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K-Town gets 'Joe'd
Friday, February 6, 2004, 06:24 p.m. ET
So the rumours were true... this afternoon, Corus' CFMK-FM 96.3 Kingston said goodbye to the country and came back to the limestone city... with JOE. So far I've heard the reactions of at least two CHUM Kingston/Brockville employees, one of which is with BOB (CJPT-FM 103.7 Brockville). Bringing in JOE sounds like a truly lousy move. Given that Country 96 checked in at 14.5 (third) 12+ in the Fall '03 BBMs behind FLY FM's 15.2 and K-Rock's 18.9, it looks as if Corus just threw their many devoted listeners and ratings out the window. Nice move by the same company that fired me without giving me a written reason why! As for BOB, he doesn't have a whole lot to worry about in his hometown of Brockville... JOE's 0.5 contour barely touches the city's west edge. Good luck JOE, but I certainly won't be held responsible if a bunch of in-bred, RF-laden hicks from Wolfe Island bring down the CKWS tower in protest.
More from the hill...
Thursday, February 5, 2004, 11:43 a.m. ET
Since CHEX-TV (Ch. 12 Peterborough) was granted a power decrease as a result of having a taller tower built at 1925 Television Road, The Wolf (CKWF-FM 101.5) is getting a power decrease too, but as with CHEX, the antenna will be higher. Today the CRTC approved an application by 591989 B.C. Ltd. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Corus Entertainment) to drop The Wolf's power from 48.5 to 15.2 kW ERP, but the antenna will be 273.2 metres EHAAT when the new tower goes up. Still no word from Trent Radio, though; chances are they're gathering up the funds to get through the process of applying for technical changes to CFFF (92.7), assuming they plan to be on the new CHEX tower. According to Trent Radio GM John K. Muir, the value of Trent Radio's antenna space at the 200-foot mark of the current CHEX tower, plus room at the base for the transmitter itself, is valued at approximately ten thousand dollars a year.
Cornwall's Bus Board Battle
Thursday, February 5, 2004, 10:43 a.m. ET
So Tim Martz is at it again in Cornwall... this time, he's invested in bus boards. First saw them today - two for "Frank Holiday Mornings" on The Valley (WVLF-FM 96.1 Norwood NY), and one for Wild Country (WVNV-FM 96.5 Malone NY). Tim, just so you know, The Valley won't dethrone Variety 104 anytime soon, especially when you're obviously running ABC's "Hits and Favorites" feed. Keep your money - and what little on-air talent you have - in Massena. At the same time, being outnumbered by Martz's signals, I'm surprised Corus hasn't spent anything on advertising, save for Variety stickers galore, and a couple of Rock 101.9 billboards on Vincent Massey Drive and on Brookdale Avenue. I was waiting for Rock to get a bus wrapped like Galaxy Cinemas did. But if they were tops with men 18-49 this past fall, that may not be as necessary... more so if there were cases of people jotting down Rock 101.9 in their BBM diaries when they were actually listening to The Fox (WRCD-FM 101.5 Canton NY).
Lots from the CRTC
Friday, January 30, 2004, 11:17 a.m. ET
They got it! Quinte Broadcasting's application to move CJTN (1270 Trenton) to 107.1 FM was approved today by the CRTC, with a couple of conditions... click this entry's title to see the decision. Also approved today was Standard Radio's app to add a Pembroke rebroadcaster of Ottawa rocker "106.9 The Bear" (CKQB-FM)... that'll be at 99.7 FM with 45.2 kW. More DTV stations will be signing on in Canada in 2004, mainly in the Toronto area... they'll eventually replace CBLT (5), CFTO (9), CBLFT (25), CITS (36 Hamilton), CKXT (52), and CIVT (32 Vancouver BC). What channels will they be on? CBLT-20, CFTO-40, CBLFT-24, CITS-21 or 35, CKXT-66 Toronto & 15 Hamilton, and CIVT-33. And Scott Jackson's Trust Communications Ministries was once again turned down for a Christian outlet in K-W.
Old Rock radio
Monday, January 26, 2004, 10:19 a.m. ET
One of the oldest religious stations in Canada was featured last night on Vision TV's "Spirit Connection". Wesley United Church's VOWR (800 St. John's NF) has been around longer than any other such station in Canada. How can this be, even though religious broadcasting has only really been permitted under the CRTC for about a decade? VOWR signed on as 8WMC in 1924, 25 years before Newfoundland became Canada's tenth province, so the station was grandfathered into the Canadian broadcasting system, along with the Seventh-day Adventist Church's VOAR (1210). Based on what was aired last night, VOWR must mean a lot to the older population in St. John's. A great example was donations to VOWR in memory of a deceased person. Also, the interviewee (the GM or PD?) mentioned that many people have donated boxes full of records, making more of the station's music library vinyl. I checked out the station's website, and it's definitely worth a look, particularly for the historical artifacts shown on the online station tour... click this entry's title to drop in.
Demo 2
Thursday, January 22, 2004, 07:38 p.m. ET
Finally, on my personal page, I've added some demo stuff from my tenure at Corus Cornwall... all spots, though. Click this entry's title to head over and give it a listen.
Old transmitter site explored
Monday, January 19, 2004, 08:07 p.m. ET
After recently taking a small interest in "urban exploration", I stumbled upon somebody's journey through the former CHML (900 Hamilton) transmitter site. Since the late seventies, 'ML has been putting out 50,000 watts from an eight-tower array near Westover, between Hamilton & Cambridge. But from 1946 to 1979, 'ML ran 5,000 watts from a site in Vinemount (now part of Stoney Creek?). Click this entry's title to explore the long-abandoned CHML transmitter site with a member of the Urban Exploration Resource (UER)... lots of photos, too!
