MEDIA COLUMN

OK, it’s been a little more than a month and for an ‘information gatherer’ (that sounds a lot better than news junkie) I was one of many who welcomed the arrival of a real news/talk/sports radio station, News 95.7 .

There may be others out there in radioland, some who do have the radio on, in their homes and offices, glued to one station for most of the time but I’m sure I rank as one of the top ‘radio consumers’ in this area and in particular to stations that have news, sports, and talk programming.

I enjoy the medium when it is well used and have lamented over the drop of ‘service’ not only in news and sports but in so many other areas such as getting a current temperature reading and an evening newscast (other than the Broadcast News hourly reports on CJCH).   You get the regurgitated weather report but that’s been on tape for hours.  In fact one of the few ways these days of knowing if someone is either ‘live’ or ‘on tape’, or whatever digital software they are using is by the temperature reading.

Last week one of the stations obviously forgot to ‘change the weather recording tape’ because when I was on the road at 5:15 am the weather lady said: “the weather forecast for this Remembrance Day is….”  Umm, Remembrance Day was the day before.  I know blame the computers not the humans who run them.

If you get the ‘current temp is’ it means your announcer is live. If not, it is tape.

Radio used to be (15-25 years ago) local and immediate.  The operative term here is ‘used to be’.

But over the years this radio medium once fresh and vibrant has gone downhill faster than Nortel and Bre-x stock.

Many stations will tell us that they were ‘on guard during Juan or White Juan’ but the fact is if anything happens on the weekend you can forget it. I tried to get a news update on a Saturday afternoon a few weeks ago and all the radio newsrooms gave me is a recording. No live humanoid present.

Then comes News 95.7 and I for one say, finally, some modicum of news consistency.  No, it’s not anywhere near what the ‘good old days’ were but it is a lot better than what we’ve had for the past 15 years.

By the way, my definition of the ‘good old days’ is when radio had an evening newsman on duty usually from 6-till-midnight.  I worked with a few of these guys, and in addition to doing the ‘news on the hour’ beat their greatest contribution was to have ‘material for the morning’.  Those were the days when radio stations actually had a competitive bone in them and ‘broke stories’.

I worked with a guy called Scott Evans (CHNS) who ended up in Ottawa on Parliament Hill and last I heard he was in Saskatoon and he had to be the best digger that I have ever seen. When Clive Schaffer and Don Connolly (now at CBC) came into the newsroom the next morning for their shift they had five-six-seven clips and stories for the morning run.  That is the good old days as I remember them.  But then radio newsrooms had as many as seven to ten people and covered city hall, other meetings and of course the legislature.

Now City Hall is covered by Eastlink and it is Broadcast News that provides the bulk of legislature material for private radio. The exception to the rule is CBC radio where Jean Léger does a good job.  In fact CBC radio over the years has been the standard for whatever local coverage there is. Now they may or are getting competition from News 95.7. 

In fact for years many in the private radio field kept dismissing CBC (especially Info Morning and Mainstreet) saying they, sort of, don’t count.

Believe me, they do. These shows have a tremendous listenership and it is that ‘target market’ the 95.7 news, talk, sports station is after. And from what I hear they are going to get a chunk of it.

News 95.7 has a reporter and that in private radio these days is a big deal.

These days most radio and TV newsroom would be lost without the Daily News or Chronicle Herald, especially on the weekends.

News 95.7 is not there yet but what a welcome addition. In fact these guys are messing around drastically with my ‘dial twisting’.  For most of the past 30 years I could be described as an early riser, now mind you, working in morning radio for over 15 straight years, and having to get up at some ungodly hour to do news, sports, open line show, and other duties including road reports (in hilly Corner Brook, Nfld) one does become a morning creature. And who wants to fight the darn morning traffic anyway?

For the past ten years my habit has been that I caught Darryl Goode on CHNS at 5:30 am as he had the first ‘newscast of the day’ and then it was Doug Reynolds on CJ usually on the hour and CBC Info morning with Don and Liz on the half hour.

Brian Philips and Reynolds were a very good combo, in fact one of the best I’ve heard (talk about chemistry) and if Connolly had a major interview I would usually catch it. Connolly and his Info Morning show is still the only place where I can get anything ‘in depth’ on the radio dial.  In depth means anything over two minutes in radio these days and hearing a five, six or even longer interview is not out of the norm for Info Morning.

I wasn’t kidding when I said I was/am a ‘dial twister’.

