I'm disapointed of how many radio stations in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). It seems the number of radio stations in Toronto is less than number of radio stations in Pittsburgh and Minneapolis/St. Paul. With over 5.5 million people should they have radio stations equivolant to Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles? Ottawa has more radio stations than Toronto. Even Buffalo, NY has more than Toronto. Why is that?
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Toronto Radio Scenes
- Thread starter e-dawg
- Start date
Toronto radio is not a problem. Sure you can have more stations, but what would they offer? Rogers vs Astral vs CHUM/CTV all generally serve up the same stuff.
Just because Ottawa has more stations, it doesn't mean that Ottawa radio is any better. One of Ottawa's latest additions? EZ Rock, and at 99.7 it's just down the dial from its main competitor Majic 100, playing essentially the same stuff. How exciting is that?
True Ottawa's DAWG FM has just signed on, offering a true alternative, but Toronto having 91.1 JAZZ FM, along with a wider variety of ethnic, plus a 24/7 classical station (even if it is commercial...:s) should be more interesting than Ottawa or many other Canadian cities. If you can't get it Toronto, then Canadian radio is worse than I thought.
~BG
Just because Ottawa has more stations, it doesn't mean that Ottawa radio is any better. One of Ottawa's latest additions? EZ Rock, and at 99.7 it's just down the dial from its main competitor Majic 100, playing essentially the same stuff. How exciting is that?
True Ottawa's DAWG FM has just signed on, offering a true alternative, but Toronto having 91.1 JAZZ FM, along with a wider variety of ethnic, plus a 24/7 classical station (even if it is commercial...:s) should be more interesting than Ottawa or many other Canadian cities. If you can't get it Toronto, then Canadian radio is worse than I thought.
~BG
O.K. Gang, this discussion sparked my curiosity so I conducted an unscientific study this evening to see what markets (over 300,000) in Canada are the most and least represented by the total number of available radio stations. I included all stations in the totals (CBC, suburban, regional, ethnic, college, religion, etc.). Halifax has the most stations on a per capita basis in the country, while Toronto (as predicted above) has the least.
total population # of stations population served per station
CALGARY 1,079,310 32 33,728
EDMONTON 1,034,945 34 30,493
VANCOUVER 2,249,725 33 68,173
VICTORIA 330,088 13 25,391
WINNIPEG 694,668 31 22,408
HALIFAX 372,858 19 19,624
HAMILTON 692,911 10 69,291
KITCHENER 451,235 14 32,231
LONDON 457,720 22 20,805
OTTAWA 1,130,751 35 32,307
ST. CATHARINES 390,317 9 43,368
TORONTO 5,113,149 48 106,523
WINDSOR 323,342 12 26,945
MONTREAL 3,635,571 38 95,672
QUEBEC CITY 715,515 26 27,519
total population # of stations population served per station
CALGARY 1,079,310 32 33,728
EDMONTON 1,034,945 34 30,493
VANCOUVER 2,249,725 33 68,173
VICTORIA 330,088 13 25,391
WINNIPEG 694,668 31 22,408
HALIFAX 372,858 19 19,624
HAMILTON 692,911 10 69,291
KITCHENER 451,235 14 32,231
LONDON 457,720 22 20,805
OTTAWA 1,130,751 35 32,307
ST. CATHARINES 390,317 9 43,368
TORONTO 5,113,149 48 106,523
WINDSOR 323,342 12 26,945
MONTREAL 3,635,571 38 95,672
QUEBEC CITY 715,515 26 27,519
Dan said:
Informative numbers, Dan. But keeping in mind that Toronto listeners can also tune into numerous fringe market signals (including a number of Americans), Halifax is a completely isolated market. And having lived in Halifax for a number of years, it certainly can't be as interesting as Toronto radio. Although Halifax does have one of our favourite little stations in the country...Seaside FM. ;D
~BG
Hmmm...98.7 mysteriously disapeared! ???
The Toronto market also has trouble getting new stations up and running due to a shortage of "valid" space on the dial...
Is 98.7 officially off the air now? Or what's the deal there? Jr. Caribana is July 17th, and there's a parade at the end of July! It would be sad for them if they can't be up and running as the official station of Caribana!
Every time someone tries to launch something new in Toronto (regardless of format) CBC or someone else complains "there's too much interference with our station!"
