Amazing that 104.3 has higher ratings now than before. Especially when the new morning people are voicetracked from halifax. They sound like a poor mans version of jack fm. They dont even announce what songs are playing.
And another thing, even though the cfl season is postponed, the bc lions are looking for broadcasting rights. Maybe 104.3 will change to sports, because while many are saying that theres almost no way that will happen, yet with the duplication of the playlist with other stations among other issues it might just unexpectedly do that despite the stations better ratings, like its ontrack as a result considering it will be mostly u.s. based syndicated programming if that happens. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
CKNW will stay on top for a while, as they have no real competition. And in this day of financial constraints, I don’t see anyone else making a huge investment to attract big-name talk-show hosts.
Move 103.5 — funny how people are resistant to branding. Often with good reason, mind you. Z95.3 sells itself as a similar format minus 80’s music, and it’s gone again of 103.5 in the ratings. This, in spite of the fact that Z95 is far more repetitive. The gains of 101.1 and 95.3 show how the perception of local versus name-branded alone draws more loyalty. Other radio stations considering branding and syndication, take note.
104.3 — That’s not hard to figure out. Some of the fallout from The Move/103.5 was bound to come the Breeze’s way. (And 104.3’s music is not like 103.5’s music at all.) Had the Breeze kept Kelly their ratings would have been even higher. They’ll experience a slight decline next ratings period when the full impact of the morning syndication kicks in.
“Funny” 1040 – pretty much as expected. Sad rather than funny.
Nicolas: actually, 104.3s music has still duplicated with 103.5 and even others on the dial for the most partironically. Talk about being “in market, on topic”. They should actually drop the smooth jazz music nights (for its music nobody knows except for hipsters) and extend stacys evening breeze to midnight like in edmonton. If not, then we will have to say this is only a holding move to keep the frequency active while waiting for word from the stingray suits for an official bailout (like it will go off the air overall and be replaced again with kafe fms signal from down south (bellinghams equivilent of qmfm/move) most likely.
I’m aware of what 104.3 plays as well as what other stations play. There’s some duplication, but no one else has music close to what they play. As Don pointed out, they’re not allowed to drop the Smooth Jazz nights due to licensing, and as for going back to Retro – had they done that earlier, they wouldn’t have gained as many of 103.5’s listeners.
Ironically, 103.5 hasn’t changed the format much – although Love Songs was hugely popular – but QMFM had such a long history behind it which in itself created loyalty. 104.3 has actually changed their music even less in the past year, but they’re likely just going to continue doing nothing and capitalize on 103.5’s 25-55 year crowd looking for an alternative to music with too much “MOVE”ment.
104.3 should just drop the licence from the crtc. Smooth jazz as a result will be gone. Actually, z95.3 should have switched over to the breeze in the first place. That way the smooth jazz would never have seen the light of day. Switching back to oldies would mean an even worse idea, like it would be even more like jack fm than ever. Like, the two radio know it alls are running the joint, and also the crtc inmates as well. They sadly want a younger format, not an older one, and they want the station to stick to its indie feel a bit. Again, talk about “in market, on topic”. Sad to say. And 730? They should switch from traffic to oldies like 60s 70s. And since the whitecaps games are now on there, stands to reason they should change to something else, like sports or oldies of that kind.
Interesting about kellys rundown. Maybe 1410 should change to 60s 70s oldies. Like, i agree with dons comment completely like the stingray suits themselves would love for 104.3 to ditch the smooth jazz format but management of stingray vancouver dont allow them to do so, like, i get it, simone and devon…. starting at 9 pm lets get into indie mode cause while its not good for the station, we wanna keep shore fm alive a bit anyway and were with the crtc on that one; after all its in market, on topic….. were too talented and mainstream for that one!!!!!!
Cam, I don’t think you understand. The ‘smooth jazz’ is a stipulation by the CRTC. They are legally required to air it to meet their license requirements. They wouldn’t play it if they didn’t have to.
Oh, its the crtc mostly. Vancouver management somewhat suprisedly let the offer slide still. Devon and simone both had their eyes wide open on that very subject. They knew all along that the smooth jazz format especially with no dj might be a risk to the station, yet they let that offer stay as is because they knew its a relic when it was more indie from the shore fm days. So i actually now understand. Stingray in toronto had their eyes open more so as well. actually, i have an idea. Maybe the peak should change to 60s 70s oldies. Or breeze fm itself should play more older songs again like when it switched in the first place. And getting back to that licence, that one should be revoked. And, vancouver management doesnt care about listeners – its all about the bottom line and political correctness and relevance and crtc stipulation and if 104.3 wants to pull the plug overall and switch to a completely different format like say, country/bluegrass or hip hop/lo fi or lgbt themed/dub poetry or even south asian with pop/mantras with english advertising in hopes of better ratings if they go down next time, theyll do it in a heartbeat.
