Can Don Percy be far behind?
It has been noted that Curve 94 radio station in Winnipeg which recently fired almost all its staff and began Christmas early with seasonal music is looking to change to an oldies format in the new year.
The name of the station will be FAB 94.3.
The one time superstar of pop music in Winnipeg has been in freefall for the last years.
This all reminds me of the various changes BOB FM tried in the years before it selected its present format.
The radio dial is crowded in Winnipeg and there is new competition from satellite radio and Ipods as well as onboard computers that will play your pre-selected favourites.
Perhaps the biggest competition for radio in recent years has been cell phone use. While the hand held devices are now banned, many people have switched to Bluetooth headsets and talk on those rather than listen to radio.
The one market that might still listen to free radio over the airwaves is the older audience. However, is this the audience that 94 wants to reach out to? Expect to hear a lot of commercials for audiologists and denture wearers.
And perhaps the growl of Don Percy will be there to tell those that killed the old oldies station: Told ya so.
With the mix of classic rock stations, nostalgia and oldies stations, it seems that only campus stations and HOT 103 are left to cater to younger listeners. What a sea change from 25 years ago...
ReplyDeleteOh, good,. Manitoba needs more adult contemporary stations ;)
ReplyDeleteI really miss Curve. Between that and KICK they were all that I listened to.
With 94 gone and TGTCS gone I was hoping that KICK would play more music or 'music and talk' shows like Beer for Breakfast or The Beat.
They seem to feel that, or maybe it's part of their licence that, they need to repeat talk shows over and over to fill that 35 hours that TGTCS use to fill.
More music, KICK ! You're the only game in town !
I liked the Curve format occasionally, but we definitely don't need more oldies stations in Winnipeg I can say that for a fact. Frankly I think we need more talk radio/current affairs on the FM dial. If I wanted music, I can just play some mp3's. My favourite music stations are the ones that mix the music they play with interesting commentary. 92 does this occasionally.
ReplyDeleteI'll agree that we need a public affairs radio station.
ReplyDeleteThink we have a few too many Christmas radio station at the moment. Grr