Bell Media to sell 45 radio stations.

[Marcus]

"Not a viable business anymore"
At least not to them.
Too bad the London and Windsor radio stations are being held onto. That headline got my hopes up.


https://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/bus ... 81dd0.html


https://gta.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?id=11491

[rugratsonline]

On a related note, Bell's CTV has also cancelled its noon (except Toronto) and weekend (except Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa) newscasts, and will also be changing W5 from a longtime news magazine to a feature on its nightly national newscasts.

[MWmetalhead]

Too bad the London and Windsor radio stations are being held onto.

Agreed!

[edj]

Some of these are small or depressed markets (St Catharines). I guess at least one could try and target Buffalo.

[Rich S]

I felt same- bummed that Windsor stations not included. Then again be careful what we wish for. They could all become religious/ethnic stations. Then you really have wasted frequencies.

[MWmetalhead]

I hope the acquirer of 97.7 CHTZ-FM keeps the longtime Rock format in place and strengthens the station in the process.

[Marcus]

The HTZ-FM online stream could use some help when it comes to sound quality. A Hamilton Spectator article says that some name changes to some of the radio stations are coming, but the formats will remain for now.

https://www.thespec.com/news/bell-media ... 4a77e.html

The stations in the Canadian Niagara Region will not become Niagara-Buffalo or Niagara-Toronto. The CRTC cracked down on 101.1 from Fort Erie over this when it was CHR, and 1220 CHSC was shut down for not ceasing that practice after being warned about it.

It was only eight months ago when CKWW went up for sale and CJBK London shut down along with several other radio stations, so the Windsor stations might be among the next to go.

[Mega Hertz]

I can't imagine the Windsor cluster is a cash cow. I would love to see the numbers on how many tune into either Detroit, Toledo or even Cleveland stations (if everything is just right) over the Windsor FMs. CKLW would be the one I would think they would hang on to.

[MWmetalhead]

The CRTC cracked down on 101.1 from Fort Erie over this when it was CHR, and 1220 CHSC was shut down for not ceasing that practice after being warned about it.

As I recall, the issue was 101.1 being operated by an American company and originating most (or all) of its programming from the U.S. side of the border.

It is perfectly legal to appeal to American audiences and also to sell air time to U.S. advertisers so long as Can Con rules are followed and so long as a Canadian company is operating the station.

[MWmetalhead]

I would love to see the numbers on how many tune into either Detroit, Toledo or even Cleveland stations (if everything is just right) over the Windsor FMs.

Toledo stations receive little listening in Essex County (areas in the southern part of the county being an exception) and Cleveland stations probably receive negligible listening.

When ratings data was routinely available for Windsor-Essex, about 40 to 45 percent of listening went to stations based in Essex County. 800 CKLW was far & away the most popular station - usually grabbing between a 12 and 15 share. CBC Radio One at 97.5 FM was usually second most popular, usually grabbing a 6 or 7 share.

When 89X still had Dave & Chuck, 89X was usually the most popular FM station. By the time the plug was pulled on 89X, it was either the least or second least listened to English-language FM in Essex County, competing with 89.9 CBC Radio Two for basement honors.

In the last publicly published set of Numeris data, if I remember correctly, Pure Crap 89 was around a 2.5 share whereas the far superior Windsor's Country 95.9 was around a 4 share.

[MWmetalhead]

The HTZ-FM online stream could use some help when it comes to sound quality. A Hamilton Spectator article says that some name changes to some of the radio stations are coming, but the formats will remain for now.

https://www.thespec.com/news/bell-media ... 4a77e.html

The stations in the Canadian Niagara Region will not become Niagara-Buffalo or Niagara-Toronto. The CRTC cracked down on 101.1 from Fort Erie over this when it was CHR, and 1220 CHSC was shut down for not ceasing that practice after being warned about it.

It was only eight months ago when CKWW went up for sale and CJBK London shut down along with several other radio stations, so the Windsor stations might be among the next to go.

Per the Spectator article, I see an excellent broadcasting company with multi-generational roots in Southern Ontario is acquiring the Hamilton and Niagara region stations, and they'll be dumping Bell Media's goofy national brand names to boot!

[Mega Hertz]

I would love to see the numbers on how many tune into either Detroit, Toledo or even Cleveland stations (if everything is just right) over the Windsor FMs.

Toledo stations receive little listening in Essex County (areas in the southern part of the county being an exception) and Cleveland stations probably receive negligible listening.

When ratings data was routinely available for Windsor-Essex, about 40 to 45 percent of listening went to stations based in Essex County. 800 CKLW was far & away the most popular station - usually grabbing between a 12 and 15 share. CBC Radio One at 97.5 FM was usually second most popular, usually grabbing a 6 or 7 share.

When 89X still had Dave & Chuck, 89X was usually the most popular FM station. By the time the plug was pulled on 89X, it was either the least or second least listened to English-language FM in Essex County, competing with 89.9 CBC Radio Two for basement honors.

In the last publicly published set of Numeris data, if I remember correctly, Pure Crap 89 was around a 2.5 share whereas the far superior Windsor's Country 95.9 was around a 4 share.

I completely forgot about 95.9!

[rugratsonline]

The CRTC cracked down on 101.1 from Fort Erie over this when it was CHR, and 1220 CHSC was shut down for not ceasing that practice after being warned about it.

As I recall, the issue was 101.1 being operated by an American company and originating most (or all) of its programming from the U.S. side of the border.

This was over the Joint Sales Agreement with then-broadcasting behemoth Citadel Broadcasting, though the JSA only covered ad sales, in order to comply with CRTC regulations. More here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFLZ-FM

CHSC would close down in 2010, due to various financial, regulatory, and other violations that led to its license revocation. The station would return to the air as CFAJ in 2020, under new ownership:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFAJ

It is perfectly legal to appeal to American audiences and also to sell air time to U.S. advertisers so long as Can Con rules are followed and so long as a Canadian company is operating the station.

During its 89X days, you would more often hear ads for Detroit or even Toledo-area advertisers than for Windsor. The same for CKLW, back during its Top 40 heyday.

I would love to see the numbers on how many tune into either Detroit, Toledo or even Cleveland stations (if everything is just right) over the Windsor FMs.

Toledo stations receive little listening in Essex County (areas in the southern part of the county being an exception) and Cleveland stations probably receive negligible listening.

That being said, Windsor listeners not listening to a Windsor or Canadian station would likely listen to Detroit first.

[Marcus]

The latest Bell Media cuts are all over the news in Canada. There are going to be 4,800 layoffs. I also found a link from last year. In the past eight months there have been a total of 6100 layoffs from Bell Media (including the latest ones), and nine radio stations went off the air altogether.

https://broadcastdialogue.com/bell-medi ... -thus-far/

https://archive.ph/TyGv6

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/bell-c ... -1.7114444

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bce-la ... -1.6876075