Interesting breakdown from Kelly showing 95.3 in first place in the female 25-54 market. That’s a first for as long as I can remember. Until recently when Rock 101 was doing well in that category, QMFM 103.5 was so dominant in that category that it wasn’t even close.
Kid Carson seems to be working for them. The switch to a more top-40 oriented format as opposed to Hot AC format seems to be working for them. Personally, I would much rather have the old Z95.3 minus Kid Carson and with more 90’s and 2000’s music.
But ultimately, it doesn’t matter what one person like myself thinks, it’s about results. And it shows that the owners made the right decision by ditching the oldies station rather than Z95.3, much as though many people didn’t like that decision. The owners made the decision with their eyes wide open, and decided that the smooth jazz requirement was a minor issue for 104.3. I would tend to agree with them — it’s not my choice of music, but it’s a format that has had some success in other markets.
Incidentally, the notion that the over 55 market is meaningless is not entirely correct. Where I work, I see lots of 60 something members paying for memberships for their 20-something children. They do spend money, albeit more carefully. They may or may not be less influenced by advertising. What I do find it that the time versus action for the older generation is different and they tend to be more vocal in their opinions.
That means that the opinions of retired and semi-retired people, while still valid, may not reflect the broader public. People who listen to the radio over 40 hours a week while at work often don’t have time to post or email opinions – kind of like a shopping customer who just switches to another store after a bad experience rather than make a big issue. This is where ratings come in. They measure how people act, not one person’s opinion like myself or anyone else.
No question radio stations in general are less interactive today; results and finances are what matter these days. One would have to think that if anyone makes a format change, it would be The Peak or AM730.
In full agreement pretty much with nicolas. While its true simone has relatively little musical knowledge pre 1980 really (im not saying none) and while today shes on 104.3 and now 96.3 the edmonton version yet not answering the phone giving listeners feedback but rather probably on the jim rome show fansite stucknut listening to classic bits of that show or something else besides that among others that are to the listeners truly bothersome, we have to say she is actually a great broadcaster who knows all her stuff and knows the radio lingo well, so we have to give her credit for that. Like, her positives actually far outweigh the negatives. So you see, ratings, cost savings, and now even relevance and political correctness especially since the george floyd killings are the norm these days, with the latter three increasingly important, and some of these 50s 60s oldies songs are wholly inappropriate today for obvious reasons. And i totally agree with lance as well on his comment about the departure of kelly from 104.3 that if theres a business you dont want to be in, it would be in radio and music stations in particular, and if you do, expect to be either working in costco, a tattoo parlour, starbucks, or even having no job at all by choice in your 40s 50s or even sooner. So as much as we love to have an actual oldies station here and not a jack fm wannabe for the most part, we have to say that the general manager and program manager of 104.3 needs to keep things “in market, on topic”. Like, almost nobody in their right mind listens to the smooth jazz program, but when the crtc rule is in place, life is easy. Same with 1410 bloomberg and 1040 comedy which the latter i like. And coop radio has turned mostly into blm/ BIPOC activist/hipster wannabe radio now, and rock 101 today and jack fm and cfox are both like listening to sports talk minus the talking, and the top 40 stations and qmfm even just before the slight name change are like binge watching reality tv, and 104.3 for that matter has turned mostly into that kind except for 7-9 pm nights maybe, something that wasnt the case really mostly when it switched in the first place, and 9-midnight just pillowy artsy fartsy content as i said before. Jr country is even worse. Cknw has no intelligence mostly anymore. Cbc not the same. 730?? Who wants to listen to all traffic reports?? 1040s now the only decent station now, hope it doesnt switch back to sports. So, if things dont change more on radio here for the better, then vancouver radio is officially dead and gone.
And another thing – since CISL went under in 2017, if people want to willingly listen to the radio for music, they may as well just simply go to rogers arena or mcdonalds……
And some breaking news today: kiss has changed slightly to hot ac like z95.3 was. Maybe 104.3 the breeze should have actually changed to “the new 104.3 the breeze”.
Amazing that 104.3 has higher ratings now than before. Especially when the new morning people are voicetracked from halifax. They sound like a poor mans version of jack fm. They dont even announce what songs are playing.
