It's Funny 1060, not TSN

[jon]

The 1060 Calgary staff cuts have begun, with some of the on-air folks reporting their departure already through social media.

TSN 1060 won't happen because neither tsn1060.ca nor .com have been registered. Not to mention the fact that another All Sports station in Calgary makes no sense, especially with play-by-play contracts.

funny1060.com/.ca were both registered over a year and a half ago by Astral. I just can't see any other logical alternative for a Bell HQ decision, as this must surely be.

[Aaron]

Yes, it will be "Funny" but I'd bet that's temporary.

The comedy format will stop the bleeding, and give them time to get TSN together.

These sports formats aren't going to be about immediate local ratings; rather national branding. TSN on 1060 is inevitable.

[CKNF]

http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/08/12/la ... hour-jokes

Latest station on Calgary's radio dial replaces country twang with 24-hour jokes
By Damien Wood,Calgary Sun
Monday, August 12, 2013 06:55 PM MDT | Updated: Monday, August 12, 2013 07:10 PM MDT

Come September, Calgary radio station 1060AM will make the jump from yahoos to yuck yucks.

As of the 12th, the radio station will pack in its classic country tunes and re-brand itself as Funny 1060AM, featuring stand-up comedy 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Bell Media Radio Calgary’s brand director Ross MacLeod said the goal is a laugh a minute, as well as some of the familiar content listeners expect from their station of choice.

“In between non-stop laughs, Funny 1060AM will offer live weather and traffic updates to help make the daily commute smooth,” MacLeod said in a news release.

“We are excited to give Calgary something truly unique on the dial.”

Funny 1060AM kicks off with Tracy Morgan (Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock) at the Laugh Shop at Hotel Blackfoot.

The station will showcase stand-up performances by the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, George Carlin, Chris Rock, Louis C.K., Sarah Silverman and Dennis Miller, according to the release.

damien.wood@sunmedia.ca

On Twitter: @SUNDamienWood

[slowhand]

Never having heard any of the existing stations with this Funny brand, I am curious how they'll handle the language not generally heard on AM radio in Canada. Are there special versions of popular comedy cuts available for broadcast much like the cleaned up versions of popular songs?

[groundwave]

The station will showcase stand-up performances by the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen DeGeneres, George Carlin, Chris Rock, Louis C.K., Sarah Silverman and Dennis Miller

Those names suggest an exclusive pool of well-known U.S. talent. However as everyone in this forum knows, the PD will have to periodically intersperse those acts with (considerably lesser-known) domestic talent in order to satisfy existing Can-con obligations. The skill with which this is done could very likely be a major factor in determining the format's success.

By the way, has there been any advance indication of Bell/Astral possibly re-branding Edmonton's "Team 1260" under the TSN moniker?

[45 RPM]

Can-Con required on a spoken word format? Are you sure?

Time to dig out some old Rich Little stuff.

[hagopian]

The shocking lack of recorded funny material that doesn't include the "F" word every 15 seconds, will limit this format to about a two day repeat factor! Then add the stand up 'live' material....yawn.

This is another lame idea.

I mean, come on.

How about all Polka?

How about just the sound of someone snoring?

[Mike Cleaver]

There is no CRAPCON requirement, other than for music.
Let's not open that old can of worms which was widely debated when CRAPCON first reared its ugly head and there were suggestions that anyone speaking on air should be Canadian.

[pave]

Here in The Big Smoke, a Bell station in Hamilton (CHAM) is branded as "Funny 820".

The material is, of course, edited beyond recognition.

After all, contemporary stand-up includes the admonition: "No 'F**k' - No funny".

Here is but another example of corporate broadcast slugs being so completely without imagination or skills, they won't even dare to go up against somebody else on their own declared turf. Never mind coming up with a new approach.

Desperation and lazy programming. Corporate, sludge-DNA is oozing out of all of this. Internal investigations will be ignoring such evidence, anyway - something about self-incrimination.

And oh, by the way, "Thanks for your years of service but we are going in another direction - into the light - and you aren't making the journey." (read: Heaven's Gate and Hale Bopp comet.)
This is boorish, classless and bush-league behaviour.

1060 - programmed properly - could have owned the joint. It is, after all, a 50,000-watt blowtorch. The signal - compressed? Well, that knocks down walls and dislodges dashboards, teeth and diaphragms.

I know exactly what I would have done with it - and made a lot of friends in the process.
And, oh yeah, a ton of cash for the principals.

[CKNF]

1060 - programmed properly - could have owned the joint. It is, after all, a 50,000-watt blowtorch. The signal - compressed? Well, that knocks down walls and dislodges dashboards, teeth and diaphragms.

I know exactly what I would have done with it - and made a lot of friends in the process.
And, oh yeah, a ton of cash for the principals.

Hear, hear!

I guess one can look for the silver lining in this with the fact that at least this format change is something different for Calgary. There's a lot of great comedic talent in this city (if they so choose to use some of that material) and there is a reasonable chance that this could work if the effort is put into it...and I guess that's where the hope starts to wear a bit thin.

However, I still don't feel the format has much overall stamina at all. I can see it getting tired very quickly. I guess it all depends on how well the content is programmed. This is the kind of format you wouldn't want a lot of repetition with so the pool needs to be large. I love a good chuckle as I am a fan of comedy, however, even I can see myself getting fatigued with an All Comedy format.

I think Aaron is right with his earlier post. This could very well just be a stop-gap to an inevitable TSN flip down the road.

This format change also marks the end of music, not only on 1060, but on AM radio altogether in the Calgary market (910 and 1140 are not technically Calgary stations). One thing is for sure though, this is the most interesting thing to come to 1060 in many years.

[jon]

New comedy format for Calgary’s classic country radio station
Ryan White, CTV Calgary
Published Tuesday, August 13, 2013 11:58AM MDT



Country fans may receive an unexpected surprise on the morning of Thursday, September 12, when AM 1060 replaces its playlist of George Straight, Willie Nelson and Anne Murray classics with ‘an all-comedy, all-the-time’ format.

The station will debut with a bang, as Tracy Morgan, star of 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live, will take to the air as part of Funny 1060AM’s first weekend. In addition to his Funny 1060AM appearance, Morgan has scheduled several performances at The Laugh Shop in Calgary from September 12 – 14.

Funny 1060AM will feature recordings from some of the biggest names in stand-up comedy including Louis C.K., Bill Hicks, Chris Rock, Dave Chapelle, Jerry Seinfeld, George Carlin, Ellen DeGeneres and Sarah Silverman.

“Our goal is to deliver a laugh a minute, and we’ll be able to do this every minute of every day!,” says Ross MacLeod, Brand Director, Bell Media Radio Calgary. “In between non-stop laughs, Funny 1060AM will offer live weather and traffic updates to help make the daily commute smooth for our listeners. We are excited to give Calgary something truly unique on the dial, and look forward to becoming Calgary’s go-to station for the best stand-up performances from around the world.”

“Hell, we might just become Calgary’s second favourite radio station.”

Bell Media is the parent company of both CTV Calgary and Bell Media Radio Calgary.

[pave]

I wonder if anybody has video of Ross saying those actual words... while slugging back the Kool-Aid.
This is a "listen-for-ten-minutes-every-so-often" format.
I tried CHAM for a few days. But then, the repetition started kicking in. I tired of the edited, shorty clips and the laff-tracks and, well... yeah, yeah - whatever.
Between that, the phusterclucking of the spots and the ingratiating promos... I got toasted to a crisp and was launched out.