They met their match if they want to try that on me. The car radio in my Honda Accord hasn’t worked in years. I carry around a Tecsun radio and a bag of spare batteries wherever I go. It gets decent reception on FM. I won’t be using any subscription entertainment center anytime soon lolIf I were to subscribe to every site that carried what I wanted to watch, whether it's English football, my favourite tv shows, etc, it would cost me probably quadruple what I pay for cable. More if I throw in the cost of just getting online.
There was an article recently by Alan Cross (Canadian broadcaster for those who don't know) that mentioned how some auotmakers are considering getting rid of the car radio altogether, and move the entertainment centre to a subscription service. That's not going to go over well.
Personally, I'm very old fashioned and I pay for cable and internet only. No subscriptions of any kind....at all. I can't afford it and I'm happy to do without. No smart appliances. I don't even use the smart feature on my tv. It doesn't really work because the set is 11 years old,
Here's a link to the article about removing FM from cars
Are they trying to take away FM radio in the car away from us? Yes. | Alan Cross
What’s the first thing you do when you get behind the wheel after buckling up and hitting the ignition? You probably dial up some audio entertainment —www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com
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Rogers Shuts Down Six Stations
- Thread starter Huff
- Start date
My take on this is that returning the licenses instead of selling the stations is Rogers' way of thwarting competition in those markets. That's very on-brand for Rogers.
In particular, Rogers could have easily found a buyer for CJNI-FM in Halifax. Even if the CRTC opens a competitive process for a new station on that frequency, Rogers has gained a few years with one less competitor in the market, just like they intended.
I think you’re spot on with this assessment. It’s not that there’s no buyer, but more or less that Rogers wants to eliminate it so nobody else can eat into their (previous) territory. Of all media and communications companies, Rogers may be the worst one I’ve ever seen and personally dealt with.
As much as I hear people complain about Bell, you couldn't pay me to go back to Rogers.
Going back on topic, I don't think CKWX was doing that poorly. In fact they were doing all the overnight programming on the all news stations across the country, live. Rogers probably just wanted out of the talk/sports radio business, and shut down the stations so no one else could have them. When they shut down 1310 CIWW here in Ottawa, they literally just turned it off with no warning and moved the country back to 101.1
Going back on topic, I don't think CKWX was doing that poorly. In fact they were doing all the overnight programming on the all news stations across the country, live. Rogers probably just wanted out of the talk/sports radio business, and shut down the stations so no one else could have them. When they shut down 1310 CIWW here in Ottawa, they literally just turned it off with no warning and moved the country back to 101.1
Based on what I’ve heard, CKWX actually was performing quite well. The spot load was also very healthy. You could certainly make an argument for a media company wanting to get out of the business (or at least spin off their more complicated and expensive formats), but it’s George Costanza level petty to shut things down and put hundreds of people out of work with zero chance of finding another buyer. It sounds like the employees were unceremoniously let go from their jobs via a zoom call, and an AI voice stepped in to announce that the stations were closed and shutting down.
I would think that stations like Jack 96.9 and KISS 104.9 would be safe, but who really knows. This company is the textbook definition of ruthless.
I agree with all this.
Spot load was healthy. Would there be room for an FM news/talker (to start) in the market? I don't think anyone is going to start another all news station, but Terry Schintz is a now unemployed news director and it seems that a news/talker doing AM drive / PM drive news with a quality anchor pair, traffic on the ones, and a couple reporters and editors would have some room to operate.
Throughout it's history, WX 1130 never had any problems attracting an audience,..and was always one of the healthiest stations in Vancouver.
During it's country years, it was my maternal uncle's favourite station. He tried JR country when they signed on, but months later, when he bought a new car with an AM stereo radio, he was back at WX.
His daughters didn't share his love of the station and were all about LG73.
During it's country years, it was my maternal uncle's favourite station. He tried JR country when they signed on, but months later, when he bought a new car with an AM stereo radio, he was back at WX.
His daughters didn't share his love of the station and were all about LG73.
When I was in Alaska, the strongest Vancouver station wasnt actually a "Vancouver" station.
It's KVRI. It's 10kw into into 6 towers was estimated by the famed engineer Stephen Lockwood (whos worked on the array) to put 50kw ERP in a tight lobe pointed right at me like 1300 miles away (250 miles NW of Anchorage).
1320 and 1470 were probably the most consistently listenable Vancouver signals. 1130 and 730 could be listenable but would flucuate.
It's KVRI. It's 10kw into into 6 towers was estimated by the famed engineer Stephen Lockwood (whos worked on the array) to put 50kw ERP in a tight lobe pointed right at me like 1300 miles away (250 miles NW of Anchorage).
