New format for Oldies 1310 in Otttawa?

[webhamster]

I'd never really listened to 1310, at least not since I was a kid in the early 80's and my dad used to have it on. For some reason my brain still associates J.J. Clarke with 1310 because of that.

I decided to listen to today on the first day of the new format as I drove in to work and I was kind of surprised at how bad the signal is in the east and southeast regions of the city. There was a background noise all the way out of Orleans that sounded like another station bleeding through in the background. Too faint to hear what it was, just enough to be annoying. All along Leitrim Road it was virtually unlistenable, cutting in and out and squelching all over the place. It wasn't until I got around the airport that it cleared up.

Is their signal more directional to the west end of the city or something? When I got to work in Nepean the signal was clear as a bell but up to about Leitrim & Bowesville it was horrid.

 

[azumanga]

Is their signal more directional to the west end of the city or something? When I got to work in Nepean the signal was clear as a bell but up to about Leitrim & Bowesville it was horrid.

On three separate instances while on vacations (2000, 2001 and 2004), I was able to get 1310 as far east as the West Island area of Montreal and as far southeast as Massena. Either they adjusted their antenna since 2004 or there's other interference in Leitrim and Bowesville.

Also, were you listening during the day or at night? (All my observations were daytime.)

 

[webhamster]

Is their signal more directional to the west end of the city or something?  When I got to work in Nepean the signal was clear as a bell but up to about Leitrim & Bowesville it was horrid.

On three separate instances while on vacations (2000, 2001 and 2004), I was able to get 1310 as far east as the West Island area of Montreal and as far southeast as Massena. Either they adjusted their antenna since 2004 or there's other interference in Leitrim and Bowesville.

Also, were you listening during the day or at night? (All my observations were daytime.)

It may have been on nighttime power at the time (I was driving to work between 6:30 and 7:20 AM) and maybe they switched over to daytime at some point during that period accounting for why it suddenly got clearer (sunrise was around 7:10).  I listened again this afternoon as I got back into Orleans and it was 10 times clearer this afternoon and that background noise clutter was gone.

 

[cyberdad]

On three separate instances while on vacations (2000, 2001 and 2004), I was able to get 1310 as far east as the West Island area of Montreal and as far southeast as Massena. Either they adjusted their antenna since 2004 or there's other interference in Leitrim and Bowesville.

In 1995 I was going to Montreal on business several times a year, and my daughter was studying at Laval in Quebec City. I'd set up my schedule so as to finish up in the early afternoon in Montreal, hop in the car to have dinner/visit with my daughter, and then return to Montreal in time for an early appointment the next morning. I'd typically be able to keep CIWW with a listenable signal for about 45 minutes east of the city.

 

[spunker88]

I'd never really listened to 1310, at least not since I was a kid in the early 80's and my dad used to have it on. For some reason my brain still associates J.J. Clarke with 1310 because of that.

I decided to listen to today on the first day of the new format as I drove in to work and I was kind of surprised at how bad the signal is in the east and southeast regions of the city. There was a background noise all the way out of Orleans that sounded like another station bleeding through in the background. Too faint to hear what it was, just enough to be annoying. All along Leitrim Road it was virtually unlistenable, cutting in and out and squelching all over the place. It wasn't until I got around the airport that it cleared up.

Is their signal more directional to the west end of the city or something? When I got to work in Nepean the signal was clear as a bell but up to about Leitrim & Bowesville it was horrid.

It may have been because it was early in the morning you were still getting skywave reception. Where I am in NY, I get interference on 1310 from Utica, NY where theres a 5kw ESPN Radio station. Not sure if that would cause interference all the way up in Ottawa but if they had switched on daytime power when there was still skywave it could have been the station you were hearing in the background. CFRA comes in great down here, it actually puts splatter on 570 and 590.

 

[e-dawg]

92.3 CJET Smith Falls, cannot increase their power or move closer to Ottawa. They already got in trouble for the 101.1 signal because of ownership limits. If 92.3 wants to raise their power and relocate to Ottawa then Rogers has to sell both 92.3 and 101.1 signal to a third party. Also, another note, I wish Rogers had the old 940 and 690 AM signal in Montreal. They are the best company for an all-news market product. Too bad, Corus shut both frequencies down and return the license back to CTRC.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

Also, another note, I wish Rogers had the old 940 and 690 AM signal in Montreal. They are the best company for an all-news market product. Too bad, Corus shut both frequencies down and return the license back to CTRC.

An AM news wheel in French is smart for Montreal, but the English version maintained poor ratings.

There SHOULD be numerous complaints pouring into the CRTC in April if the only source for Blue Jay games in the Ottawa area is Sportsnet One, which is seemingly becoming the case.

There is no word as of yet where the fans will find the games on the radio in the Ottawa market.

Sportsnet One is not free. It's also where all or most of the televised games are moving to in April.