Little big station on the island, and more on TV sign-ons
Wednesday, January 14, 2004, 06:25 p.m. ET
Rather quiet here since Friday's insanity at Rogers Ottawa, but there are a couple of things to mention. CKON (97.3 Akwesasne) has earned presets on both of my big receivers - #3 on the off-air box, and #2 on the cable FM unit. CKON is somewhat eclectic, playing a nice mix of country by day, a little bit of everything by night (hi Kevin!), and CKON Radio Bingo every week! Click this entry's title to learn more. || Some adjustments to my "internal clock" this past week have allowed me to catch a glimpse of some area TV sign-ons, namely WCAX (Ch. 3 Burlington VT, CBS), WPBS (Ch. 16 Watertown NY, PBS, seen locally on rebroadcaster WNPI Ch. 18 Norwood NY), and now on tape, the rarely-seen sign-on sequence of CJOH (Ch. 13 Ottawa-Hull, CTV). Got tapes of 1980's/90's Canadian TV sign-on/sign-off sequences? I've got some recent Southern Ontario stuff to trade... e-mail me if you're interested.
OTTAWA SHAKE-UP!
Friday, January 9, 2004, 12:08 p.m. ET
We knew something would happen in Ottawa sooner or later, and it happened eight minutes ago... 105.3 became hot AC "105.3 Kiss FM", and 101.1 became country "Y101". I was rolling tape on 101.1, and caught the tail end of Kiss' launch, albeit with a lot of hash from Variety 104. Last song on "XFM" was Green Day's "Good Riddance/Time Of Your Life", and the first real programming element on "Y101" (other than the abruptly cut-off Star Wars theme - was that a mid-flip studio swap?) was a newscast. Kiss FM opened with a big intro, then Pink's "Get The Party Started". And in the process, Smiths Falls got Jacked as CJET-FM 92.3 went from "Country 92" to "92.3 JACK FM". To the receptionist at Rogers Ottawa, it'll be a busy afternoon!
Global @ 30
Tuesday, January 6, 2004, 10:41 a.m. ET
Happy 30th birthday today to the Global Television Network... at least in Ontario. It was today in 1974 that Global signed on as CKGN-TV (now CIII-TV) with six transmitters in southern Ontario: Ch. 6 in Paris/Kitchener, another Ch. 6 in Ottawa, Ch. 22 in Uxbridge, another Ch. 22 near Windsor, Ch. 29 in Sarnia, and Ch. 2 in Bancroft. Of course, the only one of these that doesn't exist anymore is the five-million-watt Uxbridge flamethrower. It was shut down in 1988 when a new transmitter, now Global's flagship station, signed on from the CN Tower on channel 41. This morning, I checked Global's news page to see if anything had been mentioned. Nothing yet, but something might come up towards the end of tonight's Toronto newscast.
What?!
Friday, January 2, 2004, 01:26 p.m. ET
So we didn't see any format changes at Rogers Ottawa on Wednesday or Thursday... however, one Jon Stewart (not the Jon Stewart from "The Daily Show"?) had registered 1053clearfm.com, and posted a page with various radio logos modified to contain the 105.3 frequency. Below the collage reads: "The moment you're all done speculating... drop me a line at jonstewart@jonstewart.com / Until then... have a Happy New Year!" Take a look by clicking this entry's title. He was obviously referring to the users of several Canadian radio message boards, who had built up rumours regarding two of Rogers' Ottawa stations (see the entry below). The rumour mill may have started at CHUM. Well, regardless, there's always a tape ready to roll on a second's notice if something comes up, and if something does happen on 105.3, it's on the presets. Right now, reports say that 101.1 is more likely to flip any day now, since it's all voice tracked and largely "spotless", possibly with the exception of the usual Rogers cross-promos.
Coming soon to Rogers Ottawa...
Tuesday, December 30, 2003, 06:45 p.m. ET
...some changes. Reports say that CKBY-FM 105.3 Ottawa ("Y105") and CIOX-FM 101.1 Smiths Falls ("Xfm") will be changing formats sometime tomorrow (Wednesday December 31). Y105's country format will move to 101.1, bringing an end to modern rock on Xfm. 105.3 will become soft AC/smooth jazz "Clear FM", as recently launched in Vancouver on the former Xfm (CKVX-FM-2 104.9). I can only imagine the reaction to 101.1 Xfm's death. First there was the "Frank FM" stunt on Halloween, which pissed off a good chunk of Xfm's listeners... now this. What are the chances that a bunch of angry punk kids will show up at 2001 Thurston Drive once they realize that the change is for good? Hard to tell. What are their alternatives? The Bear (CKQB-FM 106.9), and if they live in Nepean, there's CKDJ (107.9).
Holiday listening observations Pt. 2
Sunday, December 28, 2003, 12:16 p.m. ET
While in Collingwood the first half of last week, my radio was tuned to local AC "The Peak" (CKCB-FM 95.1), but I only heard two things worth noting here: B101 swinger Jeff Carson doing an evening show - most likely voice tracked; and the draws in a huge fundraising raffle/lottery for the Collingwood General & Marine Hospital... this was reportedly a big thing, having surpassed their goal (I think it was around $30,000) by several thousand dollars. Also, at 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve, four FM stations I heard from Alliston were not playing holiday music: 105.9 Jack FM (CICX-FM Orillia), 102.1 The Edge (CFNY-FM Brampton), Z103.5 (CIDC-FM Orangeville), and Mix 99.9 (CKFM-FM Toronto).
