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Zee 103five format tweaking

Y

Yeziknoradio

12_Z-Feel-the-beat_1bbad69d.png



Zee 103five is no longer "All the hits". Their new slogan is "Feel the beat" as they make changes.
It's not necessarily a format change, but instead an adjustment with more way back play backs,
newly added Mix shows at 9 pm and midnight (instead of just 5pm)
They even chose to go with a new morning show.

Not too long ago, Kiss 92 decided to be "Today's hits and yesterday's throwbacks" with "throwbacks" not going too far back, perhaps around the 5-10 (or so) year range.

As a result, this now means Toronto's only hit music station is Virgin radio 999 FM.
 
I used to hear this one pretty regularly when I lived in Ridgway, PA (exactly 184.02 miles form the CIDC tower to my back porch), and the RDS would show up. It was my most regular GTA signal. The morning man at the time joked that I could hear it better than he could in his garage at home.

I had a 5 element yagi, super sensitive Sony and was at 2000 feet elevation, just about the highest point for 150 miles. (1 1/2 miles from the WKBI 93.9/W233BS 94.5/WJNG 100.5 tower)
 
only1moore said:
This is exciting news! Toronto has always been a EDM-centric market, so this move makes sense.
Click to expand...

Really? I never heard that before. Can you cite any statistics?

If true, this would go against every bit of conventional wisdom about the format.
 
K.M. Richards said:
Really? I never heard that before. Can you cite any statistics?
If true, this would go against every bit of conventional wisdom about the format.
Click to expand...
HEY GEMINI! DOES TORONTO HAVE A STRONG AND DIVERSE EDM?

Yes, Toronto has a strong and diverse Electronic Dance Music (EDM) scene with a rich history, featuring major festivals like VELD, numerous clubs (Rebel, Coda), dedicated promoters, and a thriving underground for house, techno, and other electronic genres, indicating a significant local love for EDM.
Evidence of Toronto's Love for EDM:
  • Major Festivals: Toronto hosts VELD Music Festival, Canada's largest EDM festival, attracting major international artists.
  • Vibrant Club Scene: Clubs like Rebel, Toybox, and Coda consistently book top DJs, and the city has a strong tradition of underground electronic music venues.
  • Long History: The city has been a rave hub since the 90s, with a continuous evolution of house, techno, and other electronic styles.
  • Dedicated Community: There are numerous promoters, labels (like Hypnotic Mindscapes), and online communities (Reddit's Toronto Raves) dedicated to supporting the scene.
  • Year-Round Events: EDM events, from big concerts to underground raves, are consistently scheduled throughout the year, even in winter.
Key Venues & Events:
  • VELD Music Festival: Annual summer festival at Downsview Park.
  • Rebel: A large club venue hosting major EDM acts.
  • Coda: Known for house and techno.
  • History: Another popular spot for electronic artists.
In summary, Toronto is a major Canadian hub for EDM, catering to both mainstream tastes with large festivals and underground enthusiasts with its diverse club and local production scene.
 
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K.M. Richards said:
Hey, Google AI! Do I trust you?
No, because you're AI.
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Actually, that IS an excellent point to make.
At least I was honest with my posting, that it was a cut and paste from Google AI.
Each market out there has it's differences.
Sometimes it takes the little guy company to try and be different from everyone else.
Evanov radio took the time to do exactly that.
Their ratings are respectfully good for Z103.
 
Yeziknoradio said:
Their ratings are respectfully good for Z103.
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As was noted in the other thread, good ratings do not necessarily lead to sales. Even if Toronto is an EDM-friendly city, it could be an uphill battle to convince local advertisers (and agencies) that the audience is receptive to the ads.

In wanting to educate myself on the station, I took some time to read the Wikipedia page for Z103, and contrary to your previous statement, Evanov has made mistakes, mostly in trying to duplicate the format in other markets. This station may well be the proverbial "one trick pony" ... but successful? Jury is still out, as far as I am concerned.

Radio's history is littered with stations that were a critical success but a failure commercially.
 
KilowattKat said:
Didn't Toronto at one time have a successful LGBTQ Dance station at 103.9 FM?
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They were CIRR FM @ 103.9. (Proud FM) Very low power.
However, considering the format, it was still very smart powered, as the signal was best heard in the Wellesley and Church area of Toronto, which just happens to be the Gay community of Toronto.

I'm not sure how moving 103.9 to 103.7 would improve the signal without interfering with 103.5.
According to this source, in 2018 the CRTC denied their request to move CIRR to 103.7 and boost their power.
SOURCE:

CIRR-FM – The History of Canadian Broadcasting

broadcasting-history.ca broadcasting-history.ca

The station is no more. 103.9, if it has any future, would make a good repeater of another station, maybe, but currently, it's a dead frequency.

o_O*added note: when reading the link above, check out what happened in 2013.o_O
 
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Yeziknoradio said:
They were CIRR FM @ 103.9. (Proud FM) Very low power.
However, considering the format, it was still very smart powered, as the signal was best heard in the Wellesley and Church area of Toronto, which just happens to be the Gay community of Toronto.

I'm not sure how moving 103.9 to 103.7 would improve the signal without interfering with 103.5.
According to this source, in 2018 the CRTC denied their request to move CIRR to 103.7 and boost their power.
SOURCE:

CIRR-FM – The History of Canadian Broadcasting

broadcasting-history.ca broadcasting-history.ca

The station is no more. 103.9, if it has any future, would make a good repeater of another station, maybe, but currently, it's a dead frequency.

o_O*added note: when reading the link above, check out what happened in 2013.o_O
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Interesting history, and didn't know about the Canadian Radio History website. Thanks.
 
Yeziknoradio said:
added note: when reading the link above, check out what happened in 2013.o_O
Click to expand...
This is the oddity of LGBTQ+ radio. By definition, it's a community based around sexual orientation and gender identity, so one of the main common factors is sex.

LGBTQ+ people don't all like the same music, or want the same news. LGBTQ+ people don't all want the same style of radio. The one thing in common is the one thing you can't talk about on the radio without attracting trouble.

All the LGBTQ+ stations I've ever come across have played either dance music or cheesy bubblegum pop all day long, and not really differentiated themselves from other stations in any other way, other than sometimes doing live broadcasts from Pride events (which themselves are struggling for an identity beyond being pop concerts these days).

There are some excellent queer community podcasts, where adult topics can be discussed with an adult audience without radio regulators breathing down the producers' necks - LGBTQ+ radio seems a bit surplus to requirements in a lot of ways.
 
Miss Tuned said:
All the LGBTQ+ stations I've ever come across have played either dance music or cheesy bubblegum pop all day long, and not really differentiated themselves from other stations in any other way, other than sometimes doing live broadcasts from Pride events (which themselves are struggling for an identity beyond being pop concerts these days).
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I have discovered, in my own research, that those stations have a high listenership of gay men who love EDM and the like. "Flamboyant" is, I think, a safe word to describe a lot of them without being inadvertently derogatory.

What I haven't figured out is whether their like for dance music is what causes the phenomenon on stations or if the stations have created their affinity for that genre. Perhaps it works both ways ... and I'm sure the clubs are a big part of the equation.

Disco never really died with that demographic.

Beyond that, though, there seems to be a distaste for "serious" LGBTQ+ programming, even greater than that by listeners to any music format who are annoyed by news-based content. And that's not just radio: I am told that, about a year or so ago, the co-owned magazines The Advocate and Out stopped publishing individual magazines and are now combined in a format where you access each based on which cover you start from. If that is a reasonable indicator of the lack of serious content, a station might as well just play dance music and cheesy pop.
 


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