Let’s not forget for many years, in a way, I was paid to do the listening, as I owned the Atlantic Media Institute and it’s hard to teach and ask kids to ‘listen’ and ‘become informed’ if one is not prepared to do that themselves.

Maybe it’s the years in the media business but info to me is like a shower and I have to get it especially in the morning.  It starts with radio and then to the morning papers.

But since they came on air right after Thanksgiving, News 95.7 has changed my routine, for now anyway.

I suppose anyone can be critical and some are on these radio chat boards but overall I think the new News/Talk/Sports operation is off to a very good if not great start.  And they’ve provided me with a few chuckles along the way.

Where to start? How about at the beginning, first day, first newscast.

Up at 5:15 I tuned into the first newscast that came on at 5:30 and had a good chuckle when, the lady (Robyn Metcalfe I believe) says: “and traffic is rolling along nice with no traffic jams on the bridges at this hour’.

I smiled.  There are NEVER any traffic problems at 5:30 in the morning.  In fact most of the time there isn’t any traffic on either bridge at this hour. This is not Toronto or Windsor/Detroit, this is good old laid back Maritime Canada where a 25-minute drive is a ‘long trip’.

In fact, the traffic reports were very interesting over the first week or so. Obviously the people doing them were either from Toronto or students who are not familiar with the area.  Some of the classics include ‘Where Novalea turns into Barrington’ and Biers Road.

As we know it’s Bayers Road and Novalea becomes Gottigen.  What surprises me is they didn’t make the classic ‘outsider mistake’ that I and so many not from here made and that is mess up the saying of Agricola or saying Rob-ee for Robie).

And they must have a factory dishing out traffic reporters, or are using media students (good idea) because it seems to be a new voice every week especially during morning drive.

My only other, perhaps not so flattering, comment is that first Saturday where I got bombed by US college ball.

As a sports fan I have some awareness of the top college teams (who doesn’t know about USC?) but all that ESPN stuff got to me.  I know as much about some of these colleges (Oregon Ducks?) as they (ESPN people know about Canadian college ball) but that was only the first week. I’m sure the station was still putting the pieces together.

Now, as Paul Harvey would say, ‘the rest of the story’.

I really like what I hear. I like the fact that I don’t have to change dials. Should I miss the top story or two I know I will get it again within minutes.

I love the fact the stories are brief and very well delivered. As mentioned a few months ago I think this new station made a key move in hiring Doug Reynolds from CJCH.  He’s worth it.  His co-anchor is decent but since Reynolds is so damn natural she may be sounding a bit formal.

If you like sports then you got to love Scott MacIntosh. I know the kid (he must be pushing 24-25) and he loves sports, has a nice delivery and sounds alive which is no easy task when you are in the station between 3 and 3:30 in the early morning hours.  I’m not sure if he drinks coffee but he sounds awake.

My only comment to him would be to lead, whenever possible, local. I know there is a tendency to talk about ‘last night’s hockey games’ but the fact is with all those sports networks, something that was not around years ago, those who want an NHL score will know it, may have seen the game on a dish (NHL network) or certainly have seen the highlights so it’s no longer that important to lead with it.

It wasn’t that long ago that TV suppertime sports cast (there are no such animals any more on a local basis) led with last night’s NHL hockey highlights!  But now, if Tiger Woods get an amazing shot it’s everywhere within minutes.  Local, local, and more local is the way radio and TV sports should be.

I took in a high school hockey game a few weeks ago at Sackville Arena between Millwood and Sackville and the line up for tickets was out into First Lake Drive, but yet very little was mentioned.  Those are the stories that are going to make inroads for this or any station.  Have you ever heard of a sellout for high school hockey? It took place when Lockview played CPA at the Lebrun arena. I would love to hear more on these kinds of stories. I was also surprised this past weekend that there was no coverage of the Uteck and Mitchell Bowls and couldn’t understand on Sunday that the big CFL playoff games were on and somewhere in that NFL show, a break could be found, for our Canadian game.  It’s the weekend thing again, right?

I like MacIntosh’s use of actualities and ‘sound bites’ especially during the World Series and what a treat it was to drive at night and not have to try and tune in the World Series from some AM station on my dial.  Yes, for those of you who may not have heard of the AM band, if you go along slowly you can pick up stations from almost any major city on the Eastern Seaboard. The Yankees are on WCBS 88. 

But with News 95.7 I don’t have to battle a signal problem or a cross fade (two stations sharing the same frequency).

I understand the station management is getting their money’s worth from Scott MacIntosh as he does cast for all three News/talk stations and tries to have something from each market in his casts. The other stations are Moncton and Saint John.