Holiday listening observations Pt. 1
Sunday, December 28, 2003, 11:57 a.m. ET
Yes, I listened to a lot of radio last week, and while scanning through the dial, my reception records from Alliston were Kitchener rocker "Kool FM" (CFCA-FM 105.3), and Wingham hot AC "FM 102" (CKNX-FM 101.7), now with jingles. However, a lot of my attention went to The New CHAY (93.1 Barrie), to hear what set them apart from sister B101 (CIQB-FM 101.1), other than coverage areas. B101 sounds more like a hot AC, especially with the couple of urban-ish tracks I heard at one point, plus CHAY puts a lot of emphasis on news & traffic. Good imaging too, with the jingle package. While CHAY ranked a distant third 12+ in Barrie's latest fall ratings, full coverage must be what matters to them, especially in areas not directly served by ACs: Midland-Penetanguishene, Orillia, Dufferin County, Bradford, and northern York Region (Newmarket, Aurora, Keswick, etc.) So maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the 100,000 watt powerhouse that is The New CHAY.
B-Mac in the T-Dot - The sequel?
Friday, December 19, 2003, 01:37 p.m. ET
It's that time of year again... yours truly makes another pilgrimage to Toronto, and then a little north of there for Christmas. However, on Monday, I don't think I'll be visiting Q107 & Mojo's Eaton Centre digs, since I'm no longer a Corus employee, and Mike Rose in Cornwall doesn't know Dave Farough (Q's new PD) very well. I'll likely be able to drop by The Edge, though, since their studio at Yonge & Shuter is wide open. If I'm there at the right time, I might also be able to check in to Q's Hard Rock Cafe studio... just make sure I have my Rock 101.9 T-shirt and the Corus cap. I'd like to take a CBC tour, but I don't know if I can spare the $7 for it. If you work in Toronto radio, or know somebody who does, and can set me up with a station tour for some time early Monday afternoon (Dec 22), e-mail me before Sunday night... I'd appreciate it bigtime. What will I be listening to during my travels next week? I'll be paying particular attention to 94.9 The Rock (CKGE-FM Oshawa), Jack FM in Toronto (CISS-FM 92.5) and Orillia (CICX-FM 105.9), plus I'll find out what's new at "The New CHAY" (93.1) and Star 107.5 (CKMB-FM). If I don't add anything here next week, happy holidays from BMac's Blog!
Another studio site
Tuesday, December 16, 2003, 04:36 p.m. ET
Now online... the studios of CHUM Radio Kingston (CKLC/CFLY-FM), as seen through the eyes of BMac's camera! Click this entry's title to have a look.
Watch out that I don't go postal...
Monday, December 15, 2003, 10:54 p.m. ET
Like I really needed my replacement rubbed in my face... Milkman UnLimited has proclaimed that "Big Kris" is now the afternoon host on Rock 101.9 (CJSS-FM). And to make matters worse, he and his Country 96 (CFMK-FM 96.3 Kingston) successor are getting praised on MMU's message board. Thanks a lot. Again, I'm available for any full-time on-air opening at your station. Just e-mail me or go to www.geocities.com/ben_macmurchy_radio.
Best-sounding radio stations (from a tech perspective)
Thursday, December 11, 2003, 06:46 p.m. ET
I was thinking about this after flipping through the Ottawa FM dial this morning: has heavy processing become less popular these days? Today, we have numerous makes & models of on-air processors, including Optimod, Omnia, Aphex, and CRL, among others. But it sounds as if fewer FM stations today are using these units to their full potential, if they're using them at all. I'd be flabbergasted if a station had a brand new Optimod-FM 8400, but sounded like they weren't using any processing gear at all. My picks for the three best-processed FM stations in southern Ontario: 1) 103.7 BOB FM (CJPT-FM Brockville), 2) Z103.5 (CIDC-FM Orangeville/Toronto), and 3) Mix 97 (CIGL-FM 97.1 Belleville). Honourable mentions go to: 102.1 The Edge (CFNY-FM Brampton/Toronto), Rock 95 (CFJB-FM 95.7 Barrie), and FLY FM (CFLY-FM 98.3 Kingston). Mix uses an Optimod-FM 8200, and I think they have an AGC in front of it. BOB & Z - no clue. However, audio processing always produces heated debate. There are FM "purists", people who don't want much more than a basic AGC for constant levels. Others, including yours truly, love hearing an Optimod or Omnia cranked to the max, as long as it's listenable for a long time. At Rock 101.9, it's all Aphex... there's a stereo Compellor at the studio end; at the business end (transmitter site), it's a digital 2020MkIII. The 2020 replaced an Optimod-FM 8100A shortly before the flip to rock. Variety 104 and The Jewel both have Optimods - Variety has an FM 2200, but I'm not sure which model The Jewel's using... might be a 9100. On an unrelated topic, I'll have some ratings insight as soon as I see the Cornwall numbers... all I've heard is that Corus dominated and Martz just plain sucked. Stay tuned!
Hiding under the covers with a transistor radio...
Thursday, December 4, 2003, 07:20 a.m. ET
...or sitting in bed, hitting buttons on a digitally-tuned Aiwa boom box, pulling in a bunch of southwestern Ontario AMs last night. In recent days, the legendary CKNX (920 Wingham) was coming in, with little or no interference from semi-local clear-channel CINW (940 Montreal QC). Last night, though, I don't know if CFRA (580 Ottawa) was running at a lower night power than its authorized 10,000 watts, but under CFRA, I heard the popular standards of Windsor's "580 Memories CKWW". That's right, all five hundred watts of it. FYI, CFRA & CKWW are both owned by CHUM... and yes, 1050 CHUM was coming in loud & clear last night, as was CFRB (1010 Toronto). Also heard were Radio-Canada's CBEF (540 Windsor), Hamilton's "Oldies 1150" (CKOC, 50 kW) and 820 CHAM (10 kW night), as well as Guelph's CJOY (1460, 10 kW). Having pulled in CKWW, I was hoping I could pull in Windsor CBC outlet CBE (1550, 10 kW), but NYC's "Radio Disney" (WQEW 1560) was all over it. Looks like I'll be sending out a load of reception reports very soon!
