by Tyler Green
March 18, 2021
When Don Taylor and Rick Dhaliwal announced their return to the airwaves with CHEK TV earlier this week, many were wondering where Taylor’s longtime co-host would end up.
Bob ‘The Moj’ Marjanovich, former co-host of TSN 1040’s ‘Donnie and The Moj’ show, isn’t following Taylor to television. Instead, I’m told that Marjanovich is keeping his options open.
At this point, Marjanovich is in a holding pattern, awaiting news on where the BC Lions radio rights might land. ‘Moj’ has spent the last few years calling play-by-play for the Leos on radio and is will most likely remain in the role when the Lions do find a new home. Signing on to another station at this point could put him in an awkward position by accepting a role at a competing station in the market before the Lions broadcast deal is settled.
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Looks like now 104.3 could be done for good as a music station officially too. What else can I say what with simone being in? But good news, maybe the rome show will come back but this time be on stingray.
Either that, or 104.3 will switch to 50s 60s 70s oldies with bc lions games still on and donny and the moj hosting a weekend sports program nights. Or maybe cknw will. Or maybe even danny russell will host saturday night sports show, donny and the moj a sunday night sports show.
Considering how unstable job security is in sports talk radio, you will see more people going the podcast route. The issue is finding enough advertisers to make enough money.
Considering how expensive news/talk/sports is.. Rogers already owns the three KiSS brands in Vancity, Abby and CHWK.. they have the money and that would be great coverage for a money losing CHR station.
Nobody’s going FM sports, unless Rogers moves SN to 104.9.
50s to 70s oldies is never happening either, as there is no advertising market for listeners in their 70s and 80s.
Don: I think theres still room for 60s 70s oldies with some 50s on somewhere on the dial in vancouver. Either that, or jewel fm from ontario should come here. But if 104.3 changes from the breeze to a sports channel, the latter might happen. We still need a station of eother oldies outright or easy listening outright. And if 104.9 changes to sports like moving sportsnet from 650, 650 might end up off air overall or become a world music channel or a fusion channel or maybe even radio disney. Anything could happen.
As much as I like The Moj for what he does on sports broadcasting in general, and the fact the he was one of the most regular and “hey, he is like me” guys on TSN1040, I really did miss Scotty doing playcalling and missed Jeff Paterson even more.
No offence Moj, but Jeff P, he set the bar pretty high.
In my mind would be great of the Leos got 650 to do the coverage, get Scotty back behind the mic with Julio doing colour and Moj and Burnsie doing commentary and pre/during/post game interviews.
@Cam Mitchell
It’s not about *need*, it’s about whether there’s commercial viability. And the audience for either true oldies or easy listening, no matter the size, doesn’t drive ad sales. The business model for putting it on a prime signal just doesn’t exist.
Don: the alberta city of wetaskawin south of edmonton still has one. And theres the jewel fm cluster back east. And theres 99.9 the lounge from vancouver island. So theres no reason why there cant be one of that kind here in these parts as well. Or at least 60s 70s 80s with the former two as a backbone and not a jack fm clone minus the newer music and an actual broad playlist unlike jack fm and rock 101 these days.
And don, another thing: in terms of why 104.3 doesnt play enough 60s 70s even during the lg name before, and why there are nights dedicated to music nobody knows: what do you expect from devon and simone the general manager and program manager; its all about whats “on topic, in market”; not really actually serving the local listeners and what they actually do want to hear; not quite anyway…
My estimation of the chances of 104.3 switching to all-sports: 0.001 percent. Couple of reasons: 1)unlike some other stations, with their current demographic they would have almost no listener base, and 2)with the fallout from the Move takeover of 103.5, they could do practically nothing and their share would likely go above 4 percent for the first time under the new format.
I’ve already heard one store formerly with 103.5 on abandon it, although the switch was to 95.3. The real exodus, though, would come if they let go of Nat and Drew, which unfortunately I wouldn’t be surprised to see happening.
Have to agree that much as I’d like to see 104.3 change to some degree, there’s more commercial viability for the current format with only minor tweaking. Like a no-limit poker gave, you do better if your opponent folds – as 1040 has already done – as opposed to having to show your cards prematurely.