As a result of being glued to this station I have lost touch with Brian Philips one of the very best at what he does in this business.  Philips’s replacement is Debbie Smith, a fine news lady but it’s going to be a while before her or anyone replaces Reynolds on that station. Doug had 23 years of service and experience at that station and you just don’t replace that overnight.

Following the morning drive we come to the 95.7 Open Line shows.  They are certainly different.  I’m warming up to Andrew Krystal the host. He’s different maybe more cerebral than what we are accustomed to in Atlantic Canada radio. I could be wrong but at the beginning he sounded like the mid morning show on CBC.

In fact for the first week it wasn’t a talk show but rather an interview show. I admire Krystal for trying, what I consider are some very ‘high end topics’.  He had Peter C. Newman on one if not the first show and of course Newman is a big interview.

Big, to a few who enjoy reading him. Big to business people but they are at work making their money. I really don’t think people in Maritime Canada know that much about him nor do they care.

In another show Krystal wanted to discuss ‘having affairs’ on the radio. Andrew, good luck!  This may work in Toronto where you could live in an apartment house for ten years and never speak to your neighbour.  Not here. As big as one may try to make the Maritimes sound, it is still a combination of many small little towns.

Mrs. so and so knows this person who plays bingo with that one, who has a hubby who plays rec or gentlemen’s hockey with this guy…etc.

If he thinks someone is going to come on air and say “Yea, I’m having an affair and it’s great,” he is kidding himself.  Somebody somewhere in our Maritime community knows who is on air all the time.  Welcome to Atlantic Canada but I give him credit for trying.

Same with Tom Young, who I am told sounds a hell of a lot like me. (So, that’s what I sound like.)

I met Tom Young something like 35 years ago when he was working at CKJD in Sarnia with a guy called Bob Bambury.  I haven’t seen him since but I have heard him on CFBC in Saint John.

I think he is doing a terrific job but I’m not sure anyone can handle one topic for three hours.

I’ve done talk shows, radio and TV for half my life in the media business and if a topic is not working well, then it is ditched and topic #2 is brought in and maybe topic #3 or #4.  But to take a topic and do it for 2:30 – 3:00 hours must be a challenge. What I found that in most cases, Tom was doing an interview call out show as opposed to a talk show but doing it well and a far cry from the yelling and screaming that I have heard in his CFBC days.

Great guests, especially the one where a lady adopted four kids, and very good interviews, and very informative but and maybe this will change, it is not the kind that attracts callers or many callers. 

Now, maybe Rogers is after a ‘different kind of caller’ and don’t want the callers that call that other talk show, the run hosted by Rick “Hotline’ Howe.

Howe, who is a friend of mine, has been known to have the same callers, day in and day out. In fact he has a coterie of callers who seem to call everyday. They are Gene, Patricia, Pat (two different ones), Barry, Doug (who is the fast speaker I have ever heard), Ray, Anne Marie, Ian (the gas price guy) Dolores and one or two others.

On some occasions I have heard all of these, just about every day. The top three have to be Gene, Patricia and Barry.

On other occasions I have heard these guys two if not three times in the same show. I wish Howe would put a limit on how often some of these guys show up at a frequency near you. So I thought that Krystal and Young were after their own callers.

Maybe so but a few weeks ago lo and behold, who shows up on the new 95.7 radio dial Patricia? That is the lady who does good work for the homeless, was voted “Person of the year’ on the Howe show a few years back and she sounded very good on the Kyrstal show.  In fact she kept caller the host, sir, Mr. Krystal, Etc.  Much more respect, or that could be formality, then she does with Howe.

I don’t think Krystal heard anything like her and kept her on for a while.

Then I hear Wayne, Gene and Ray on 95.7.  I think Krystal was rather amused by these guys. Maybe they don’t have ‘that kind of caller’ in the Big Smoke. And earlier this week I not only hear Gene, but he is kept on so long that Gene, not the host says: “I got to go I have other plans.”

So I wonder if Howe ‘Army’ will use the 9-10 hour to go on the 95.7 show and then make the ‘shift’ (sounds like a baseball infield move) to Hotline Howe. I’m not sure we can handle a ‘double daily dose’ of these people although some at times, and that includes Gene, makes some valid points.

I’m fortunate as a result of the work I do and my main interest these days is writing 2-3 columns a week for the Daily News, a column for TSN.ca, some radio editorials and I volunteer like Frank Cameron, Gail Rice and so many other broadcasters, a few shifts a week (news/sports) at Seaside FM, that whatever I am doing I have a radio near me.