The strong, silent type
Wednesday, December 3, 2003, 03:17 p.m. ET
Since Friday morning, I've been lost for words. Like any job loss, it's been tough accepting the fact that I've been canned. It was all on good terms, though... I didn't do anything horribly wrong at work, I did what was asked of me, didn't miss any shifts, even when I was ill. The main reason I lost my job is because they found somebody with more experience, and I couldn't be re-assigned to another position, because it's now a full house at Corus Cornwall. However, Mike Rose is on my side as far as the job search is concerned... he's contacted several PDs within Corus, as well as a couple of colleagues from his Brockville years. Nothing yet from them, but something might open up in a little over a week, after the fall ratings come out. Myself, I've only found one opening that really suits me - it's in Hamilton. Still waiting for a response.
Not rockin' anymore
Friday, November 28, 2003, 11:27 a.m. ET
I am no longer employed at Corus Cornwall. Plain and simple. Got an opening? E-mail me ASAP. Click this entry's title to go to my career site and hear my hot AC demo from Mix 97 (CIGL-FM 97.1 Belleville).
New tower for CHEX!
Sunday, November 23, 2003, 07:40 p.m. ET
Not too long ago (you'll find it down towards the bottom of this page), I mentioned that CHEX TV (Ch. 12 Peterborough) will be getting a power decrease and a site change. After a look at the most recent Industry Canada broadcasting databases, it looks like CHEX is getting a new, taller (1000+ ft.) tower on Vision Hill, only about 150 metres southeast of the current 800-footer. Let's hope this new stick is like the "candelabra" sites built Stateside for DTV. CHEX will be putting out 185 kW peak ERP from a 317 m EHAAT antenna. For the record, CHEX is currently running 325 kW peak from 235 m EHAAT. As for the other tenants of the existing CHEX tower, it appears that Corus may have also filed an application to move co-owned rocker The Wolf (CKWF-FM 101.5) to the new tower. The ICDBs don't show any details, and it doesn't look like Trent Radio (CFFF-FM 92.7) has put in an application yet. They'll have to do something fast, or campus-community radio won't exist in Peterborough for much longer.
Correction to previous post
Thursday, November 20, 2003, 06:18 p.m. ET
Was talking to Thom Smith today, and the Nautel transmitter is not on the air right now at The Jewel. A Gates BC-1G is, though, but not the Nautel or the BC-1T.
Jewel gets new tx
Wednesday, November 19, 2003, 07:57 p.m. ET
The music may be nostalgic, but less and less of the equipment is... this week, The Jewel (CJUL 1220 Cornwall) installed a newer, solid state Nautel 1 kW transmitter, replacing a very old Gates BC-1T tube rig. (A solid state Harris MW-1 was used for a brief period in the CJSS era, but it didn't last long.) When Corus Cornwall CE Thom Smith first put the new transmitter on the air, it reportedly wasn't interfacing properly with the station's antenna system, and so The Jewel was temporarily putting out only 350 watts from its two-tower site on Headline Road. In town, the signal was still very strong, but nighttime interference was a little more noticeable. The tx chain's been repaired (which explains the off-air periods in the past week or so), and The Jewel is back to a full thousand watts, with better audio quality.
Another tower outage
Tuesday, November 11, 2003, 09:50 p.m. ET
Early this morning (about 1:00 a.m. ET), Montreal's Mount Royal transmitter site - or at least part of it - was off the air. I was scanning through my cable FM presets, one of which is classic rocker CHOM (97.7), and heard nothing. Next was AC Q92 (CFQR-FM 92.5), where all I heard was fuzz from French local CHOD (92.1 Cornwall). On the TV side, CFCF (12) and CFTM (10) were out, but not CBMT (6) or CBFT (2), although those two had finished the day's programming. Tele-Quebec had already signed off anyway, so I won't count them. The weird thing about this outage was that, where Massena satellite AC "The Valley" (WVLF-FM 96.1 Norwood) normally appears on cable, Burlington, Vermont AC "Star 92.9" (WEZF-FM) was coming in. Coincidence?
Steam shooting out of his ears
Monday, November 10, 2003, 01:07 a.m. ET
Note: to fully understand this entry, first scroll down to the entry titled "A question for 'U'" (Sept 1). || Okay Maclean's, now you've REALLY annoyed me. Tonight, you had BN proclaim that your god-awful university rankings issue hit the streets, and that a school down east (which I obviously won't name here) got the top spot, plus the obligatory sound bite. Given what I've read in the few issues that I've had the nerve to skim through, I'm under the impression that Maclean's is more focused on promoting Canada's post-secondary education system than it is on covering current events in general. In fact, you might as well have every university's PR department take over the magazine, if you're just going to suck up to them rather than report on some real news. || On the topic of universities getting free advertising left & right in the media, shame on RDS (TSN's Francophone equivalent) & The Score for carrying CIS football this past weekend, and outnumbering American KAHLEDGE games on the tube in Cornwall. You know something's wrong when that happens. Did the CIAU bitch and moan that university sports in Canada aren't getting as much exposure on TV as KAHLEDGE sports do in the States? I'll tell you why. First of all, Canadians, for the most part, don't give a shit about university sports. Secondly, Americans are a bunch of twisted maniacs who have been brainwashed by the big three nets and the NCAA, to become obsessed with KAHLEDGE sports, particularly basketball and that crock of shit known as "March Madness". So TSN, RDS, and The Score sucked up to them. God help me if CH is still running "University Game of the Week" after all these years. But why is it that just about every CIS event gets live national coverage, while OCAA games are, at best, relegated to next-day tape on the community cable channel? Can you explain that to me, without saying something along the lines of "his friends or family might be watching" or "they're the future of sports"? Try it.