So, not only will it be a problem if 92.3 or 101.1 carries the games(poor signal), but also, fans will be forced to pay for the new Sportsnet One to see the games!

I'm glad I don't live in Ottawa!

 

[webhamster]

There SHOULD be numerous complaints pouring into the CRTC in April if the only source for Blue Jay games in the Ottawa area is Sportsnet One, which is seemingly becoming the case.

There is no word as of yet where the fans will find the games on the radio in the Ottawa market.

So, not only will it be a problem if 92.3 or 101.1 carries the games(poor signal), but also, fans will be forced to pay for the new Sportsnet One to see the games!

I'm glad I don't live in Ottawa!

I'm not a baseball fan at all so I don't really care too much about this, but it's also possible the games could find their way onto CHEZ if CIWW doesn't run them anymore.  One would think since they're a Rogers property that Rogers wouldn't sell the broadcast rights elsewhere.  I'm guessing the prime suspects for a station shift would be 1) Y101 2) CHEZ 106 3) Jack FM in that order.

Truthfully, I can see them fitting in better on 101 than anywhere else.

 

[mimo]

That's not to0 far fetched an idea, a country station doing baseball. I just have to think of the days I lived in Iowa, where some local country stations (local meaning within 30 miles) carried St. Louis Cardinal games, and these were FM stations to0. I can almost see the CHEZ option for the blue jays, but I really doubt they'll end up there. Signal wise it's the best option. Even in the most signal challenged regions of the city, CHEZ is easy to tune in. CIWW is not carrying any more post season baseball, which leads me to think that the games won't be back there.

1310 News had a much smo0ther launch than 660 News in Calgary. It sounds much more polished than 660 did even a few months after their launch. They're already out covering everything going on in the city, and actually talking to people at locations where news is happening, and doing a great job at it. The feedback on the facebo0k page is very positive. It lo0ks like they're going to be very successful. I'm finding it to be an addicting listen.

I also wish Rogers had the 690 and 940 licenses in Montreal, then those stations would still be on the air. 940's problem was the fact that they were not reliable. Traffic on the ones was rarely on the ones. Things were lo0se and sloppy. They had a great product as a talk station, with a solid line up. One of the problems with Montrealers is that they don't realise there is more on AM besides CJAD. 940 was never promoted. No bus or tv ads, and probably no newspaper ads either.
How could anyone be listening if no one knew they were there? I don't know what to say about Info 690. I have the feeling that CKAC 730 won't be around much longer either. From what I've read, French Quebecers abandoned AM decades before the rest of the country.

 

[azumanga]

I also wish Rogers had the 690 and 940 licenses in Montreal, then those stations would still be on the air. 940's problem was the fact that they were not reliable. Traffic on the ones was rarely on the ones. Things were lo0se and sloppy. They had a great product as a talk station, with a solid line up. One of the problems with Montrealers is that they don't realise there is more on AM besides CJAD. 940 was never promoted. No bus or tv ads, and probably no newspaper ads either.
How could anyone be listening if no one knew they were there? I don't know what to say about Info 690.

I think both stations were widely promoted when they were launched -- 690 more than 940, due to its francophone culture and laws regarding the use of French in public signage. I don't know how well 690 did by the time they closed down, though they were all-news all the way, up until they closed, though I imagine francophones were content with just getting hourly news updates on the radio instead of all-news, all the time. Apparently, all-news did not work in English, as 940 flipped to talk, then oldies, then nothing.

I have the feeling that CKAC 730 won't be around much longer either. From what I've read, French Quebecers abandoned AM decades before the rest of the country.

How well is CKAC doing as an all-sports station? Even though CKAC has lost many of its listeners to sister station CHMP on the FM dial, is having an all-sports niche doing well for CKAC, compared to its English-language counterparts elsewhere?

 

[mimo]

CKAC is the lowest rated French station in the Franco ratings with a 3.5 share according to the latest ratings, however it is doing better than it's English Counterpart, which has a 2.0 share in the Anglo ratings.

The last Franco ratings with info 690 showed them at a 1.0 while CKAC had a 5.5

CINW's last ratings (Anglo) were 2.7, putting them in 2nd last among English stations.

Montreal is a PPM market.

 

[webhamster]

That's not to0 far fetched an idea, a country station doing baseball. I just have to think of the days I lived in Iowa, where some local country stations (local meaning within 30 miles) carried St. Louis Cardinal games, and these were FM stations to0. I can almost see the CHEZ option for the blue jays, but I really doubt they'll end up there. Signal wise it's the best option. Even in the most signal challenged regions of the city, CHEZ is easy to tune in. CIWW is not carrying any more post season baseball, which leads me to think that the games won't be back there.

I remember when I was a kid in the early 80's that CKBY (when it was still at 105.3) aired the Expos games in Ottawa. So it's not like there's no precedent. I think they kept that up through to the early 90's too.

