Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

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Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby jon » Wed Oct 04, 2017 4:25 pm

Moving day approaches
Jon Manchester - Sep 27, 2017 / 12:14 pm
castanet.net

Moving day is fast approaching for staff at Castanet as crews feverishly work to complete construction and install equipment at our new downtown Kelowna studio.

Ground was broken last September on the 400 block of Lawrence Avenue, and a state-of-the-art, three-storey media centre is in the final finishing stages, built by Kelowna's Worman Homes.

Staff are packing boxes in anticipation of the move, which should be about a week away.

The new facility will provide expanded studio space for news video production and will also bring radio into Castanet's fold.

This fall, we will go on the air out of the same newsroom with Okanagan Oldies 103.9 FM, after the acquisition of Kelowna radio station The Juice FM.

It will be rebranded with news and a classic music format tailored to the Okanagan's audience. The radio station will go on air later this fall.

There will also be expanded meeting space, the latest in video and radio technology, and a rooftop patio that will host news as well as client and business events.

"We ... often hear that people feel that Castanet is their website, that they take ownership and pride in it – and we feel terrific about that," Castanet founder Nick Frost said earlier during the construction. "It's about the community – that's the biggest reason we're building new facilities, so we are even more accessible."
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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby the-real-deal » Thu Oct 05, 2017 5:29 pm

It appears that Nick Frost has more money than brains...

Why he re-entered the Kelowna radio business at all, is anyone's guess.

Only last year, he bragged on the other website that he bills "3 million a year" with his Castanet news portal.

Well, I guess that 3 million bucks gross profit a year (if that is actually true) is not enough for Mr. "Early Frost."

The oldies format was already tried in the Kelowna market (Oldies 1150) and Standard Radio (I believe) pulled the plug on it.

The only explanation for this, is that the oldies format is a trojan horse manoever, with the actual sharing of Castanet news and information not far away. What that means is that everyone at Castanet will have to do twice the work for the same pay. What other card can he play, other than having the most expensive radio rate card, imaginable. He can't highball his rate card like the good ole days (Silk FM) and he can't low ball his card like Juice FM did, or else, people will quit, en masse. As always, time will tell.
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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby jon » Fri Oct 06, 2017 6:14 pm

CRTC decision on the purchase will be announced next week.
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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby sparky » Fri Oct 06, 2017 6:49 pm

the-real-deal wrote:It appears that Nick Frost has more money than brains...

Why he re-entered the Kelowna radio business at all, is anyone's guess.

Only last year, he bragged on the other website that he bills "3 million a year" with his Castanet news portal.

Well, I guess that 3 million bucks gross profit a year (if that is actually true) is not enough for Mr. "Early Frost."

The oldies format was already tried in the Kelowna market (Oldies 1150) and Standard Radio (I believe) pulled the plug on it.

The only explanation for this, is that the oldies format is a trojan horse manoever, with the actual sharing of Castanet news and information not far away. What that means is that everyone at Castanet will have to do twice the work for the same pay. What other card can he play, other than having the most expensive radio rate card, imaginable. He can't highball his rate card like the good ole days (Silk FM) and he can't low ball his card like Juice FM did, or else, people will quit, en masse. As always, time will tell.


I'd think Oldies would work well for a mature audience that also likes news and information. That's the no brainer.

The Oldies format on 1150 was many years ago. Compared to what's on the dial in Kelowna now, it will be welcome.

Looking forward to next week's CRTC decision.
"You get a bunch of clowns together and sooner or later you've got a circus"
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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby jon » Fri Oct 06, 2017 8:11 pm

Lots of possibilities with a branding of "Oldies", as opposed to sticking to a strict definition. Even something as simple as taking the same music format used by CHNL-610 Kamloops late evenings and overnight, which sounds very good, to my ear, on the frequent nights when they are heard in Edmonton.

Given Nick's background, I would be more inclined to think he might mix 1980s Adult Contemporary with pre-Disco Top 40 hits leaning towards the lighter side.