Peterborough getting another Christian voice?
Thursday, November 6, 2003, 10:54 a.m. ET
Who would have thought that Christian radio could become so competitive in Canada? Today's CRTC releases show that Roger De Brabant, a Christian radio tycoon from Timmins (CHIM-FM 102.3 and its many northern Ontario repeaters), is applying for a new station in Peterborough, possibly to go head-to-head against the newly-opened rebroadcaster (CJLF-FM-2 89.3) of Scott Jackson's "Life 100.3" (CJLF-FM 100.3 Barrie). De Brabant is working with Kings Kids Promotions Outreach Ministries to open a 50-watter three notches down at 88.7.
Promotion!
Friday, October 31, 2003, 08:50 p.m. ET
Congratulations to college classmate Darryl Spring on being promoted to morning host on Timmins rocker Q92 (CJQQ-FM 92.1)! The word came to me today via the Class of '03 message board. Darryl joins the ranks of a select few who have been promoted to mornings this early... among those is the legendary Greg Hunter, who did mornings in Kingston on CKLC (1380) and FLY FM (CFLY-FM 98.3) from the late '70's until about late August of this year... he began as the overnight jock on CKLC, but landed mornings shortly after. Brian Scott, formerly of CHEZ (106.1 Ottawa), has taken over mornings on FLY FM, while another K-Town radio vet, Jack Thompson, is holding down mornings on CKLC, after a year of jockless standards. It's hard to tell when you'll hear me hosting a morning show anytime soon... only time will tell.
It's the most wonderful time of the year (or
Wednesday, October 22, 2003, 12:05 p.m. ET
It's not even Halloween, but we're already looking ahead to the holidays. My visit to Corus Toronto has already been arranged (thanks Mike & Jeff!), and the train ticket should be in my hands within a month. Over the holidays, I'll be airchecking Toronto & Barrie, particularly "The New CHAY" (93.1 Barrie) and two JACK FM's (CICX-FM 105.9 Orillia, CISS-FM 92.5 Toronto). Right now, it's hard to tell if Toronto's EZ Rock (CJEZ-FM 97.3) will stunt with all-Christmas music this year. Perhaps it's CHFI's turn.
Oops
Tuesday, October 21, 2003, 11:36 a.m. ET
A couple of glitches with my blog's host lost some of my most recent entries. If you're new here, you missed: my trip to Kingston on the weekend; a rant about how much a Potsdam NY radio station loves colleges; and... I can't remember what else. About the Kingston trip, I'll have photos from CHUM Radio Kingston (CFLY-FM/CKLC) on my Geocities page within 48 hours.
Bloodbath
Tuesday, October 7, 2003, 10:48 p.m. ET
You know it's not a good day when one media person dies and another loses his job. Today was one of those days. Who lost his life? Canwest boss Izzy Asper. My condolences. Who lost his job? Joey Martin of Mix 97 (CIGL-FM 97.1 Belleville). Not sure what the exact circumstances were, although MD/APD Dan Mellon's submission to Milkman UnLimited says that Joey is laid off as of Thursday (Oct. 9), as the full-time evening position is being eliminated. Part-timers will now handle the weeknight slot on the Mix. To any hot AC, CHR, or news-talk PDs currently reading this entry, I have three words for you: HIRE JOEY MARTIN. He is one of the most talented on-air personalities I have had the opportunity to work with in my radio career so far. 10+ years in the biz (promotions and on-air), university grad, loves working with others, what else could you ask for? He's Joey Martin, and he's open to offers. Unfortunately, I have no contact with him, but I can certainly have his friends & colleagues relay info to him from me. All the best, Joey!
K-Town trek #2, and maybe T.O.
Wednesday, October 1, 2003, 09:54 p.m. ET
Looks like a road trip is in the works for this month. Sometime after Canadian Thanksgiving, i'll be hitting CHUM Radio Kingston with college pal/roommate Charlie Groulx. Chuck runs the Ottawa Senators games on CKLC (1380), as well as some production and music work for FLY FM (CFLY-FM 98.3). This trip means I'll have more pics on my studio/tx site. Looking ahead to December, I could be dropping by Corus' Toronto stations, thanks to my boss Mike Rose, and Canadian rock radio guru Jeff Woods of Q107 (CILQ-FM 107.1) fame. Stay tuned!
Tape/film wanted
Monday, September 29, 2003, 09:58 p.m. ET
Hope you or somebody you know can help me with this... I'm looking for videotape, film, or at the very least, your memories of Canadian TV station sign-ons and sign-offs, as well as "O Canada" clips, all from before 1995. E-mail me at the address at the top of this page. For "O Canada", I'm particularly in search of one from the early 80's, with the kids' choir on Parliament Hill. Somewhere, my grandfather has the first little bit of this one on videotape, including a CKWS (Ch. 11 Kingston) sign-off from about 1987... if I head out to Alliston at Christmas, I'll look for it. Also, do you recall an anthem film ending with someone high-diving into a swimming pool? From what I remember vaguely, this one was on CBC or TVO. How about some more memories? Not too long ago, when they still shut down for an hour on early Monday mornings, CKVR (Ch. 3 Barrie) had an O Canada video that looked like it was shot at Hardwood Hills (mountain bike/XC ski area north of Barrie), with a Jimi Hendrix-style rendition of the anthem. Or the "syndicated" video with Canadian recording artists in studio? But who can forget the CBC's current anthem video, which appears to have been produced by the National Film Board? In short, it's an animated bird's eye/in-flight view of Canada coast-to-coast. They've been using this one for probably ten years now, along with the "mural" video. But whatever you've got, whether it's just your memories, or a bunch of tapes, let me know. I'll even post your anecdotes on here if it's OK with you.