1310 News had a much smo0ther launch than 660 News in Calgary. It sounds much more polished than 660 did even a few months after their launch. They're already out covering everything going on in the city, and actually talking to people at locations where news is happening, and doing a great job at it. The feedback on the facebo0k page is very positive. It lo0ks like they're going to be very successful. I'm finding it to be an addicting listen.

I chuckled at a few early stumbles where there were several utterances of "680 News". I wonder where several of the staff came from?

 

[mimo]

I heard a couple of mentions of "680 news" over the first couple of days to0. Tonight there was even a sports report where the NFL game was to get underway in an hour...when it was already underway. That was quickly corrected. The election coverage was very go0d. Even though they would occasionally break away for other news and features, I was still getting results faster than on CFRA.

Speaking of CFRA, they're definitely going after 1310 news. Calling themselves Ottawa's only 24 hour live newsro0m (totally not true) and saying "It matters where you get your traffic reports, get the most reliable and accurate reports first on CFRA". Funny. I thought that traffic on the ones comes before traffic on the (almost) fives. CFRA is often late and NEVER mentions any traffic situations on the Gatineau side where 1310 does. I guess they are feeling threatened already.

 

[Tincap]

As frequent as they are, I've found their traffic reports to be just as unreliable as some other traffic reporting. I found myself cruising through one area supposedly backed up by a serious traffic accident (with not a bent fender in sight), while 20 minutes later, being stuck in another, unreported back up, hearing the first supposed trouble spot being mentioned again.

Having said that, I do find my self using that particular car radio preset button much more often, than I have in the recent past, when 'oldies' still ruled the waves.

~BG

 

[e-dawg]

Now I wish if Rogers can start up 940 AM and bring back an all-news format to Montreal. Same thing for the francophone station INFO 690. Rogers is the best company when it comes to an all-news format.

 

[mjlarochelle]

Now I wish if Rogers can start up 940 AM and bring back an all-news format to Montreal. Same thing for the francophone station INFO 690. Rogers is the best company when it comes to an all-news format.

I doubt it'll happen in English in Montreal. As far as French goes there's already Radio-Canada and CHMP, somehow I'm not sure there's room for a third French news or news/talk station. Toronto barely supports three as it is; one of the three leans heavily towards sports-talk.

 

[corster]

They're using Skywords for their traffic, at least during off-peak hours.
Only reason I figured this out is because I was listening a few days ago and they aired a CFRB 1010 (Toronto) traffic report... assuming somebody at Skywords messed up that one...

Being a Toronto native, i'd say they're doing a pretty good job with the format, of course with all the voicetracked CFTR (weather, business, entertainment) and CJCL (sports) talent they probably could have just run this station out of Toronto and we wouldn't know the difference...

 

[Yeziknoradio]

they probably could have just run this station out of Toronto and we wouldn't know the difference...

That's a good point, but they always have someone in the building to read local news or to stand by just in case there's a local fire to report or something.

 

[mimo]

they probably could have just run this station out of Toronto and we wouldn't know the difference...

That's a good point, but they always have someone in the building to read local news or to stand by just in case there's a local fire to report or something.

Exactly right. There are some segments taped, like the sports, entertainment, weather and business. Even 680 does that. The news stories being read are live as is the traffic. Repeated accurate time checks prove that. I've checked out some of the overnight news, and fires have indeed broken out, roads shut down as a result and they've been reported on as they happen.

 

[Montreal radio listener]

I also wish Rogers had the 690 and 940 licenses in Montreal, then those stations would still be on the air. 940's problem was the fact that they were not reliable. Traffic on the ones was rarely on the ones. Things were lo0se and sloppy. They had a great product as a talk station, with a solid line up. One of the problems with Montrealers is that they don't realise there is more on AM besides CJAD. 940 was never promoted. No bus or tv ads, and probably no newspaper ads either.
How could anyone be listening if no one knew they were there? I don't know what to say about Info 690.

I think both stations were widely promoted when they were launched -- 690 more than 940, due to its francophone culture and laws regarding the use of French in public signage. I don't know how well 690 did by the time they closed down, though they were all-news all the way, up until they closed, though I imagine francophones were content with just getting hourly news updates on the radio instead of all-news, all the time. Apparently, all-news did not work in English, as 940 flipped to talk, then oldies, then nothing.

Info 690 and 940 News were both severely under-promoted and you can't possibly imagine how many people learned that Info 690 existed on January 29 (the day when it closed).

In addition most ads were poorly designed and as a result people did not understand the newswheel concept. It did not help that both stations kept saying that traffic reports were aired every "nine minutes". It also did not help that ads for traffic reports were mostly in the metro (subway) instead of being where car drivers actually go.

By the way nothing in Bill 101 prevents an English radio station from using English on billboards.