I don’t see any FM station switching to all-sports. I think that an AM station like AM 730 condsider having a non-sports or sports talk show segment during non-peak hours, but I don’t see even another AM station taking on all-sports. The only FM station with any chance of switching would be 102.7 The Peak with their male-leaning more educated base , and that would alienate their listeners as this would leave no alternative music station.
Addendum: I suppose the other FM station with the remote possibility of switching is Jack FM, given their current downward trends in ratings and staffing, not to mention their demographic is more in line with the format. I just don’t see it happening with any FM station though. Especially 104.3.
By the way, the statement that Jack FM doesn’t have a broad playlist is incorrect. The problem is that they repeat about 20 of their Canadian Content songs every day, and play their rock songs a lot more than their lighter songs which plays into Rock 101’s hands. But on that station you can listen every day and hear songs you haven’t heard in years, something that can’t be said for most other local stations.
What constitutes “enough” 60s and 70’s music is very subjective. Look at the success of UP radio in Edmonton. They advertise an uptempo oldies format, but are still focused on the time period of the 80’s and beyond. They play lots of fun stuff, even Weird Al songs. And it works. My guess is that their on-air announcers are popular as well; that I don’t know.
Other oldies stations that have done well over the years have gradually shifted their time period forward instead of backward, to attract new listeners and keep old ones of the right demographic by growing with them. Going backwards in time may attract older listeners looking for alternative to talk show radio, but what people may ask for and the durability and demographics of the market base are two different things.
If we’re talking about sports on FM, I could maybe see the BC Lions rights heading to a place like JR Country. But I can’t imagine an all sports FM in this market.
hey, the majority of folks believe that the changes to 104.3 in the last 5 years were bad but what if 99.3 or 101.1 change to all sports.
Sports on FM will not work. It would be a disaster. Anyone with the lack of brain cells that would consider this should not be working in radio. Period.
CJ and Paul: Have to agree 100 percent.
Nicolas: up fm is actually more a jack fm knockoff since its not outright oldies. And best thing is for a station like the grand fm and ckdo and cfos from ontario. The lounge fm from vancouver island is 50s-90s mostly. And im in total agreement with cj mike and paul, yet I know fully well anything could happen. I hope the jewel fm takeover comes here too.
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And mike: I agree with everything you said except the lg 104.3 shift in the first place in late 2018 was actually good pretty much except nights was still music nobody knows. Maybe im that hip to be square guy, but that specialty interest thing which is a relic of the shore era of the station isnt right at this period in time. Is that something the stingray head office should have a say in, because this smooth jazz isnt any of the two other breeze fm stations here in canada?
Mike,
There’s nearly 0% of chance Corus to even think about that, simply flip AM730 back to MOJO would do the work.
I couldn’t find any recent numbers for the small-market stations like Grand FM or CFOS, but the Jewel FM station in Toronto showed only a 2.1 market share. The F25-54 segment was 1.4 and M25-54 was 0.7. By contrast, UP radio in Edmonton was at 8.4 percent with the most recent ratings.
I recall in the late 90’s, a Vancouver radio station took on a really mellow oldies format including artists like Frank Sinatra. The results? The people who listened to the station loved the music. However, it never achieved durable popularity and the owners abandoned the format. To use an analogy, if you’re a coach of a sports team, you get judged on results, not on how much people like you.
Any FM station switching to sports would see a moderate ratings loss if they go the expensive route of local hosts on the air to fill daytime spots, or a huge ratings loss if they went the cheaper syndicated route. But I’d like to see AM 730 at least try getting rights to broadcasting Whitecaps games to start with.
Nicolas: I agree with this anology for sure. Just like when cisl switched from the “am 650” to back basicallywhat it was in the early 90s (soft 60s 70s) the result was the people loved the station. However, it never reached durable popularity and morning man at the time sterling faux got let go and upon only months of corporate radio mouthpiece simone (now on 104.3) came back on the air after maternity leave almost a year after sterling got fired, the newcap management especially simone abandoned it overall despite the listeners love and respect for said format and gave it to rogers which became the new owners and it switched completely in the end. So only goes to show everybody, nicolas anology is 100 percent right.