Radio dreams
Sunday, September 28, 2003, 10:59 p.m. ET
This topic was brought up on MilkPrep not too long ago... radio-related dreams. Real dreams, a la Sigmund Freud... sleep dreams. Jocks often have dreams/nightmares of on-air problems, such as leaving Auto Off on the computer during a show, or any office happenings, but how about last night's vision from the sleep-induced mind of BMac: transmitter engineer at a big AM station, closely resembling 700 WLW Cincinnati (click this entry's title to get an idea of what I'm talking about). Almost every radio geek's mecca. Everything was there: living quarters, multiple transmitters, old studio equipment, and the big diamond-shaped Blaw-Knox tower. Don't know how this one popped into my head... I haven't done any DXing lately, nor have I visited any transmitter sites since my short excursion to the Jewel (CJUL 1220 Cornwall) site a couple of weeks ago. Wait a minute... it was influenced by last night's research into emergency broadcasting in the U.S. - EBS and EAS. Surprisingly, last night's dream had nothing to do with "Power Play for Easter Seals", in which yours truly participated yesterday, along with Rock 101.9 (CJSS-FM) PD Mike Rose, Jewel PD Darryl Adams, Dan Allaire and David Murphy from the Jewel news centre, and Steve Lalonde in accounting. Team Corus came second to "SCM", whoever that is. Chances are you'll find me in "Cycle For Autism", around the Thanksgiving long weekend.
Some words of wisdom to Tim Martz
Tuesday, September 23, 2003, 08:17 p.m. ET
In this entry, I'm speaking on behalf of all Canadian stations that have had enough of Tim Martz and his upstate NY border-blasters. To Martz Communications: Get lost. Keep your B.S. radio stations on your side of the border. Stay out of Canada. I loved hearing loads of dead air tonight at around 7:15 on The Fox, especially as I'm just tuning in to find out what kind of crap you're spewing tonight. None. In fact, no content at all. What happened? Did your 486 BSI Wavestation machine decide to go haywire on you? Did you lose your satellite or microwave signal? Did your incompetent engineer just graduate from "kahledge"? Re your morning show: Imus is a boring old whiner who makes The Fox sound like NPR. In the morning, I can't tell the difference between The Fox and WSLU! And don't even think about picking up Stern - I know I used to be a fan, but he and his material are old and tired, and don't belong in a puny market (or lack thereof) like Massena. On top of that, if you put Stern in mornings, you're running the risk of pissing off most Francophones in Cornwall, Ottawa and Montreal, especially after the debacle that CHOM went through years ago. Next, get your facts straight. Variety 104 is not CHR - it's AC, Hot AC at best. I doubt very much that Derrick has any plans to add 50 Cent or Sean Paul to the playlist. And if you haven't already, you might also want to cut the "Nix The Mix" crap, particularly since Standard Radio is now a part-owner. That doesn't necessarily mean you can go and rag on all the Corus, CHUM & Rogers stations. Go ahead and bash Clear Channel... Lowry likes it. In sum, if an ex-Montrealer like Tim Martz wants to target Canadians, he can buy or open some Canadian stations. American stations, for the most part, are not welcome here. Thank you.
A weekend in Canada's capital
Sunday, September 21, 2003, 10:11 p.m. ET
Saturday's visit to CHUM Ottawa was interesting, to say the least, but being the tech geek, there wasn't much of an opportunity to talk tech with everybody else in my tour group taking it in from a listener's perspective. Dan Mellon was absolutely right about the FMs (Majic & BOB) - all music is played manually, from three or four Denon CD cart players, with Scott systems handling anything non-music. Take that, American stations! The on-air control rooms are a tad small for a major market group, but they certainly do the job. Biggest one I remember was CFRA's. Nice control rooms, though, centred around big Studer On-Air 2000 digital consoles. Next time I'm in town, I'll get in touch with Ian March, and see if we can set up a more thorough one-on-one visit. If you're about to dash over to my other two sites for pics, I unfortunately don't have any shots - had the camcorder with me, but not out of the case, since I didn't know if there was a no-photo policy during the open house.
Since most of Ottawa's radio stations can be heard in Cornwall, I didn't bother grabbing any airchecks, although the test of new multicultural "CHIN Radio" (CJLL-FM 97.9) was a noteworthy touch, especially after hearing the required test announcement - call letters, location, and phone number for technical questions/comments. Also caught the new IDs for French classical/jazz "Couleur FM" (CHLX-FM 97.1), formerly known as "Classique FM 97,1", and if the videotape I used this weekend is any good, I'll probably have a clearer pic of the master antenna site at Camp Fortune.
Calls for new stations
Friday, September 19, 2003, 09:54 p.m. ET
Downloaded the latest IC broadcasting databases, and there are some new calls on the list. United Christian Broadcasters Canada's new Belleville station will bear the call letters CKJJ-FM 102.3. Larche Communications' country outlet in Kitchener will be CIKZ-FM 99.5. And jot down CJLL-FM 97.9 for Radio 1540 Limited's Ottawa multicultural station. Get your copy of the databases by clicking this entry's title.
