Toronto Radio Stations

[e-dawg]

I know Toronto radio stations can be pick up in Buffalo, but do people in Buffalo listens to Toronto radio stations?
I know you can pick up these FM station easily in Buffalo.
91.1 CJZZ - 91.1 Jazz FM
92.5 CKIS - 92.5 KISS FM
94.1 CBU-FM CBC Radio 2
95.3 CING Fresh FM (Hamilton)
97.3 CHBM BOOM-FM
98.1 CHFI Today's Lite Rock
99.1 CBLA - CBC Radio 1
99.9 CKFM Virgin Radio 99.9
100.7 CHIN-FM CHIN International Radio
102.1 CFNY - 102.1 THE EDGE
102.9 CKLH 102.9 K-Lite (Hamilton)
104.5 CHUM-FM Today's Best Music
107.1 CINQ - Q107.1
107.9 CJXY - Y108 (Hamilton)

 

[fybush]

Haven't we done three or four of these threads by now?

Most of those stations you list aren't really listenable in Buffalo, thanks to incursions from translators and the "RF haze" that hangs over much of the city itself from the high-power, low-height transmitters on the Rand Building and the tower behind channel 4. The only ones that are still easily listenable downtown are 91.1 (which is CJRT, not "CJZZ"), 94.1 (which is CBL-FM, not CBU-FM), 97.3, 98.1, 99.9 and sometimes 102.1 and 107.1 (which is CILQ, not CINQ).

It's hard to say how much audience any of them have these days, since the Arbitron ratings now show only the stations that pay for the service, and obviously Canadian stations aren't included. Anecdotally, 91.1 still has a decent niche audience because it provides a format otherwise unavailable in town. I don't think most Buffalo listeners find a reason to listen to any of the others, since they don't offer much that isn't already available on Buffalo radio.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

107.1 is CILQ not CINQ...I think CINQ is a station in Quebec or something...it's french for 5. lol

 

[benson8620]

102.9 CKLH 102.9 K-Lite (Hamilton) is totally gone from the City and most suburbs because of the WECK fm translator on 102.9. You can hear CKLH fine in extreme Northern Niagara county--think Wilson--but how many people live there?

 

[dand5780]

I listen to Toronto and Niagara Falls, ON stations. You can hear 98.1 CHFI which I listen to, also 95.3 CING I listened to before they changed it. Same thing with 105.1 CJED which is Niagara Falls.

 

[SirRoxalot]

CILQ - Q107 - booms in here like a local in the northtowns. It's a little shakier in the southtowns. I don't know what they're using for processing, but it's loud and clean, even when you start getting to fringe coverage areas.

 

[fybush]

The WLKK translator on 107.3 rips it up in the city, unfortunately.

Q107 also used to be a decently reliable signal on the north side of Rochester, but then CJTN from Trenton (Quinte West) went from 1270 to 107.1, and now we hear more of CJTN than we do CILQ.

 

[SirRoxalot]

The city ain't exactly in their demo, Scott. And people in downtown office towers are doing more on-line listening than radio listening these days. The Rand Building pumps out a ton of RF, and splatter combined with infrastructure makes FM listening spotty at best. The LKK translator sure doesn't affect them on the 290/90/190 loop.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Canadian stations get considerable TSL from this poster. Approximately 30% of my listening is given to Classic Rock Giant FM @ 91.7, Welland and Jazz FM @ 91.1. Most of the other Canadian FMs noted in the original and corrected posts get swamped by co-channels, although the pre-sets on my second FM tier do include 107.1, 98.1 and 99.9. The greatest TSL remains with Buffalo stations... and then there's my favorite, K-JPB... "playing what I want,", which offers an extraordinary selection of music, commercial free.

 

[Obtuse]

CFNY used to be an easier catch, and at one time could be received fairly easily as far east as Brockport, and occasionally into the north side of Rochester (until a pay-for pray LPFM in Albion launched on the same 102.1 frequency), and used to reach the city of Buffalo OK, fading gradually into the Southtowns. CFNY also had a decent niche in the Buffalo market, as (until recently) there was no commercial Alternative station in the market.

The last time I was is WNY, Even Amherst reception was a bit problematic, though Niagara County was no problem (as with most of Toronto's full-power FM's).

CIND (Indie 88) barely makes it to Southern Ontario, and was fading in and out around the Falls.

 

[fybush]

I was in Buffalo today, and noted that the 107.3 translator was off the air.

And I disagree with Rox that the city "ain't exactly in their demo." Both Q107 and WLKK should draw pretty well along Elmwood and Chippewa, if anyone there is still listening to radio. WLKK is a rough catch along Elmwood - or it was today, anyway - absent the translator. Q107 was better, but not by much. I fully concur (and have often noted) that the one-two punch of the Rand Building and the tower behind channel 4 creates an "RF haze" that desenses receiver front ends and makes reception of any other FM signal a challenge on cheap radios. And these days, they're all cheap radios.

 

[justmebuk]

One of the reasons for listening to Canadian stations vs Buffalo is that they feature more live people doing shows than the US counterparts {Like lots less VT shows} For them it's Live & Local in more timeslots than not.

 

[RBW]

102.9 CKLH 102.9 K-Lite (Hamilton) is totally gone from the City and most suburbs because of the WECK fm translator on 102.9. You can hear CKLH fine in extreme Northern Niagara county--think Wilson--but how many people live there?

errrrr..... CKLH is also perfect in the Falls (or perhaps that's a given).

