Just when CBC here has already alienated many...

[SKradiophile]

Just when CBC here had already alienated many by making news from the province's largest city by far a low priority,now the mothercorp is going to (symbolically) start peeing in the water by adding a new Saskatoon-based morning radio show on their FM station.

The long running Morning Edition on the mighty 540 AM by most counts has solid, long standing audience numbers the privates already envy so TIIC have decided to anger many listeners by carving up the audience.As we know, listener behavior and loyalty to morning shows is akin to strict adherence to a religious movement but CBC's brain-damaged trust has chosen to defy that.

By the way, the FM signal for CBC Radio One in Saskatoon is distributed in such a strange way the low power Christian station can be found instantly while it seems rare atmospheric conditions seem to be needed to find CBC's equivalent.

To recap, the executives at Canada's national broadcaster have decided to begin a show here to compete with a decades-long roaring success using a signal that's less accessible in many ways than AM stations from Minneapolis or Chicago.

Is there poisoned Kool-Aid at CBC headquarters?!

[albertaboy4life]

Or is it the first step in a longer range plan to decommission 540 AM?

[jon]

Or is it the first step in a longer range plan to decommission 540 AM?

Now, there's a license to fight over, should it ever been abandoned by the CBC. Best ground wave available, non-directional 24/7, and virtually no interference.

When I first came to visit Edmonton, in the summer of 1967, CBK had a signal at high noon that rivaled semi-local CFCW for strength on the car radio. At a distance of about 600 km, as the crow flies.

[drmusic]

I'm confused. In the same post you criticize CBC for giving Saskatoon short shrift then attack the Corp for trying to rectify it with a dedicated Saskatoon morning show and website (while Regina gets no such thing). And whatever listeners the Morning Edition has now will still be able to tune in on 540. So what's the beef?

[former tv guy]

Aside from abandoning 540 not being any part of the original post/discussion/point, I have to agree with dr. Music in that I don't understand where the original poster is coming from. I thought it was just me when I first looked at it a couple of hours ago. The CBC is starting morning shows in mid sized communities across the country. How can this be a bad thing for Saskatoon?

[Dan Sys]

A couple years back I read that the CBC had no plans at all to shut 540 down (or 740 Edmonton, 990 Winnipeg, 1010 Calgary). In fact they just pumped a ton of money into a new transmitter site for 1010. I think 540 will be around for quite awhile yet.

[drmusic]

I used to wonder if CBC would ever staff up to the point where it could restore separate TV newscasts for Saskatoon and Regina. I bet they could do it these days; they seem to have the people and infrastructure.

Oh, except they turned in the license for CBKST. Sigh.

[SKradiophile]

In my haste to post the story about the CBC Saskatoon business, my intent was to be more specific. Here it is:
CBC chose not to invest in the digital tv broadcast signal for Sasktoon residents. Now those people who still watched tv here in the old analog days via rabbit ears were few but mothercorp announced without apology that any CBC tv programming here once the national/local analog signal was gone would not be through a digital over the air signal, rather through cable/satellite, etc... This was a statement consistent with CBC here having a very small local staff while Sasktoon's population is growing almost at breakneck speed.
What does CBC's attitude say about any interest in expanding its tv audience here? Now the network has moved away from its prime downtown location but at least, its storefront was viewed by thousands of pedestrians each day with some daily exposure to its logo and name.
The mothercorp instead has placed its future Sasktoon presence on a difficult to find FM radio signal featuring a new morning show team to compete against the ratings giant Morning Edition in the same time slot.
So there's now minimal visability for the CBC logo on a day to day basis, an almost miniscule local news team and a soon to be launched radio morning show which will be battling against a massively popular and entrenched show.
I keep thinking of those Coca Cola bosses in the mid 80s who dreamed up the New Coke.

[drmusic]

I would like to see some numbers to back up your claims about the Morning Edition's supposedly massive audience.

[SKradiophile]

The last time I saw those ratings was on another website from someone connected to the media here. The numbers indicatedCJWW here was #1 overall in all time slots, but that CBC Radio One was a solid #2 in the morning. By the way, seeing audience ratings here outside of the business is about the same as finding out the ingredients of Coke.

[drmusic]

Your numbers may be extended market. Central market, the big FMs lead the way, followed by CJWW and CKOM. CBC is near the bottom.