And another thing, even though the cfl season is postponed, the bc lions are looking for broadcasting rights. Maybe 104.3 will change to sports, because while many are saying that theres almost no way that will happen, yet with the duplication of the playlist with other stations among other issues it might just unexpectedly do that despite the stations better ratings, like its ontrack as a result considering it will be mostly u.s. based syndicated programming if that happens. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Some comments —
CKNW will stay on top for a while, as they have no real competition. And in this day of financial constraints, I don’t see anyone else making a huge investment to attract big-name talk-show hosts.
Move 103.5 — funny how people are resistant to branding. Often with good reason, mind you. Z95.3 sells itself as a similar format minus 80’s music, and it’s gone again of 103.5 in the ratings. This, in spite of the fact that Z95 is far more repetitive. The gains of 101.1 and 95.3 show how the perception of local versus name-branded alone draws more loyalty. Other radio stations considering branding and syndication, take note.
104.3 — That’s not hard to figure out. Some of the fallout from The Move/103.5 was bound to come the Breeze’s way. (And 104.3’s music is not like 103.5’s music at all.) Had the Breeze kept Kelly their ratings would have been even higher. They’ll experience a slight decline next ratings period when the full impact of the morning syndication kicks in.
“Funny” 1040 – pretty much as expected. Sad rather than funny.
Nicolas: actually, 104.3s music has still duplicated with 103.5 and even others on the dial for the most partironically. Talk about being “in market, on topic”. They should actually drop the smooth jazz music nights (for its music nobody knows except for hipsters) and extend stacys evening breeze to midnight like in edmonton. If not, then we will have to say this is only a holding move to keep the frequency active while waiting for word from the stingray suits for an official bailout (like it will go off the air overall and be replaced again with kafe fms signal from down south (bellinghams equivilent of qmfm/move) most likely.
They’d love to drop the Smooth Jazz nights, Cam, but they’re not allowed.
I’m aware of what 104.3 plays as well as what other stations play. There’s some duplication, but no one else has music close to what they play. As Don pointed out, they’re not allowed to drop the Smooth Jazz nights due to licensing, and as for going back to Retro – had they done that earlier, they wouldn’t have gained as many of 103.5’s listeners.
Ironically, 103.5 hasn’t changed the format much – although Love Songs was hugely popular – but QMFM had such a long history behind it which in itself created loyalty. 104.3 has actually changed their music even less in the past year, but they’re likely just going to continue doing nothing and capitalize on 103.5’s 25-55 year crowd looking for an alternative to music with too much “MOVE”ment.
104.3 should just drop the licence from the crtc. Smooth jazz as a result will be gone. Actually, z95.3 should have switched over to the breeze in the first place. That way the smooth jazz would never have seen the light of day. Switching back to oldies would mean an even worse idea, like it would be even more like jack fm than ever. Like, the two radio know it alls are running the joint, and also the crtc inmates as well. They sadly want a younger format, not an older one, and they want the station to stick to its indie feel a bit. Again, talk about “in market, on topic”. Sad to say. And 730? They should switch from traffic to oldies like 60s 70s. And since the whitecaps games are now on there, stands to reason they should change to something else, like sports or oldies of that kind.
These 12+ number tell absolutely nothing, so here are the top 5 for adults 25-54:
1) JR (tie)
1) CFOX (tie)
3) Z953 (tie for 3rd)
3) Rock 101
5) MOVE
Females
1) Z953
2) JR
3) Rock 101
4) Virgin
5) MOVE
Males
1) CFOX
2) CKNW
3) JR
4) Rock 101
5) MOVE
Interesting about kellys rundown. Maybe 1410 should change to 60s 70s oldies. Like, i agree with dons comment completely like the stingray suits themselves would love for 104.3 to ditch the smooth jazz format but management of stingray vancouver dont allow them to do so, like, i get it, simone and devon…. starting at 9 pm lets get into indie mode cause while its not good for the station, we wanna keep shore fm alive a bit anyway and were with the crtc on that one; after all its in market, on topic….. were too talented and mainstream for that one!!!!!!
Cam, I don’t think you understand. The ‘smooth jazz’ is a stipulation by the CRTC. They are legally required to air it to meet their license requirements. They wouldn’t play it if they didn’t have to.
