CKRU moving to 100.5 FM upon approval

[theradiokid]

In Peterborough, ON, CA, CKRU (980) has been granted permission to move to 100.5 FM, according to the news page of Radio-info.com on Friday. For what seems like forever now, they’ve been doing a nice lil’ Oldies format as “980 Kruz.” Now, in keeping with CRTC rules, when CKRU moves to FM, the format can’t move with it. So?... What format will they adopt? Okay, radio geeks, let the speculation begin!

Okay, I’ll go first. My guess is that they’ll probably do something bland and stupid, like, probably, oh, I dunno, “Lite FM,” kinda like they did in Kingston. I’ll tell ya this for sure: The nice and unique “Kruz” nickname won’t be stickin’ ‘round, despite the CKRU calls. That’s a shame. I liked the nickname, and the jingle package CKRU had. Oh well.

--The Radio Kid
(AKA Oswego Jeremy, as nicknamed by George of the Radio Racket.)
My email: [email protected].

 

[mimo]

You're pretty close. They won't keep the exact same format, they've already said they won't. They're going to go after a slightly younger audience. 40+ years old instead of the 55+ they currently target. Expect the music to go a decade and a half newer, and the oldest titles to go away. To0 bad. 980 Cruz is pretty decent. I check it out from time to time here, it's an easy daytime catch despite the distance and bleedover I get from 990 CKGM Montreal.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

You're pretty close. They won't keep the exact same format, they've already said they won't. They're going to go after a slightly younger audience. 40+ years old instead of the 55+ they currently target. Expect the music to go a decade and a half newer, and the oldest titles to go away. To0 bad. 980 Cruz is pretty decent. I check it out from time to time here, it's an easy daytime catch despite the distance and bleedover I get from 990 CKGM Montreal.

My wildest guess would be the launch of a Joe FM for Peterborough, but more classic driven than any of their other Joe FM sister stations, both past and present.
Perhaps even as classic driven as the CRTC will allow for FM.
But that's just a wild guess.

 

[theradiokid]

You're pretty close. They won't keep the exact same format, they've already said they won't. They're going to go after a slightly younger audience. 40+ years old instead of the 55+ they currently target. Expect the music to go a decade and a half newer, and the oldest titles to go away. To0 bad. 980 Cruz is pretty decent. I check it out from time to time here, it's an easy daytime catch despite the distance and bleedover I get from 990 CKGM Montreal.

My wildest guess would be the launch of a Joe FM for Peterborough, but more classic driven than any of their other Joe FM sister stations, both past and present.
Perhaps even as classic driven as the CRTC will allow for FM.
But that's just a wild guess.

Yeziknoradio,

Thanks for your guess. IMHO, I’m not sure that a classic rock/”As classic leaning as the CRTC will allow”/”Joe” format is what they’ll do. Here’s how I arrive at that conclusion. If they played a lot of Classic Rock/Classic Hits, they’d be taking listeners away from “The Wolf.” Unless I’m wrong, and if I am, someone correct me please, “The Wolf” is a Classic Rock station.

--The Radio Kid
(AKA Oswego Jeremy, as nicknamed by George of The Radio Racket.)
My email: [email protected].

 

[mjlarochelle]

I doubt there will be a "Joe FM" in Peterborough, since there is a BOB FM in Lindsay which puts a good signal into Peterborough. Peterborough lacks a soft rock station, and Kingston did as well before CFFX moved from AM to FM - another station which claimed it would retain an oldies format. I'm expecting CKRU to end up as "Lite 100.5", modelled heavily after CFFX.

That said, I enjoyed listening to CKRU when I occasionally ended up in the Peterborough area, and it could usually be tuned in Muskoka during the day - I remember following the 2004 flooding on that station from Muskoka.

 

[theradiokid]

At 3-30 PM today, CKRU relaunched with Classic Hits as “100.5 Kruz FM.” Guess I was wrong about the station going Classic Hits, and about the “Kruz” moniker. The station is playing a mix of music from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. I heard the launch on AM 980, which will be going away in 3 months. I didn’t have the chance to listen to the station in it’s new format after the launch, so I have no opinion about how good or bad it sounds now.

--The Radio Kid
(Oswego, NY.)
My email: [email protected].

 

[Yeziknoradio]

At 3-30 PM today, CKRU relaunched with Classic Hits as “100.5 Kruz FM.” Guess I was wrong about the station going Classic Hits, and about the “Kruz” moniker. The station is playing a mix of music from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. I heard the launch on AM 980, which will be going away in 3 months. I didn’t have the chance to listen to the station in it’s new format after the launch, so I have no opinion about how good or bad it sounds now.

--The Radio Kid
(Oswego, NY.)
My email: [email protected].

Don't forget that since the original start of this thread, CRTC has changed the rules to now allow oldies to exsist on FM in most of Canada, including Peterborough.

 

[mjlarochelle]

Looking at the website, CKRU-FM looks very similar to Corus' CKDK-FM in Woodstock (103.9 FM). CKDK has definitely adjusted their playlist since the oldies-on-FM rules changed and it sounds more like an oldies station than before, although I haven't heard anything from the 1950s. I would expect CKRU-FM will have a similar playlist to CKDK. Both stations have classic Casey Kasem and Wolfman Jack.

Soon Oshawa's CKDO and Belleville's CJBQ will be the only regular-power AM stations between Toronto and Ottawa.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

Soon Oshawa's CKDO and Belleville's CJBQ will be the only regular-power AM stations between Toronto and Ottawa.

I'm not sure about Belleville's CJBQ, but I do know CKDO is committed to staying AM.
Why else would they go through all the trouble of moving down the dial from 1350?
Plus, their FM repeater isn't strong enough to replace the AM side. It's merely there to cover a better area of listener base.