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| As of 10 AM on Sept. 2nd, the sports talk format on CKAC 730 AM is no more. A flip to an all-traffic format is imminent. |
This morning at 10 AM, CKAC 730 AM, which had been the home of a French-language sports talk format, dropped its format and announced that it would be launching an all-traffic station branded as Radio Circulation 730 on Tuesday, September 6th. Many elements of CKAC's sports format, including broadcasts of Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Alouettes, Montreal Impact, and Universite de Montreal Carabins games, have been moved over to sister station CHMP 98.5 FM. The latter is a French-language FM talk station that has been in existence for several years. CKAC is currently playing random music, interspersed with a recorded annoucement from Cogeco Montreal president Richard Lachance announcing the upcoming changes.
Ever since the closure of CINW 940 AM and CINF 690 AM in January 2010, Cogeco had applied to the CRTC to launch this all-traffic format in English on 940, and in French on 690. However, their decision was expedited recently by a $1.5 million sunsidy from the Ministere du Transport de Quebec. Thus, the idea to re-launch 690 was immediately thrown out, and the decision to flip 730 was made instead. The application to re-launch 940 is still alive, though, and Cogeco is pressuring the CRTC to have a hearing with them about acquiring 940 as soon as possible.
I personally don't see how an all-traffic format could work in this city either. Yes, there are often traffic issues in Montreal, but what happens if there's nothing significant to report on? Do the announcers just sit there and kill time on the air? Think of what would happen at a major news outlet like CNN if there was no real news to report on. They wouldn't have much to work with, and they'd spend their on-air time hemming and hawing.
The other problem I see with this new format is that it could get very boring and repetitive fast. Let's say, for example, that it takes the Radio Circulation announcers 15 minutes to report on traffic updates from around the city. If nothing changes after that 15-minute period, then the announcers would literally have to repeat the same news over and over again until something new happens. And what would happen overnight when there is virtually no traffic anywhere? To me, that just doesn't make any sense.
Cogeno is taking a massive gamble with this new format, and it's one that I don't think will pay off in the end. They'll be taking an even bigger gamble if they manage to get an English equivalent on 940. According to Fagstein's post on this subject, Cogeco is scheduled to have a hearing with the CRTC about the 940 application on October 17th.
I don't have a crystal ball in front of me, but I predict that Radio Circulation will run into many problems. Although the Quebec government is footing the bill, this idea, to me, does seem like a waste of funds and resources. If the station does, in fact, fail, I have a feeling that Cogeco will return the sports format to CKAC. If not, then they can always try to put it on 690.
The interesting thing about all of this is that CKAC was a relatively popular station, and was doing fairly well in the Francophone ratings for the Montreal radio market. However, when the Quebec government offered Cogeco the subsidy, they suddenly got dollar signs in thei eyes, and they decided to change CKAC's format immediately.
So in the end, this change is being made strictly because the government dangled a fat and juicy carrot in front of Cogeco, who was more than eager to gobble it up.
Radio Circulation will make its official debut on Tuesday, September 6th at 4:30 AM. I'll try to get an audio recording of it, if possible.
CKAC can't "fail" unless it somehow manages to spend more than $1.5 million a year running an all-traffic station. Stations fail when their expenses are so high it's not worth running them anymore. With such a huge government subsidy, Cogeco should have no problem keeping this station running.
ReplyDeleteThe format isn't necessarily a bad idea. A station in Vancouver is doing the same thing. It's like the Weather Network - they don't expect people to tune in for hours at a time, just to check in for a few minutes when they start their commute.
But to suggest that such a station is vitally necessary while at the same time arguing that it can't survive without the government paying for it, is kind of ridiculous.