Of course, a lot depends on what other stations in Kelowna are doing now.
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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby Burning ears » Sat Oct 07, 2017 7:28 am

If you are "the real deal" then understand and use the "real" facts. Any business person might suggest to you that 3 million in 'billings' usually means sales/revenue. They would also tell you that 3 million in billings or sales is not gross profit! Geeez.
So if you are gonna slag the guy at least get the numbers right before you put in your 2 cents of billings in.
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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby the-real-deal » Sat Oct 07, 2017 7:18 pm

Burning ears wrote:If you are "the real deal" then understand and use the "real" facts. Any business person might suggest to you that 3 million in 'billings' usually means sales/revenue. They would also tell you that 3 million in billings or sales is not gross profit! Geeez.
So if you are gonna slag the guy at least get the numbers right before you put in your 2 cents of billings in.


Burning Ears: It's good that you are a puppet for Nicholas Frost. I am not. Nick is an impressive businessman, regardless of what happens next. For example, the capital gain that he pulled on the sale of the former Silk-FM was impressive. Everyone acknowledges that.

The point of my last post is that, three million dollars in gross sales (obviously, NOT gross profits) is perhaps the best that can be done in a saturated market like Kelowna with so many commercial radio and tv stations, four print and online newspapers, three on line news portals, plus the local CBC.

In the commercial world of sales, they teach that the world is a bottomless pit of money, waiting to be grabbed. The reality is that all media business has a silver lining and the media pie keeps getting more and more fragmented by the day here in Kelowna.

If you (and others) think that you are such a hot shot at media sales, why don't you go and make a few sales calls and see how easy it is ?

My sales career here in the Okanagan is second to none. Two million dollars in gross sales with three different businesses. And, what have you done, lately?
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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby Burning ears » Sun Oct 08, 2017 7:47 am

A tad sensitive are we? I wouldn't know Frost if I found him in my soup. I was merely pointing out a GROSS error in your rant.
You have acknowledged it so now we can all move on.....shall we. Ciao.
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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby the-real-deal » Sun Oct 08, 2017 8:51 am

Burning ears wrote:A tad sensitive are we? I wouldn't know Frost if I found him in my soup. I was merely pointing out a GROSS error in your rant.
You have acknowledged it so now we can all move on.....shall we. Ciao.


Obviously, you're a couch potato, internet bigshot, radio wannabe, all shit and no power. Good luck with your hollow victory ! LOL
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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby the-real-deal » Sun Oct 08, 2017 9:54 am

sparky wrote:
I'd think Oldies would work well for a mature audience that also likes news and information. That's the no brainer.

The Oldies format on 1150 was many years ago. Compared to what's on the dial in Kelowna now, it will be welcome.

Looking forward to next week's CRTC decision.


Who says that Kelowna is a "mature" audience or even an "oldies" audience. Is that your personal opinion, or is your statement based on market research and actual vetting of the community. The better broadcasters in this town, like Walter Gray, do do their research, first, and thus, yield solid results. However, for a fire sale buy (the Juice apparently sold for under 700 grand), perhaps Frost can afford to "eat" a little money in the first few years, since he paid didley squat for it ? The other advantage for him is that the more profitable Castanet can act as a life jacket or life preserver of sorts to the Oldies station, if the Oldies format stalls, sales wise.

That's not good news for you, the competition, as Frost has deep pockets and wont go away, anytime soon.

It would be a delicious irony if the Pattison owned Q101.3 also flipped to Oldies, then, those two could slug it out for the fickle oldies audience that Kelowna is, instead of the younger demographic chased by at least five local stations.
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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby jon » Sun Oct 08, 2017 11:31 am

I suspect that this station is going to be all about News and Information, with the music just intended for background ambience, much like CKNW was from original signon in 1944 until the dominance of Talk Shows began seriously pushing music out completely.

I think Nick and Castanet are looking for head to head competition with CBC Radio One's Kelowna station with its 19.3 SHARE in the last Numeris ratings, for the period February 27, 2017 - April 23, 2017. Bell's CKFR-1150 can be safely ignored with its 6.3 SHARE, half its number from just two years earlier.