CJTN flipping, and DTV in T.O.
Wednesday, September 17, 2003, 12:21 p.m. ET
It's been in the works for some time, but the app is now public - CJTN (1270 Trenton)is applying for an AM-to-FM conversion. Today's CRTC releases say CJTN wants to move to 107.1 FM with 3640 watts (15 kW peak) from 186 m EHAAT. Don't know where that would put their antenna - Mount Pelion? The DeCastris tower near Wooler? The Industry Canada databases might not have the info unless the application is approved - and that might not be until December at the earliest. Dan Mellon and/or Rick Kevan might know. I'll e-mail them. Also on today's docket, most of Toronto's TV stations are applying for DTV licences. Citytv already has one on the air, but CBC, CTV, Toronto One, and Crossroads Television are hoping to get DTV stations on the air.
First tower trip in Cornwall
Sunday, September 14, 2003, 11:44 p.m. ET
After having my mountain bike's rear wheel replaced for the umpteenth time, I cruised around town (and country) this weekend. I began by taking a trip out of town on Saturday, to take a look at the Corus transmitter sites. Rock 101.9 & Variety 104 are on a tower north of the 401 on McConnell Avenue. I'm assuming the 350-foot stick belongs to Ma Bell, as there's a 1980's Bell Canada logo on the front. The FMs share a 4-bay directional antenna, probably a Jampro. Next, I headed a few kilometres north to the Headline Road site of The Jewel Memories 1220 AM. Its two towers are behind a bunch of houses, and the yellow brick transmitter building is hidden among those houses. Engineer Thom Smith says a new solid-state Nautel 1 kW transmitter is about to be installed, once the ground system is repaired - a tractor went through the site not too long ago and damaged some of the radials. The Nautel will be the third or fourth transmitter used by what was the original CJSS. One of those rigs, reportedly still on site, is an old Gates BC-1T. On the way back into town on Brookdale, I spotted the CBC's Power Dam Drive tower, and a Rock 101.9 billboard on the east side of Brookdale. Saturday night, I explored more of Cornwall, and in the process, tracked down the location of French CHOD (92.1). They're on the Montreal Road campus of La Cité Collegiale, but as far as I know, La Cité doesn't own or operate the station. CHOD's transmitter site is east of the city, beside the 401. Given the low antenna height (39 m EHAAT, 55 m AGL), CHOD's tower must have belonged to Cornwall's previous French-language station, CFIX (1170), which shut down in late 1983. As soon as I can get out there, I'm off to see the CJOH-8 (ex-CJSS-TV) site in Lancaster. Oh, and this coming weekend (Sept. 20-21), I could be heading up to Ottawa, now that I can afford it. Let's hope somebody at CHUM can show me around outside of regular biz hours. The Milkman? Doubt it.
New tower for CHEX?
Wednesday, September 10, 2003, 11:05 a.m. ET
Today's CRTC release says CBC affiliate CHEX-TV (Ch. 12 Peterborough) is getting a power decrease and possibly a transmitter site change, or a new tower. CHEX's peak ERP will be dropping from 325 kW to 185 kW. They're most likely getting a new tower, as their current 850-foot stick is over 40 years old, and hence is grandfathered, meaning that none of the stations on the tower can make antenna changes. In late 2000, CTV's CKCO-TV (Ch. 13 Kitchener-Waterloo) built a new 700-footer to replace the existing 40+ year old 600-foot tower on Baden Hill, west of Kitchener.
Tower outage
Tuesday, September 9, 2003, 11:07 a.m. ET
Noticed some stations off the air in the wee hours of this morning (before I hit the sack)... about 1:30 a.m., Ottawa's big Camp Fortune tower was out, most likely for routine maintenance. Figured something was up after I noticed dead air on the Ottawa FMs that are on my presets: BOB FM (CKKL-FM 93.9), Majic 100 (CJMJ-FM 100.3), Hot 89.9 (CIHT-FM), and The Bear (CKQB-FM 106.9). Scanned through the other Ottawa stations, all out. Not sure if it was just FM or if both TV and FM were out. Most of Ottawa-Hull's TV & FM signals come from Camp Fortune, but the ones that don't are the Citytv, Omni.1 & New RO rebroadcasters on channels 65, 60 and 43 respectively, as well as French classical CHLX (97.1), christian CHRI (99.1), and campus-instructional CKDJ (107.9). The TV & CHRI transmitters are on the Rogers Cable tower at Herbert Corners, CHLX is north of Hull, and CKDJ transmits from an antenna near the corner of Woodroffe Ave. and Baseline Rd.
Parlez-vous français?
Saturday, September 6, 2003, 09:26 p.m. ET
I don't usually talk about French-language radio and TV here, but this time, it's for a good reason. Tonight, Tele-Quebec ran a documentary on Quebec's Francophone radio scene. Among the stations featured were Radio-Media talkers CKAC (730 Montreal) and CKRS (590 Jonquiere), as well as newbie classical CJPX (99.5 Montreal) and CBC's CJBR (89.1 Rimouski). Didn't know of this until I was channel surfing tonight and saw a shot of Montreal's Mount Royal TV/FM master antenna. Obviously that hooked me, so I kept watching, trying to pick out key words. For me, listening to French is more difficult than reading it, so I'd bring up the captioning every now & again. My next goal: see if Rock 101.9 evening/weekend jock Denis Gauthier 1) is still fluently bilingual (he started out in Francophone radio here), and 2) knows somebody at Cornwall's French station CHOD (92.1) who could show me around their Montreal Road digs, and translate the chat.
