Canadian Media
Total 255 Posts
Surprise! Gord Martineau signed off as anchor of the six o’clock news for the last time today. There was no goodbye, no farewell tour, he signed off as normal and a press release was issued by Rogers. From the press release: Martineau began his career with City back in
There are a number of changes in Toronto's radio market, so let's run them down here. We'll start with the announcement that came as no surprise. Darren B. Lamb, who recently left Roger Ashby and Marilyn Dennis at CHUM FM, replaces Mike Cooper as Erin Davis's co-host during CHFI 98.
Rogers Media said they were cutting 200 jobs this quarter. They started last week, promising to finish as soon as possible, and today they delivered pink slips to two popular Fan 590 personalities. Gone are Greg Brady from Brady & Walker and longtime utility host Jeff Sammut. It looks like
I tweeted this news yesterday, but only a handful seemed to notice. So it's time to kick it old school with a blog entry. Sources tell me Bill Carroll's last day at @am640 is Friday. He's taking another gig, but not in Toronto. #radio— Toronto Mike (@torontomike) February 2, 2016Bill
I used to read Chris Zelkovich's column in the Star. The Toronto Star decided to eliminate the media critic role, and Zelkovich was cut. He now writes for Yahoo! (the exclamation mark is necessary) and just published an article about hockey ratings woes at Rogers. As he puts it, "the
I used to listen to Mike Cooper on 680 CFTR. I'm too young to remember the heydays of CHUM. Legend has it the man rode a ferris wheel at the CNE for 21 days. This past decade, Coop has co-hosted with Erin Davis, first at EZ Rock and then at
CHCH TV has cancelled tonight's newscast. "The fear is the station is shutting down or being dramatically reduced." This is awful news for CHCH employees, which includes two-time Toronto Mike'd guest Mark Hebscher, but it's also sad news for those of us who grew up tuning in channel 11. I
The recent bad news from Bell Media likely had you wondering which stations they own in Toronto. You're forgiven if you're not up to speed with who owns what in Toronto. Here's a handy chart I just put together which I believe includes the vast majority of companies that own
We're learning now who has been cut as part of Bell Media's restructuring. The vast majority of those let go were behind the scenes, but I'm going to focus on those in front of the microphone and/or camera, known to those tuning in from Toronto. I'll update this entry
About five-and-a-half years ago, Ann Rohmer left her job at CP24 for a position in the aviation industry. Then, mere months later, Ann returned as if she had never left in the first place. I spoke to Steve Anthony about this in episode 123 of my podcast as he tried
I'm going to preface this entry by saying there's no smoking gun here. Everything you read is pure speculation on my part, based solely on observations I've made as a fan of sports and sports radio. In 2002, Rogers Media, a division of Rogers Communications, purchased CJCL, better known as
Most listened to stations in Toronto, as per recent radio ratings (% Share of Hours Tuned): 1. CHFI 2. CHUM-FM 3. Boom 4. CBC Radio One— Toronto Mike (@torontomike) September 12, 2015Most listened to AM stations in Toronto (% Share of Hours Tuned): 1. News Talk 1010 2. 680 News T3. The
Other than the news on CBC, I can't remember the last time I watched TV on a station other than Sportsnet. Every day around this time, if I'm home and available, I turn on Sportsnet for the Jays game. Almost every ad I consume is on Sportsnet. That awful Harper
Back in January 2013, Humble and Fred signed on to have their daily podcast aired on Newstalk 1010. The Humble and Fred show started airing weekdays at midnight where it stayed through last week. Here's how the early morning lineup looked last week on Newstalk 1010. Newstalk 1010 has cancelled
Demographics are everything to a station. Performances in a targeted demo determine a station's revenue generation potential. Dave Shoalts writes in today's Globe and Mail about Dean Blundell's rating improvement in The Fan's targeted demo of men aged 18-34. I have it on good authority that The Fan is actually
Toronto radio ratings came out yesterday, and I was interested in what effect recent changes at The Fan 590 and Virgin 999 have had. The Fan 590 recently moved Brady and Walker to 1pm and brought in long-time Edge 102 morning man Dean Blundell to host their morning show. Virgin
Reporter Amber Gero was let go by Newstalk 1010 last summer. She, along with morning anchor Evelyn Macko and Queen’s Park reporter Katie Franzios, were dismissed due to what Bell Media calls "synergies". Gero had spent 14 years at Newstalk 1010, and now she's letting loose on Twitter about
I'm very sorry to learn Jay "Maddog" Michaels has been let go from Virgin Radio 99.9 FM. He had been there since August 2006. Former partner Bilie Holiday was let go back in 2011. If you haven't yet heard Maddog on episode 92 of my podcast, give it a
He was the longtime Toronto radio personality best known for his seven years at CFNY from 1985 to 1992 and his many years as Dr. Trance, Godfather of the Toronto rave scene. I was hoping to have Don Berns on my podcast, and when he came in, I was going
Alison Gordon covered the Blue Jays’ beat for the Toronto Star from 1979 to 1984. At the time, women sportswriters were so rare that her membership card in the Baseball Writers Association of America identified her as Mr. Alison Gordon. They literally couldn't produce a card that was gender-neutral or
A whole bunch of Spirit of Radio Sunday fans only learned their favourite show on 102.1 was cancelled when they tuned in yesterday and couldn't find it. Checking this site's referral log, the sequence of events typically went like this for an SRS listener: tunes in 102.1 expecting
Launched last February, Spirit of Radio Sunday on 102.1 the Edge, hosted by Scot Turner, was mighty popular in my circle. Scot and I spoke a great deal about the concept in episode 102 of my podcast. Essentially, the show was an homage to the legacy of CFNY, playing
On the heels of hiring Dean Blundell as their new morning man, The Fan 590 is looking for a few more good men or women Well, at least two. There are at least two job openings at The Fan 590 for on-air positions. MORNING SPORTSCASTERJob posting Sportsnet 590 The FAN
A tip of the hat to TSM for some solid sleuth work today. It seems Dean Blundell is returning to mornings on Toronto radio, becoming the new morning man at The Fan 590. Greg Brady (hear him on episode 76 of my podcast) will move to 1-4pm as Tim and
Have you noticed how little attention radio gets from the mainstream media? Newspapers seem to all but ignore the format now. I never understand this, because from my vantage point, Torontonians still listen to an awful lot of terrestrial radio. The lack of MSM interest in radio is why I