(as was the case at one point with 98.7 FM vs the 99.1 CBC radio 1 FM signal in Toronto)
The Toronto market also has trouble getting new stations up and running due to a shortage of "valid" space on the dial...
Is 98.7 officially off the air now? Or what's the deal there? Jr. Caribana is July 17th, and there's a parade at the end of July! It would be sad for them if they can't be up and running as the official station of Caribana!
Every time someone tries to launch something new in Toronto (regardless of format) CBC or someone else complains "there's too much interference with our station!"
(as was the case at one point with 98.7 FM vs the 99.1 CBC radio 1 FM signal in Toronto)
B
Bob1370
Guest
Population per station can be a little deceptive. For example, Windsor is inundated by dozens of Detroit market stations from right across the river, while Hamilton and to a lesser extent Toronto are getting strong signals from a batch of Buffalo/Niagara Falls, NY market stations as well. Especially in Toronto and Hamilton's case, between the Buffalo market and Niagara region stations, there's just no more room on either the AM or FM bands to squeeze in another signal, even if those markets could arguably support more stations with different formats. .
Tincap said:
Nice Alternative! "I mean, I should have seen the ship starting to sink after the engineers, the builders of the station, abruptly quit..."
Source----> http://aircheckerradioindustry.blogspot.com/2010/12/dawg-ottawa-not-paying-bills.html#links
Tincap said:
Yeah....just what T-O and other Canadian markets need. Multiple signals spewing the exact same stuff. Drones and clones. Just like we have on this side of the border. And by all means....let the advertisers (instead of the public) call the shots so you can also have everyone fighting over what's perceived by ad agencies to be the same "sweet spot" demo.
Yeziknoradio said:Tincap said:
"I mean, I should have seen the ship starting to sink after the engineers, the builders of the station, abruptly quit..."
Source----> http://aircheckerradioindustry.blogspot.com/2010/12/dawg-ottawa-not-paying-bills.html#links
Oh my. Is DAWG going to the dogs? To be truthful, I'm not sure how commercially viable such a format can be. If they want to stick to the blues format, a listener supported undertaking would be more realistic. It'll only be a matter of time before DAWG becomes MOR, like everyone else, to compete for those advertising dollars.
~BG
I'm hoping it's not the rantings of a bitter ex-employee regarding Dawg. Those have been known to happen. There seems to be a decent amount of ads on the station and their first ratings weren't that bad. It's a new station, so give it time and we'll see what happens. If more than one person comes out with the same story then it would be more credible.
Does DAWG FM have any special "promise of performance" regs?
Or any specific CRTC Regs dictating that they must remain DAWG FM, and therefore can not change format?
Some people are wondering the same thing about FLOW 93five now that CTV is the new owner of that station.
(See Toronto Mike's Blog: http://www.torontomike.com/2011/01/can_ctv_change_flow_935s_forma.html )
Or any specific CRTC Regs dictating that they must remain DAWG FM, and therefore can not change format?
Some people are wondering the same thing about FLOW 93five now that CTV is the new owner of that station.
(See Toronto Mike's Blog: http://www.torontomike.com/2011/01/can_ctv_change_flow_935s_forma.html )
I may be wrong, but I thought they were a specialty format and must remain as they are for a certain amount of years. They are building an audience, and they've managed to secure ads from both sides of the river. As far as I know, they're the only station doing so. At least they beat the new EZ rock (99.7) who signed on the air about a month earlier in the ratings. The station from a music and programming standpoint is absolutely outstanding. I've heard blues stations in other cities like St. Louis, Memphis, Jackson Mississippi and New Orleans, and this beats them all.
Yeziknoradio said:
The station on 98.7 was merely a test transmission. I don't know how long it was on the air but Industry Canada licensed it as a temporary operation. Didn't even have call letters assigned.
M.J. said:
Either Astral or Rogers should shake hands with the gentleman trying to get 98.7 up and running if they truly believe this man is helping to get WKSE listeners in the Toronto area to switch to either Kiss 92 or Virgin 999!
;D48 - wow!! didnt think there were thaaaat
many stations in the GTA - that ROCKS!!!!
many stations in the GTA - that ROCKS!!!!
Radio_bored-Op said:
??? Well when you toss in all the multicultural stations...i guess there are several, but 48?
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