1320 and 1470 were probably the most consistently listenable Vancouver signals. 1130 and 730 could be listenable but would flucuate.
As others have helped illustrate, starting another news or talk station is not an easy feat (and impossible on FM). There would have to be a media group that would be willing to invest in starting from scratch and applying for a new broadcast license for AM. Corus would be the only ones who could maybe do it, but they have CKNW.
When you look at it from every angle, it really seems like Rogers knew what they were doing. They killed off two major radio stations (one news, the other sports), and basically made sure that nobody else could swoop in and steal their thunder. I’m sure they knew that the logistics of starting a new spoken word radio station from scratch make it prohibitively expensive for anyone else. It was perhaps the slimiest move I’ve ever seen.
Slimy, but business.. theyre still operating the news websites and spoken word would be competition.
Ironically, their TV news venture has been a bust. As I recall, their local TV news is among the lowest rated in the market.
Let's ask the multicultural businesses. 1430 in Toronto is a weak signal. Maybe they'd like to move to 1050? (shutting down 1430)
Look what happened in Hamilton? AM 900 CHML shut down, and almost immediately, instead of leaving it alone as a dead station, CHIN radio decided they'd like to make use of that frequency.
Also in Hamilton, while CKOC is up and running (somehow) 820, which was once a Country music power house, and later just a comedy radio station (with almost no staff) is now a Punjabi radio station. 820 and 1150 are in the same ownership...rumour is, 820 makes all the money while the sister station is just sort of there...
Slipped my mind, but CKWX once had a shortwave outlet, CKFX on 6080 kHz. Ran all of ten watts. Long gone.
Headline on this mixed up the calls, but of interest:
Rogers Closes Six Stations Including CKFX
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Tracy Wood, who writes: This one is painful. CKWX was my all-news source here in the borderland. Rogers Sports & Media is cutting 230 positions across it…
swling.com
So the move is actually good for Corus, eliminating a format competitor, at least in Vancouver.
If Rogers is getting out of those formats completely, what difference does it make to them if someone else takes them up? The only real advantage to Rogers by doing this is that the expense to them is eliminated immediately, and don't have to wait for a new owner to be approved.
Sadly, at this time Corus is quietly going bankrupt as is. We need to wait and see the future of Corus and who might take over ownership of the radio and TV stations. Once that is complete, we will see if there are any deep pockets to speak of...
You’re correct. It doesn’t matter to them. But there have been other cases where a company didn’t just shut down operations and put everyone out of work at the blink of an eye.
The situation with KOMO TV in Seattle comes to mind. Sinclair media wanted to get out of the radio business and get of owning KOMO 1000 newsradio. I guess they could have have just turned it off and walked away. But instead, Lotus ended up stepping in to purchase it and continue operations.
It’s not a perfect example, as there’s more potential buyers for a US radio station. I’m not sure if there would have been a credible buyer for a station like 1130 or 650. Even if there wasn’t, it’s way that it was handled (firing everyone on a zoom call and kicking them out right after buying a sports media franchise that nobody in other Canadian markets cares about) that will go down in infamy.
Put another way, it's like Cumulus selling to K-Love Inc. or VCY America to avoid having competition with itself in the U.S. While many on the U.S. side of this site think this is a great idea (because potential listeners and advertisers have fewer radio stations to choose from), I think it is a terrible idea (because it encourages monopolies and gives listeners fewer over-the-air choices.) Rogers is doing what many U.S. commercial broadcasters wish they could do with stations they have that are not performing without fear of reprisal from the public.
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Rogers already owned the Maple Leafs. They just bought the remaining 30%. The two things have nothing to do with each other. They didn't use the money from salaries in Vancouver to pay for a hockey team in Toronto. They have other money to draw on. I don't know what the work arrangements are for Rogers, but most companies would offer severance pay and other continued benefits for a time. The employees know this going in. There are no lifetime jobs other than the priesthood.
There have been a number of stations taken dark, permanently... and you think .. especially some of the bigger corps care about public reprisal when they are preserving company funds from being poured down a money pit?
Frankly, most of the public and even some radio people have no clue how expensive it is to operate a radio station. Try 4 of them.
The reason Cumulus sold to K-Love is they offered the best price as the company was leaving bankruptcy. They sold other stations, such as KLOS and WABC, to profit making companies and those companies continued operating those stations in the same formats.
Huh? Companies don't care about "reprisal from the public." What the companies want is money for their property. Rogers is in a position where whatever money they could have made from the licenses wouldn't make up for the continued operating losses during the lengthy transfer process. If stations are not performing, the public has already spoken.