 

[SirRoxalot]

Most of the Buffalo stations have been blown out of Toronto thanks to LP FMs and frequencies issues to Canadian AMs. The FM band is pretty crowded these days.

 

[Unregistered-Guest/RD fan]

At the end of the day, when all is said and done, Q107.1 has to keep on mind one very important detail.
No matter how many listeners they may have in Buffalo, nobody in Buffalo is going to go all the way out to Toronto and shop.

 

[SirRoxalot]

At the end of the day, when all is said and done, Q107.1 has to keep on mind one very important detail.
No matter how many listeners they may have in Buffalo, nobody in Buffalo is going to go all the way out to Toronto and shop.

That's true, but there is this thing called the "Internet" that makes shopping for products advertised on out-of-market stations possible. I just might get interested in a "Mazz-duh" because of something I heard on Q-107. And, I don't really listen to the radio for commercials. I listen for music. Sooner or later, Nielsen will be offering the same stats that Internet trackers provide - "impressions" - which may help out-of-market stations demonstrate reach, which has value to some advertisers.

 

[Mountain Air]

"Mazz-duh"

Lol! Cute!

 

[Unregistered/Guest/RD fan]

That's true, but there is this thing called the "Internet" that makes shopping for products advertised on out-of-market stations possible. I just might get interested in a "Mazz-duh" because of something I heard on Q-107. And, I don't really listen to the radio for commercials. I listen for music. Sooner or later, Nielsen will be offering the same stats that Internet trackers provide - "impressions" - which may help out-of-market stations demonstrate reach, which has value to some advertisers.

It's still a problem all around. Try doing sales for radio. You'll be told by Mazda USA that they're not Mazda Canada.
Many businesses that duplicate internationally (ie Coke Canada, and Coke USA) run on their own separate private budgets.

There just might be something about a Mazda in Canada (besides KPH instead of MPH, lol) that will be advertised but NOT available on the American side. (yet?)

You can have a million American listeners, but if the Canadian advertiser is not willing to "encore" the American radio ad to suit their business needs, there may still be an irritation there.

Something as simple as McDonald's. They'll get you hungry for something only available on the Canadian side.

Back to the internet idea, maybe a car is not the best example, but yes, if Q107 could run ads that are about websites that welcome American and Canadian payments on par, maybe there's something there. For how long? What happens when the dollar is back to the way it was years ago between 68 and 80 or so cents Canadian for one American dollar?

 

[Kent]

That's true, but there is this thing called the "Internet" that makes shopping for products advertised on out-of-market stations possible. I just might get interested in a "Mazz-duh" because of something I heard on Q-107. And, I don't really listen to the radio for commercials. I listen for music. Sooner or later, Nielsen will be offering the same stats that Internet trackers provide - "impressions" - which may help out-of-market stations demonstrate reach, which has value to some advertisers.

While Nielsen may offer comparable measurement for internet streams, unless that out-of-market reach is within easy driving distance of the client, the second part of that equation is highly unlikely to ever happen. It's not that advertisers don't occasionally make and want national buys (that's network programming's bread-and-butter); it's that they have a different sales pitch. So long as they can customize that sales pitch for a broad audience, they're never going to settle for running an ad at the local level and hope it generates enough national attention. The only reason some over-the-air spots run on internet streams is because those spots aren't produced by AFTRA, and the station has nothing better to use to cover them. The client doesn't pay for that reach and probably never will. A better approach for streaming would be to cover those local ads for out-of-market listeners and replace them with either national ads or ads specifically aimed at the listener's market. The technology already exists to, for example, take an ad for Ford that runs in Buffalo and replace it with the one Ford runs in Dallas/Ft. Worth if the listener is streaming, say, WYRK somewhere near Dallas. The problem is getting enough listeners in those other markets to make advertisers there want to buy streaming spots. It happens occasionally. I've heard network spots catered to my area on spots produced by Targetspot and Katz. CBS Radio also used to cover its on-air ads with local ads in areas where it owned stations.

Of course, any way you slice it, that still makes Buffalo listening irrelevant to Toronto stations in terms of off-air listening, and that's unlikely to change until the transmitter and tower end up in the scrap metal pile.

 

[SirRoxalot]

If, if, if. Let's deal with NOW, which is what radio usually does anyway. Radio is up against other media. It has the largest mobile broadcast audience of any media. TV now is largely tied to cable, and there are those who want to end OTA broadcast in that medium. Effectively, the audience is defined by the reach of cable companies. To a growing extent, distribution of TV shows is moving to the Internet, and to time-shifting. Content doesn't need to be - and usually isn't - timely.

Radio reaches over borders, and shoppers cross back and forth between the US and Canada. The balance of trade at the moment is in favor of the US. There's simply a LOT more money in the "Golden Crescent" thanks to the emergence of Canada's largest city 90 miles away. Several local broadcast groups have a presence in Canada. Many local advertisers court the Canadian audience. The plethora of LP FMs in Toronto have all but driven American radio out of that city. There's a little more reach in the Niagara peninsula, and a lot more likelihood of cross-border traffic. Streaming offers opportunities that have largely gone unrealized at this point.


As you say, there are companies where bricks-and-mortar don't matter much. They might do well utilizing radio as a cost-effective medium with tremendous reach. Of course, that's based on the idea that radio will remain relevant by providing timely content targets local and regional audiences instead of the bland, generic pap provided by syndication. VT loses its timeliness, but can still be locally relevant IF the talent does the job correctly, and management is prepared to get a live body in the studio in case of a major news event.