Radio One's Achilles Heel, especially during the daytime, is its large blocks of CBC national programming. Counter-programming local News and Information during some of that daytime CBC programming could produce a ratings winner over time.
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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby Doug » Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:50 pm

the-real-deal wrote:It appears that Nick Frost has more money than brains...

Why he re-entered the Kelowna radio business at all, is anyone's guess.

Only last year, he bragged on the other website that he bills "3 million a year" with his Castanet news portal.

Well, I guess that 3 million bucks gross profit a year (if that is actually true) is not enough for Mr. "Early Frost."

The oldies format was already tried in the Kelowna market (Oldies 1150) and Standard Radio (I believe) pulled the plug on it.

The only explanation for this, is that the oldies format is a trojan horse manoever, with the actual sharing of Castanet news and information not far away. What that means is that everyone at Castanet will have to do twice the work for the same pay. What other card can he play, other than having the most expensive radio rate card, imaginable. He can't highball his rate card like the good ole days (Silk FM) and he can't low ball his card like Juice FM did, or else, people will quit, en masse. As always, time will tell.


*applause* Sooo well said! I couldn't agree with you more...I think you're right about it being a "back door" way to launch an all news & information format local station and force AM1150 either off the air or at least into an all sports format station (though that's unlikely if Castanet FM secures WHL Rockets and/or BCHL Warriors broadcasts). :)

I was opposed to this purchase. Castanet is dominating local media with their bad journalism, tainted ethics (their forums and comments section don't allow critical commentary of locally-based businesses for fear of upsetting current or potential advertisers). I try and read INFOnews.ca and Kelowna Capital News whenever I can. :)

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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby Doug » Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:55 pm

jon wrote:I suspect that this station is going to be all about News and Information, with the music just intended for background ambience, much like CKNW was from original signon in 1944 until the dominance of Talk Shows began seriously pushing music out completely.

I think Nick and Castanet are looking for head to head competition with CBC Radio One's Kelowna station with its 19.3 SHARE in the last Numeris ratings, for the period February 27, 2017 - April 23, 2017. Bell's CKFR-1150 can be safely ignored with its 6.3 SHARE, half its number from just two years earlier.

Radio One's Achilles Heel, especially during the daytime, is its large blocks of CBC national programming. Counter-programming local News and Information during some of that daytime CBC programming could produce a ratings winner over time.


Agree with you also 100%, but that said, I don't like a Castanet FM move. It'll produce even more local news dominance and influence within one organization. CRTC should've stipulated that any news & information content should've been curated from a variety of local & national digital and print resources, including Castanet's local digital competitors INFOnews.ca and KelownaNow. :)

Ever tried to read a Castanet news story? Ignoring the grammatical errors completely, it's some degree of factually inaccurate about 70% of the time, based on my analysis over the past couple of years. Try and report a "factual inaccuracy" and rarely is it fixed; they're more concerned with people reporting...get this...spelling mistakes! :(

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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby jon » Wed Oct 11, 2017 12:41 pm

jon wrote:CRTC decision on the purchase will be announced next week.

Approval was released this morning: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2017/2017-358.htm
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Re: Okanagan Oldies 103.9 - Castanet is on the Move

Postby Doug » Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:55 am

Ryan Watters is leaving his quasi-cooshy gig at Downtown Kelowna Association and returning to radio as afternoon jock & PD of Oldies 103.9. Gord Vizzutti jumping to host morning show which, presumably, will be the main news/talk programming. Kevin Rothwell is also returning to radio as a news personality & weekend host. No announcement as to who the midday host. Some commenters on the article are hoping current morning show host "Jerhett" will be retained, so perhaps he could slot in there?

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/2 ... -on-Oldies

I won't miss Lou or Jo2 but hopefully Castanet can retain them as fill-in weekend hosts and on-site promotions director(s). That said, I doubt I'll be tuning in because, well, it's owned by Nick Frost and is associated closely with biased, monopolistic pseudo-journalism outfit Castanet. :(

Also, I bet they had to offer Mr. Watters an attractive salary & benefits package to get him to ditch the DKA, which is often a "proving ground" for a municipal bureaucrat job.

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