
Sadly, Montreal isn’t on this list (though neither is Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Halifax and a bunch of other cities). People have been pleading on Twitter for him to come, hoping that the eight-day hole after his Toronto stop could be easily taken up with something at a Montreal venue.
Rob Kemp, the afternoon host at CHOM, has taken it a bit further, starring in a video in which he dons a wig and does Conan’s “string dance” in front of some local attractions.
(He even helpfully translates “Bell Centre” into the Americanese “Bell Center”)
The surreal Daybreak saga just got a bit moreso, as the CBC officially posted a job opening for the host of Daybreak. Like with the last host, this position is a “contract” job instead of a permanent one.
What you do
As a Host for the English Radio of CBC in Montreal, you will host the flagship weekday program “Daybreak”, in keeping with Corporation standards and policies. More specifically, you will keep up with all political, social, economic and cultural developments relevant to a local Montreal audience and maintain contacts with various sources. You will do the research necessary for interviews and other program activities. You will write or adapt intros. During production meetings, you will assist in planning and choosing content for the program. Your role as a host will also include community outreach at public events.
Qualifications
We are looking for a candidate with the following:
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.
- Five (5) years’ on-air experience or equivalent.
- Proven journalism skills.
- Excellent command of the working language (English).
- Very good knowledge of the other official language (French).
- Extensive general knowledge.
- Extensive knowledge of stories and issues in Montréal and Québec.
- Understanding of the culture of French Canada.
- Strong high-energy on the air, strong ability to connect with audience.
- Team leader.
- Ability to work under stress.
Candidates may be subject to an audition in English and knowledge testing.
This is a contract position.
We recognize the importance of a diverse workforce and we therefore encourage applications from Aboriginal peoples, women, members of a visible minority and persons with a disability.
Sound interesting? Apply now! We thank you for your interest, but only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.
Job: Programming and Production
Primary Location: Montreal
Job Posting: Mar 19, 2010
Unposting Date: Mar 30, 2010
Status of Employment: Contract
Work schedule(s): Full-time
It’s funny, I know someone who fills all those qualifications perfectly…
Meanwhile, those campaigning for Nancy Wood to get her old job back are running out of steam. Jon Simon, the creator of the Keep Nancy Wood as host of Daybreak Facebook group, has given up after hearing from Wood that she’s moving on. This despite the group having 621 members, more than the official Daybreak Facebook page has fans.
UPDATE (April 1): The Suburban’s Mike Cohen has some thoughts on possible replacements.
“Peppermint” Patti MacNeil, who some might remember as a former Montreal radio host who fled out west, is out of a job. Q107, which paired her with her old pal Terry DiMonte on their morning show, has decided not to renew her contract, and the Terry and Patti Show is now just the Terry Show.
MacNeil didn’t respond to an email seeking comment, but made a brief statement to the Calgary Herald saying she was “disappointed” and “sad”.
DiMonte, who has never been one to keep quiet about his feelings even if they might not be the most PR-friendly, said the move “blows big time”. But, of course, it wasn’t his call.
Before some of you start dreaming of a Terry & Ted reunion, the Birdman tells me that “convincing me to uproot my family and move 3,500km would take Terry money, and they already spent the Terry money on Terry.”
It’s been a rough few days, that’s for sure. I am really heartened to see the support I have, especially from listeners. I can’t tell you how much I love hosting Daybreak. I just wish the CBC loved me half as much. I guess I’ll never really know why they don’t want me.
– Nancy Wood, Feb. 22
Nancy Wood hasn’t said much since she learned almost a month ago that she was being pulled from the host chair at Daybreak. Part of that is because Wood has never been one to draw too much attention to herself (at least, that’s the impression I get from listening to her), and part of it is that there are still discussions happening behind the scenes – and CBC employees have been told not to talk to the media.
The short note above is all she wrote to me when I asked her about this whole thing almost three weeks ago. On Twitter, where she has a personal account, only this tweet, saying she’d be glad to return to her job, but providing no new details about what’s going on. On her Facebook account (which isn’t open to non-friends), similarly cryptic messages.
Even though I’ve never conversed with Wood in person, those brief crumbs of thought tug at my heartstrings. Here we have a veteran journalist and a professional radio host who is being forced from her dream job and doesn’t even know why. It’s been reported that Wood was hospitalized for stress, and while I haven’t confirmed that (and it’s really none of my business), the emotional impact this has had on her seems pretty apparent.