MacBlog

K-Rockin' Belleville
Thursday, May 23, 2002 | After a lengthy online chat with Paul last night, it has been confirmed (unofficially) that Kingston's K-Rock 105.7 (CIKR-FM) and Country 96 (CFMK-FM 96.3) have increased and decreased power respectively. K-Rock is now blasting out up to 50 kW (24 kW avg.) from close to the top of the CKWS tower, while Country 96 is pumping out a maximum of 28 kW (14 kW avg.) from just below K-Rock's antenna. As a result, K-Rock can now be heard loud and clear in Belleville, adding to the list of rockers available in town: CJLX (92.3 Belleville), The Wolf (CKWF-FM 101.5 Peterborough), Toronto's Q107 (CILQ-FM 107.1, cable 100.3 Belleville) as well as Rochester's WCMF (96.5) and The Nerve (WNVE 95.1 Honeoye Falls).

Slow week in radio
Sunday, May 19, 2002 | It's been kind of a slow week in radio, with the only big news coming out of Muskoka... Bracebridge's CFBG-FM moved to 99.5 FM, and increased power from 2900 to around 10,000 watts... something they've wanted to do for some time. Click this entry's title to see pics of the new antenna installation by Haliburton Broadcasting Group CE Doug Young. | Paul Herriot says CHUC has delayed the unofficial sign-on of "Star 93.3 FM" (call letters not assigned yet), because of the recent bad weather, which has made installation of the studio-transmitter link impossible. | I worked quite a bit at CJLX this week, producing Shilo's shows, and I'll be producing for him tomorrow night from 6-10 pm. On Sportswrap (6:05), he'll be joined by a friend of his from St. Catharines, a sports reporter with the Brock Press. Stay tuned!

Another rant on streams
Sunday, May 12, 2002 | So Net streams of American radio stations are few and far between, but Canada's still loaded with them. The past couple of weeks, I was having trouble logging onto Net streams around southern Ontario, such as those of Barrie's B101 (CIQB-FM 101.1) and The Peak FM (CKCB-FM 95.1 Collingwood). As both stations are Corus properties, I thought that maybe Corus was switching all their stations to the StreamAudio/ChainCast system, currently used by most major-market Corus stations, such as Mojo Radio (CFYI 640 Richmond Hill/Toronto). The problem: Internet Explorer played with my proxy settings, so I had to go in and fix those. Ta da! B101 and The Peak came on! But please, for goodness sake, don't switch to something as difficult to set up as ChainCast. SurferNETWORK, which Standard Radio uses, is fine, and it took no time to install.

Yesterday's big trip
Tuesday, May 7, 2002 | Although the CRTC hearing was longer than we expected (scheduled for 3 1/2 days, 9-5 each day), and the only appearing items were the TV licence renewals, Paul & I did more in Ottawa yesterday, driving taking up most of the time. We had hoped to tour the CHUM and Rogers clusters, but just about every station was caught up with the hockey game. However, a promo guy (and Loyalist grad!) at rocker 106.9 The Bear (CKQB-FM) quickly showed us around, and gave us an advance peek at some of the items they were about to auction off in a charity event for the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). Outside their Merivale Road "den", the station was giving listeners a chance to come down and, for a donation, beat the crap out of a car painted blue & white with Toronto Maple Leafs' logos & player names. Pics will be on The Bear's site very soon. After getting stuck in the maze of Ottawa streets, and Paul getting ticked as a result, we eventually hit the road back to Belleville, but not without stopping for photos of Ottawa's three AM transmitter sites: talker CFRA (580), sports The Team 1200 (CFGO), and Oldies 1310 (CIWW). All three sites are 50 kW (CFRA drops to 10 kW at night), and are clearly visible from Highway 416. I also got a pic of the Point (CJPT-FM 103.7 Brockville) tower near the Ivy Lea border crossing, off the 401. These pics will be on my Geocities page as soon as I use up the rest of the film, get it processed, and scan the prints.

