For starters Michael Harris, longtime 1 to 3 in the afternoon talker on Ottawa's heritage station, 580 CFRA, is still on the beach.
That is radio slang for he ain't working in the biz.
And that is the good news.
CFRA, a BellMedia Company, has totally gone on the cheap. They announced recently, like this week, that they are going to be running the audio of CTV Ottawa's news at six and eleven. They have given Rob Snow, their afternoon drive guy, an hour of open line to whine through from two to three. I am guessing that Ron Corbett is getting an hour too shine from one to two. In the same way the station is testing Mark Sutcliffe from nine to ten in the morning.
I am a CFRA P1, heavy listener, but they are doing the best to tune me and other P1s out. TV news on the radio is like a thousand dollar hooker. It sucks. And blows. At the same time.
I will change the channel and poof I am gone, at least for a while. In the paper age of ratings that Ottawa is still in that may be okay; when Ottawa goes to PPM it will be a disaster.
Somebody in this town is going to be smart and rock a personality driven FM newser heavy on talk and entertainment as opposed to the programming on 'RA which is getting more and more difficult to listen to coz of their cheaping out. Ditto across the hall at The Team.
WFDS
Agree with your comments. I had listened to CFRA since the 60's when their format was music, but really tuned in when they switched to all news talk format and brought Michael Harris on board. Ron Corbett puts me to sleep. Lowell Green is ... well Lowell is Lowell and enough said there. There is no REAL talk radio right now in the National Capital Region. Both CFRA and the Team suck big time. I keep looking out for Harris to re-surface somewhere but nothing yet.
ReplyDeleteDave