Oh, its the crtc mostly. Vancouver management somewhat suprisedly let the offer slide still. Devon and simone both had their eyes wide open on that very subject. They knew all along that the smooth jazz format especially with no dj might be a risk to the station, yet they let that offer stay as is because they knew its a relic when it was more indie from the shore fm days. So i actually now understand. Stingray in toronto had their eyes open more so as well. actually, i have an idea. Maybe the peak should change to 60s 70s oldies. Or breeze fm itself should play more older songs again like when it switched in the first place. And getting back to that licence, that one should be revoked. And, vancouver management doesnt care about listeners – its all about the bottom line and political correctness and relevance and crtc stipulation and if 104.3 wants to pull the plug overall and switch to a completely different format like say, country/bluegrass or hip hop/lo fi or lgbt themed/dub poetry or even south asian with pop/mantras with english advertising in hopes of better ratings if they go down next time, theyll do it in a heartbeat.
Interesting breakdown from Kelly showing 95.3 in first place in the female 25-54 market. That’s a first for as long as I can remember. Until recently when Rock 101 was doing well in that category, QMFM 103.5 was so dominant in that category that it wasn’t even close.
Kid Carson seems to be working for them. The switch to a more top-40 oriented format as opposed to Hot AC format seems to be working for them. Personally, I would much rather have the old Z95.3 minus Kid Carson and with more 90’s and 2000’s music.
But ultimately, it doesn’t matter what one person like myself thinks, it’s about results. And it shows that the owners made the right decision by ditching the oldies station rather than Z95.3, much as though many people didn’t like that decision. The owners made the decision with their eyes wide open, and decided that the smooth jazz requirement was a minor issue for 104.3. I would tend to agree with them — it’s not my choice of music, but it’s a format that has had some success in other markets.
Incidentally, the notion that the over 55 market is meaningless is not entirely correct. Where I work, I see lots of 60 something members paying for memberships for their 20-something children. They do spend money, albeit more carefully. They may or may not be less influenced by advertising. What I do find it that the time versus action for the older generation is different and they tend to be more vocal in their opinions.
That means that the opinions of retired and semi-retired people, while still valid, may not reflect the broader public. People who listen to the radio over 40 hours a week while at work often don’t have time to post or email opinions – kind of like a shopping customer who just switches to another store after a bad experience rather than make a big issue. This is where ratings come in. They measure how people act, not one person’s opinion like myself or anyone else.
No question radio stations in general are less interactive today; results and finances are what matter these days. One would have to think that if anyone makes a format change, it would be The Peak or AM730.
In full agreement pretty much with nicolas. While its true simone has relatively little musical knowledge pre 1980 really (im not saying none) and while today shes on 104.3 and now 96.3 the edmonton version yet not answering the phone giving listeners feedback but rather probably on the jim rome show fansite stucknut listening to classic bits of that show or something else besides that among others that are to the listeners truly bothersome, we have to say she is actually a great broadcaster who knows all her stuff and knows the radio lingo well, so we have to give her credit for that. Like, her positives actually far outweigh the negatives. So you see, ratings, cost savings, and now even relevance and political correctness especially since the george floyd killings are the norm these days, with the latter three increasingly important, and some of these 50s 60s oldies songs are wholly inappropriate today for obvious reasons. And i totally agree with lance as well on his comment about the departure of kelly from 104.3 that if theres a business you dont want to be in, it would be in radio and music stations in particular, and if you do, expect to be either working in costco, a tattoo parlour, starbucks, or even having no job at all by choice in your 40s 50s or even sooner. So as much as we love to have an actual oldies station here and not a jack fm wannabe for the most part, we have to say that the general manager and program manager of 104.3 needs to keep things “in market, on topic”. Like, almost nobody in their right mind listens to the smooth jazz program, but when the crtc rule is in place, life is easy. Same with 1410 bloomberg and 1040 comedy which the latter i like. And coop radio has turned mostly into blm/ BIPOC activist/hipster wannabe radio now, and rock 101 today and jack fm and cfox are both like listening to sports talk minus the talking, and the top 40 stations and qmfm even just before the slight name change are like binge watching reality tv, and 104.3 for that matter has turned mostly into that kind except for 7-9 pm nights maybe, something that wasnt the case really mostly when it switched in the first place, and 9-midnight just pillowy artsy fartsy content as i said before. Jr country is even worse. Cknw has no intelligence mostly anymore. Cbc not the same. 730?? Who wants to listen to all traffic reports?? 1040s now the only decent station now, hope it doesnt switch back to sports. So, if things dont change more on radio here for the better, then vancouver radio is officially dead and gone.
And another thing – since CISL went under in 2017, if people want to willingly listen to the radio for music, they may as well just simply go to rogers arena or mcdonalds……
And some breaking news today: kiss has changed slightly to hot ac like z95.3 was. Maybe 104.3 the breeze should have actually changed to “the new 104.3 the breeze”.