When I get ‘newsed out’ I listen to Seaside-FM and hum most of the tunes that they play from the 40’s -60.  I’m sure they stole my record column that I had as a teenager.

The afternoon drive home is a pleasant one on the new News-station as Erica Munn and Scott Simpson deliver the news very well.  In fact I think Munn has an exceptional read.  The only better female that I’ve heard on reading radio news is Martha Cody who did the gig for Q104 many moons ago before she went over to MITV/Global.

First impression count and I like the fact that this News station seems genuinely interested in delivering it.

They seem to have a reporter, Julie Buckingham that is ‘all over the place’. I loved the fact when we had the ‘bomb scare in a briefcase’ in Dartmouth which turned out to be a typewriter case that we were told ‘were sending a reporter to that location’.  Can anyone tell me when the last time that was heard (other than flight 1011) by private radio in the past 15 years?

Weather and time checks are on everyone’s mind and there’s plenty of both. In fact 95.7 became the first radio station to have a full time meteorologist and they got a dandy in Richard Zurawski.  Many of us liked him when he was on ATV and he sounds great now.

The biggest commitment to news by this station was when it looked as if we may get hit by the remains of a hurricane.  There have been so many that I forget which one but at 6pm, there on my trusty car radio, was none else than Doug Reynolds and Jennifer MacDonald.  If impressions count the message is ‘When news happens the morning team will be there’.  Like it or not, Doug Reynolds is now the grizzled, and very credible veteran in radio news. There isn’t a major newsmaker in this city that hasn’t talked to him and he is the radio face of News 95.7 and just like the late Peter Jennings was on your TV set for hours and hours on end during a crisis, and CBC’s Don Connolly has filled that role, Reynolds took that step when he was brought in.  Doug and the meteorologist was a good move.

That is what should have been happening for years on private radio but they have flown the coup, years if not decades ago.

In fact if you like news there is, with CBC and News 95.7 absolutely very little reason to listen to the music stations.  A 78-92-96, 104 second ‘update’ (probably including commercial (s) and sports and weather doesn’t cut it.

As it turned out the weather pattern diverted and the Reynolds/McDonald duo didn’t have to put in a lot of time.

At night from 7pm the station goes sports with some news updates and why not. Some are not overly crazy about this choice but let’s get serious for a moment. From 7:00pm television has the numbers and with the amount of stations now in our city, the share and number listening is very small.  Sports while a minor subject, appeals to a very vocal and loyal and fairly affluent audience and since News 95.7 either owns or has tie ins with sports networks (espn/the fan/etc) it make sense business wise.

It’s easy to be critical and I’ve read and heard  some negative remarks but my comment is ‘these guys have just started’ or as the Carpenters once sang ‘We’ve only just begun’ and while there’s a lot of work to be done such as having more news and local features on the weekend (I’m not sure the ‘best of’ is really strong weekend programming as a lot of us, including this news junkie, er information gatherer’ may not want a heavy interview,) what I’ve heard since mid October is refreshing, current and a very welcomed addition to the radio scene.

As for Sunday, who in the world wouldn’t want the NFL action?  When these guys (Rogers) appeared in front of the CRTC a year and a half ago some of their opponents voiced their concerns saying ‘we don’t really want a bunch of national firms in here and the CRTC should let those who have built radio in Atlantic Canada (MBS, Irving, NewCap, etc) to continue to develop.”

That sounds good but the fact is most of the current group has been here and have 10-20-25 stations in Atlantic Canada so why not choice?

If you like news, sports and information other than a few hours on CBC Info Morning and Mainstreet in the afternoon (4-6) there was very little available. And Mainstreet is not really that newsie.

Also, for so many years while the stations were different, the news on five stations (CJ, KIXX,Q-104, C100 and Sun (now Kool) was put together by the same people/newsroom and most of the time (90%) the same stories were heard. So where was the diversity?

The word is choice. As a media person I certainly appreciate it but the real winners are the listeners.  Radio is no different than the fast food business. We have McDonalds, DQ, Burger King Etc and I would love to have IHOP (International House of Pancakes), White Castle and more choice.  The same applies in radio.

News 95.7 has made a great first impression and if it continues to build it will be firmly entrenched as one of the choices that listeners make.

As for the other guys who got and pleaded for licenses, (Global, etc) where in the heck are you? I was always under the belief that one had a ‘year’ to get the operation up and running.

If Rogers can launch ‘three stations’ at once where are the others, who only have one iron in the fire?

News 95.7 has made a strong start.


Alex J.Walling can be reached at:  This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it