In this week’s issue… Bell flips in Hamilton – CRTC says “no” – Michaels sells in North Country – Clendenin buys in PA – Last day for NY’s 1560?
By SCOTT FYBUSH
Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada
What may have been North America’s most aggressive run of broadcast consolidation and job cuts has come to an end, for now.
We may never have a complete list of everyone who lost jobs at Bell Media’s radio and TV stations across Canada; the company isn’t saying, and so it’s up to intrepid reporters including Montreal’s Steve Faguy and the crew at Broadcast Dialogue to try to assemble a list from social media sources and observation.
Oosterman’s memo said many of the cuts could have been made last year, “if not for the work here at Media and across the company to help get the national Bell team through 2020 intact,” which included federal wage support that presumably kept jobs intact for some period of time.
There’s plenty of corporate-speak – “streamlining the way we work to enhance our efficiency, reduce our costs, and make Bell Media more accessible and easier to deal with for all stakeholders: audiences, creators, technology partners, advertisers and distributors,” as well as at least some acknowledgement of how devastating all those job losses are to the real human beings affected by them.
And the memo came with some additional news: format changes at three of Bell’s AM sports stations that had carried the corporate “TSN Radio” branding. In Vancouver and Winnipeg, CKST (1040) and CFRW (1290) flipped to the “Funny” comedy format Bell already uses on other small AMs, including CHAM (820) in Hamilton; while the format won’t draw big ratings, it’s inexpensive to operate, which means Bell won’t be losing money at those stations.
CKOC was in an odd position with the format: much of its coverage (if not its official sales market) overlaps with another Bell station, TSN Radio flagship CHUM (1050) from Toronto. The Hamilton TSN signal broke away from the network for several local shows each day, but also spent a lot of time simulcasting with Toronto.
As of Wednesday, that’s all changed – CKOC is now Bell’s second all-business format, using the same “BNN Bloomberg Radio” branding as Vancouver’s CFTE (1410), which itself flipped from sports back in 2018. There’s no local programming on the new “BNN Bloomberg Radio 1150,” as best we can tell, but lots of recycling from Bell’s BNN Bloomberg TV network, which itself draws heavily from the US-based Bloomberg TV channel.
(Where do the Ti-Cats and Bulldogs end up? No announcements have been made yet, but we’d be unsurprised if the football team goes back to its former home, Corus’ CHML 900.)
The TSN Radio format continues at several other Bell markets beyond Toronto, including Ottawa’s CFGO (1200) and Edmonton’s CFRN (1260) – and it continues in one more market where Bell may well have wanted to make bigger changes. (Read on in our subscriber-only content.)
THE 2025 TOWER SITE CALENDAR IS SHIPPING SOON!
We promised we would reveal the cover of the 2025 calendar, and here it is! (at right)
We chose the 100,000-watt transmitter of the Voice Of America in Marathon, right in the heart of the Florida Keys. This picture has everything we like in our covers — blue skies, greenery, water, and of course, towers! The history behind this site is a draw, too.
We know you’ve been waiting for information on the calendar. Although production was delayed, it is at our printer now and will be shipping starting this weekend. We will ship daily through Christmas Eve. Place your order now for shipping right off the press!
This will be the 24th edition of the world-famous Tower Site Calendar, and your support will determine whether it will be the final edition.
It’s been a complicated few years here, and as we finish up production of the new edition, we’re considering the future of this staple of radio walls everywhere as we evaluate our workload going forward.
The proceeds from the calendar help sustain the reporting that we do on the broadcast industry here at Fybush Media, so your purchases matter a lot to us here – and if that matters to you, now’s the time to show that support with an order of the new Tower Site Calendar. (And we have the new Broadcast Historian’s Calendar for 2025 ready to ship, too. Why not order both?)
Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your order now for the next calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too!