Back in 2001, CFRW became the Team sports radio station. The format lasted only a year before the station went back to oldies. The ratings were even more dismal than before their conversion to sports.
CFRW is now the only oldies radio station but has lingered near the bottom for years on the AM dial. The AM dial is now mostly talk.
Sports radio has been a successful formula in other cities. Toronto fans tune into their sports radio station is respectable numbers. The thing is that sports radio seems to succeed in cities with major league teams, specifically hockey when it comes to Canada.
CJOB remains firmly in control on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Manitoba Moose games in radio. CFRW has the Winnipeg Goldeyes. Unless CFRW is going to outbid CJOB for the rights to those games, they will be shut out of local coverage.
It would appear that CJOB knows that sports really helps their ratings. They have increased their sports talk shows with Hustler and Lawless which is a far ranging sports talk show hosted live in a Winnipeg sports bar.
The TEAM radio station that Winnipeg hosted was very much about syndicated sports talk shows like the Jim Rome Show. While that show was quite good, it was not a local program nor was it a live program hosted in the city.
It will be interesting to see if the re-emergence of sports radio will differ from what we saw in the past in Winnipeg. It may be that that CFRW is anticipating the come back of NHL to Winnipeg and if this is the case, it will be a real dogfight for broadcast rights. The station might be trying to get his sports chops in gear early.
Is it a coincidence that the MTS Centre is expanding their press box?
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