1050 Chum going all sports -again.

[Mike Cleaver]

CTV today has confirmed the long running rumour that 1050 CHUM will become TSN Sports Radio.
Ironically, this comes on the day of the death being reported of one of CHUM's greatest sportscasters, Dave Wright.
Dave died in the Maritimes where he spent most of his career at the age of 82, after a long battle with cancer.
He was both a news and sports personality and spent several years in Boston doing television news there.
But he loved the Maritimes the best.
We had a lot of laughs during his days at 1050 and often kidded him about "The Dave Wright Book of Sports Cliches."
He had more of them than anyone else I ever heard.
Dave also didn't take sports super seriously, acknowledging along with Brian Henderson, that it was "the toy department of life."
My condolences to his friends and family.
As for another all-sports station in Toronto, good luck with that.
Rogers and Bell banging heads for sports supremacy?
It'll be a case of which runs out of money or patience first.

[Aaron]

Mike Cleaver doesn't like Sports Radio!
Mike Cleaver can't see this post because he's a coward who can't handle opposing views!
Mike Cleaver doesn't know that Sports radio is one of the most future-firendly radio formats!
Mike Cleaver doesn't know that 1050 *will* have the Leafs and Bob McCowan by 2012.

[Paul P]

Wow!
I think I can retire!

[Mike Cleaver]

Aaron: Have you ever worked in a radio station?
Have you ever worked in an all sports radio station?
Have you ever had a look at the financials as they relate to an all sports station?
I have.
Unless you run syndicated and/or bartered programming, the costs are huge.
You need staff to put on the programs and staff, compared to computers and satellite feeds, cost money.
You need to pay megabucks to get the franchise to broadcast local big league games.
The Team cost CHUM millions and millions of dollars for absolutely no return.
Now, Rogers and Bhell have started an all out radio war for sports broadcasting supremacy.
Look at the ratings for sports radio stations.
Rumours have Rogers planning an all sports station for Vancouver.
We already have the Team and whatever they're calling the old CFUN 1410 frequency.
Sports is all over tv.
It's available on smart phones and the net.
There are a lot of places to put money for a good return on investment.
Being the only one in your market is a better bet for success.
But for the dwindling radio market, two competing (or possibly three) sports radio stations just aren't viable.

[Roger Pedacter]

I agree to a degree with Mike on this one.

If you have the lone sports radio station(s) in the market, you can do just fine. I believe Team1040 and it's brother station are doing quite well, in fact, in Vancouver.

But TSN hoping to knock out an established Fan590, or Sportsnet taking on 1040 in Vancouver seems like a tough go.

That being said, as someone wrote earlier, if TSN radio in Toronto can grab McCown, or if a new Sportsnet station in Vancouver gets the Canucks and also pays big bucks to get the entire Pratt and Taylor show....well that's a pretty good way to kill the old, established station and give yours a major kickstart, isn't it?

[freqfreak2]

Can't say I know much about how sports radio fares in most markets, but the case in Edmonton seems pretty cut and dried.

One station has Oilers and Eskimos broadcast rights while another one other doesn't. One station is a market leader while the other is a niche market wannabe.

One station is well known while the other is Astral's Team 1260.

Seems if you got no play-by-play, the station won't pay its own way. I'm just sayin ...

[pave]

Mike could be the canary in my mine... anytime.

The air needs to be tested along with the drinking water wherever the discussions about 1050 CHUM going all-sprats are being held. Plus, here in The Hog, any allusions to the city being overrun by, Argo, Raptors, Jays and particularly Leafs-fans are about as wildly over-estimated as are the diocese's claims for bums in the pews.

CHUM still has a legacy that can be exploited for many years yet - OLDIES.

If produced with a contemporary audience in mind, that is: produced for people who have actually grown up since, even though they were kids when the tunes were Hits, an 8-share and the sacks o' dough that come with are more than available.

Reinvigorate and re-train some folks who can relate to that target: encourage them to perform and any investment in Talent would be paltry compared to returns.

Satirizations of the old format would also be enjoyable.

CHUM is not a religion. But it is a great Brand.

(The Big 8 was a religion - for some. )

[WheresFredTaylor]

Team stations in Vancouver are actually doing quite poorly. They wrote a blank cheque for the Canucks a few years ago and their return wasn't what they expected. They pay a huge dollar for Jim Rome and Dan Patrick and for the past 8 months have really tightened up financially. Which is why I am assuming you hear people like that Keith guy doing updates.

ANd 1410 is even behind the all traffic station in Vancouver, so their ratings are poor.

[johnsykes]

I would suggest the reason why Team isn't getting the numbers for Canucks broadcasts is, every Canucks game is on TV and with all these wild and crazy cell phones, people can watch the game too. Why listen to the radio when you can see what's going on.

Radio doesn't grab audiences like they used to when only a select few games were telecast. If you are as old as I am, you may recall early Canadiens or Maple Leafs games Saturday night were joined in progress halfway through the second period. It was then just about the game of the week....radio got the rest.

When the Canucks got into the NHL, gentle Jim Robson, Al Davidson etc had a great audience for radio, again, because so few games were televised.