It's baaaack!
Friday, May 3, 2002 | What a surprise! After several months of rumour and speculation, and over a year of satellite-delivered CHR, Magic @ 94.9 (CKGE-FM) is back in Oshawa! I'll tune it in as soon as I can get the cable people to fix the problem of Country 96 coming in on Magic's cable frequency (99.5). Of course that's a headend problem, yadda yadda yadda... Anyway, once Energy in Hamilton (CING-FM) moved to 95.3, a simulcast on 94.9 wasn't really necessary, since 95.3's 100 kW signal (from the 1100-foot CH tower in Stoney Creek) well overlaps 94.9's 50 kW signal. To everyone at the NEW Magic @ 94.9, all the best, from MacBlog.

MacBlog's solo premiere on CJLX
Friday, May 3, 2002 | Tonight's CJLX show went very well! The only big glitch was the transition from the weather to the promo (9:40 pm), where I hit the next song instead of the promo. Tune in tomorrow after the Quinte Weekly Top 30 on 92.3FM CJLX.

Congrats!
Monday, April 29, 2002 | The CJLX music director is now a roadie! Congratulations to Paul Herriot on his recent hiring as summer events reporter at CHUC Radio in Cobourg! And what better time to be hired than when a new sister station is about to sign on! MacBlog wishes Paul the best of luck at CHUC and the new 93.3 FM. || Also, next Monday, we're off to the nation's capital for the CRTC hearing described below. I don't know what the policy is regarding the release of the decisions before it hits the CRTC website, but I probably won't get around to posting the results until late Monday night or Tuesday. Our other possible plan for Monday is to visit CHUM's Market Media Mall, and maybe (just maybe) Rogers' digs on Thurston Drive. Stay tuned!

A hearing not to be missed
Sunday, April 28, 2002 | I know it means leaving Belleville at the crack of dawn, but it's definitely worth it. Monday, May 6, at 9:30 a.m., the CRTC's holding another public hearing, with some thirty items on the agenda. Among the items of interest: 1) Licence renewals for CHUM's conventional TV stations (Citytv, New VR, etc.), 2) Cobourg's CHUC (1450) wants to move to 1580 with 10,000 watts day & night, 3) Belleville's OJ 95.5 (CJOJ) is applying to move to sister CHCQ's site at Oak Lake with 42,000 watts, 4) John Sherratt needs his purchase of Belleville Radio Limited (CJOJ, CHCQ) approved, 5) CFJR (830 Brockville) wants to move to 104.9 FM with 5600 watts, 6) Gary Hooper is applying for a bunch of low-power stations in the GTA to run during World Youth Day, 7) Campus/community CHRW (94.7 London) has applied to move to 94.9 with 3500 watts, 8) Rogers Radio in Ottawa wants to open three DAB rebroadcasters of XFM (CIOX 101.1 Smiths Falls), and finally 9) Pellpropco Incorporated is seeking approval of its purchase of CHSC (1220 St. Catharines), currently in receivership.

Success!
Friday, April 26, 2002 | Running Bill Porter's "Afternoon Adventure" today & yesterday was a big success! Despite a couple of misfires, everything went smoothly! The biggest challenge of all was hitting Broadcast News on time, but I did it. Tune in next Friday evening!

CJLX update
Thursday, April 25, 2002 | Just got an e-mail from Greg Schatzmann (GM @ CJLX) with the on-air schedule for next week, and I can be heard Friday night (May 3) from 6-10 p.m. on 92.3FM CJLX. Tune in!

My debut on the Belleville airwaves (sort of)
Wednesday, April 24, 2002 | If you're in Belleville tomorrow or Friday, tune in 92.3FM CJLX from 2-4 p.m. as I will be at the controls. I don't know if I'll be speaking on-air, but I'm definitely hoping for a tight show without any slip-ups.

See you in September...
Wednesday, April 17, 2002 | To quote Jim Rome during his 2001 year in review: "Can't believe it... end of another year...". The radio program's out for the summer (seems like it already, with temps in the mid-20's), except for part two of my sales pitch tomorrow. Having been preoccupied with getting class work finished, I haven't had enough time to listen to the radio. I've listened to bits and pieces of my colleagues on CJLX, and the other night I tuned in Art Bell talking about the windstorm that hit Nevada. As soon as I get settled in for the four months of boredom, er, rest and relaxation, you'll see some more stuff on here, as well as my other site, which now contains a piece on my September 14th trip to Wolfe Island with Paul. Check it out!

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