Wearing many hats
Thursday, September 4, 2003, 07:19 p.m. ET
I can now be heard in one way or another on all three Corus Cornwall stations: afternoons 1-6 on Rock 101.9 (CJSS-FM), evening & overnight weather on The Jewel (CJUL 1220), and I have now been assigned to, possibly on a temp basis, cover Saturday mornings 6-9 on Variety 104 (CFLG-FM 104.5). Tune in bright & early Saturday!
A question for "U"
Monday, September 1, 2003, 04:30 p.m. ET
What better time to bring this up than Labour Day... the unexplained link between the post-secondary education system and the media. As a radio geek and media critic, this has been a pet peeve of mine for years now, but I don't know why. Here we go... it irritates me very much when colleges & universities (universities in particular) try to get themselves in the news in as many positive ways as possible. The most common forms of mentions: faculty quotes in news stories, upcoming events on campus, a graduate or prof's biography, and the list goes on and on. #1 on my blacklist of university-loving media is Maclean's magazine - not just because of their annual ultra-biased, unscientific waste of paper, time & money, aka the "university rankings", but also because they tend to plug at least five universities in each regular issue. Maclean's, please prove me wrong by showing me at least six back issues where not a single university, college, or other educational institution, is mentioned. Also on the blacklist: CTV and its plethora of specialty channels, particularly TSN/RDS and Discovery Channel. Can Discovery do pretty much the same as I'm asking Maclean's? Find at least five previous episodes of Daily Planet or @Discovery.ca where there are no post-sec plugs at all. Sarcastic kudos go out to TSN & RDS for 1) covering the Rogers AT&T Cup - only because of the venue, and 2) sucking up to the CIAU's plea for the same level of TV coverage that the NCAA gets in the U.S. To the CIAU: Americans have been obsessed with "kahledge" basketball since network television began, and there's no valid explanation for it. Canadian university sports will never become the ridiculous, over-hyped sensation that NCAA basketball is. I don't care if CTV, CBC & Global (as well as Radio-Canada, TVA & TQS in Quebec) try promoting it like crazy and sign up big-name sponsors, it will not work in Canada. Period. To the TV & radio news media as a whole: if you're complaining about low ad revenue, here's a tip - quit giving universities & colleges free ads galore during your newscasts, and make them buy regular spots like everybody else! Have them make up informercials or 60-second spots when high school students start doing their applications. However, if you keep up these plugs at their current rate, you're bound to lose several hundred thousand dollars worth of ad revenue EVERY YEAR! Make them buy regular spots, and it'll be a win-win-win situation. For you: more ad revenue. For the schools: more applications, and possibly higher enrollment. For yours truly, and possibly numerous other people: better chances of being able to watch/listen to an entire newscast without muting the audio or changing the channel/station. In all seriousness, If you work in radio, TV, print, or at a Canadian university or college, I'll gladly respond to any reasonable e-mails regarding this entry, positive or negative.
Correction
Wednesday, August 27, 2003, 11:03 a.m. ET
Got an e-mail from newscaster Tony Grace yesterday. He's seen the blog (and the archives), and there's some incorrect info on one entry in the most recent archived page. On it, I said that Grace had returned to the Quinte Broadcasting newsroom, but he's only there on a freelance basis this summer & fall, with some staff off. He's still in the Ottawa Valley. My apologies for the error.
Cornwall's one-time TV station
Friday, August 22, 2003, 11:22 a.m. ET
Met local radio veteran Bill Gallant (afternoon host on The Jewel Memories 1220 AM) for the first time this past Wednesday, and is he ever good for radio & TV anecdotes! Since I came to Cornwall, I've been wondering about the former CJSS-TV (Ch. 8), which has been a rebroadcaster of Ottawa's CJOH (Ch. 13) for about forty years now. CJOH bought out CJSS-TV in 1963, and took away all local programming. Chances are CJOH also picked up all the equipment. If anybody has old film or photos from CJSS-TV, I'd love to see them. The transmitter site, which I'd also like to see, is just north of Lancaster, and reportedly still has a big "8" on the side of the tx building. Bill said that the TV studios were in the very building where we work - at 237 Water St. East. The main TV studio was where the boardroom and programming offices are now. Today, the closest thing to a local TV station in Cornwall is Cogeco 11. Click this entry's title to read Scott Fybush's travelogue from his August 2000 trip through eastern Ontario... including Cornwall & the Seaway Valley.
Rock 101.9 in the News
Sunday, August 17, 2003, 01:20 a.m. ET
...the Seaway News, that is. Now I know why Corus Cornwall webmaster Gord Shaver snapped that photo of myself & Sue Stewart with the Rock 101.9 Hyundai Santa Fe... it ended up in the weekly freebie paper here, in a puff piece re the format change. If you'd like an autographed copy of the article, e-mail me. Read the full article by clicking this entry's title.
How we survived the Great Blackout of '03
Friday, August 15, 2003, 09:21 p.m. ET
I was at work when the lights went out in Cornwall on August 14. 5:15 pm. The Rock 101.9 control room survived on a UPS for just over an hour, but power came back to us at 8:00 that evening. Longest day I've worked here so far - ten hours (a typical workday for me is seven or eight hours). Engineer Thom Smith is getting a backup for our AM station, CJUL 1220 "The Jewel", and generators will be coming to the FM transmitter site sometime in the new fiscal year, hopefully before winter. Don't have a whole lot to say tonight... might come up with something this weekend, since I'm off tomorrow & Sunday.
Backtracking
Friday, August 15, 2003, 09:19 p.m. ET
To see earlier entries in BMac's Blog, click this entry's title, or click "Archives" at the top of the page.
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