For me, that's really kind of sad to see "The day the music died" on 1150 CKOC. This was "Ontario's Music Leader" which I listened to almost exclusively in the late 1970s and early 1980s when they were CHR. I actually found CKOC to be better than both CFTR and CHUM. Of course as the station exists today, it is a mere shell of the exciting energy it once was, and imporant player in providing music to the GTA and beyond. Still, CKOC continued to provide music on AM radio 15 years into the 21st century, and maybe holds the record for being an AM music station for more than 50 years?

But I am puzzled with the decision to bring TSN to 1150, since it has been such a booming success on 1050 (not).

I wondered the same thing. CHAM (aka Funny 820) had the Bulldog rights last time I looked, but they could easily be transferred to CKOC. I was also thinking that there could be a lot of repetition with 1050.  Imagine that - going from one station no one listens to two that have the same problem.

And it would not seem the Ti-Cats are enough to hang an entire format on. How many games a season do they actually  play? I'm sure Bell wants to spread the TSN brand on radio, but given the lack of success in Toronto, I can't much see the point. Especially since oldies were doing a 4.8 on CKOC last fall. Could TSN 1150 possibly get even close to those numbers?

FM DXer wrote:

For me, that's really kind of sad to see "The day the music died" on 1150 CKOC. This was "Ontario's Music Leader" which I listened to almost exclusively in the late 1970s and early 1980s when they were CHR. I actually found CKOC to be better than both CFTR and CHUM. Of course as the station exists today, it is a mere shell of the exciting energy it once was, and imporant player in providing music to the GTA and beyond. Still, CKOC continued to provide music on AM radio 15 years into the 21st century, and maybe holds the record for being an AM music station for more than 50 years?

But I am puzzled with the decision to bring TSN to 1150, since it has been such a booming success on 1050 (not).

Why would you be puzzled?  Look man, as a kid in Fergus Elora, I listened to CKOC.  I called Zenith 55100 to try to win stuff.  But it's 2015 and AM radio is dead.  The formats that it can host are either too fringe or too weak to sell.  

Truth is you should be happy.  In any other industry, these stations would have been dark 5 years ago. It's only these large networks that keep them going because they cost nothing to run.  Bell, etc will take these stations & put them in the fold JUST to market a "20+ station radio network"

You can either accept this reality or accept bankruptcy.  AM radio is over excluding 1 or 2 very large stations in large cities.  


 

Sick-of-Ziggy wrote:

What CKOC should do is reach out to any and all DJ's & Newspeople who have worked there in the past 50 years and encourage them to come in and do a 3 hour shift

serious question:    did the long nostalgic goodbye not bite 1050 CHUM and CTV on the ass after the events gave the faithful a whipping boy to blame for its demise?      And let's not forget the open house "doors will close at 4:00, we don't care how long you've been standing out here, now fuck off".    George Cope knows to avoid situations that may be unwinnable

 

alangee wrote:

Seriously two sports stations side by side on the dial and on the map. Crazy. 

^ THIS ^ was the point I was trying to make about being puzzled. With TSN 1050 only having a 0.0 or 0.1 share in Toronto, why bother with another at 1150, which both essentially serve the GTA. With the TSN format having such dismal ratings, would it not be better just to stick with the classic hits / oldies? Or is a 0.0 or 0.1 share an improvement? I mean why waste energy operating a 50 kW transmitter for a ~ 0 share, why not just pull the plug?

Irvine wrote:

Why would you be puzzled?  Look man, as a kid in Fergus Elora, I listened to CKOC.  I called Zenith 55100 to try to win stuff.

I believe you misunderstood why I was puzzled, which alangee pointed out again and I commented above.

But dang, I forgot all about Zenith 55100... I do remember "From Hamilton, Ontario's music leader, CKOC" and one of the jocks "Scott Hollywood Harris".  And CKOC / Scotty-Pete Gang made a song "Beach Bum"

Seriously, I haven't been a regular CKOC listener in 30+ years, essentially since switching to WBLK and WBEN-FM around 1983, where I discovered at a young age, that amazing CHR could exist on FM, which it could not due to CRTC, and not even knowing what CanCon was at the time, but for some reason the CHR music seemed to be better from the USA than on CFTR, CHUM or CKOC. I never turned back.

When restoring AM-only tube radios, CKOC has been offering about the most modern music variety which can be found on AM, since 740 is more 40s - 50s. Although in the evening, 1560 WQEW is quite clear for bubble gum pop.

aflem wrote:

I wondered the same thing. CHAM (aka Funny 820) had the Bulldog rights last time I looked, but they could easily be transferred to CKOC. I was also thinking that there could be a lot of repetition with 1050. Imagine that - going from one station no one listens to two that have the same problem.

And it would not seem the Ti-Cats are enough to hang an entire format on. How many games a season do they actually play? I'm sure Bell wants to spread the TSN brand on radio, but given the lack of success in Toronto, I can't much see the point. Especially since oldies were doing a 4.8 on CKOC last fall. Could TSN 1150 possibly get even close to those numbers?

Bulldogs broadcasts moved to CHML (Corus) a couple years ago. The switch from AHL to OHL does not affetc that deal as far as I know.
 

I remember I used to bitch when Bob Sherwin would cut in too early on songs and talk over the fades way too soon.  I should have been careful what I wished for.  I'd do anything to hear that now.

I feel the same way about Windows 3.1.  I used to bitch about Trumpset Winsock & my 14,4 US Robotics Modem.  I remember whining it took 2 hours to download Duke Nukem on my 486.  Now, it's not the same. I miss the modem sound.  I miss the frequent connections & messing with init strings.  I miss waiting for a song on Napster over dial up.  And I'm tired of that high quality streaming audio.  Bring back Real Player!

Now if they could just bring back lead in gas & bench seats in cars I'd be filled with joy.  

What ever happened to Jason Roberts?  I haven't heard of him in years.

I remember trying to hire him.  It was a HUGE offer.  Even by today's standards it was a sweet deal.  In the end, after much wining and dining he decided to stay at CKOC.  Maybe they matched my offer.  idk.  

Jody Thornton wrote:

Yes, you quoted the liner from the top of the hour (usually going into a recurrent).  They also had a cold liner that they played over top of a gold intro, "CKOC ... the hits ... just keep on comin' ".  I wonder if Nevin has a copy of the music that they used for that top of the hour ID.

Jody, there used to be a pretty low quality aircheck upload to YouTube with the above CKOC 1980s IDs. Now it seems to be removed from YouTube. It would be awesome to hear those two IDs again (in good quality). As you stated, a walk down childhood memory lane.

Irvine wrote:

Actually Jody, the quality of a lot of streaming & digital music is on par with AM lol.  That's the funny part. It was more prevalent when people were pirating MP3's.  

Personally, I don't mind AM radio nor music on it.  I listen to music in two situations.  One is driving which I can do in long stretches.  So if I'm not listening to CBC, I don't care about the audio quality.  The second is when I work and I'm streaming.  The quality of sound doesn't matter to me then either.  

The only time clarity matters is at the gym.  I listen to music while I work out but it's always gangster rap or heavy metal. 

Funny thing about CKOC is I listened when I lived in Fergus & Elora, Ontario.  I could hear CFTR and CHUM, but I prefered CKOC. And I had moved from Brampton to Fergus where I'd prefered CHUM over CFTR.  Then in 79? I moved to Calgary and listened to XL radio.  Later, living in a farm for a year, I listened to 630 CHED.  

This is a long time ago but I think I liked CKOC more because it was more musically diverse than CFTR. And I liked CHUM more than CFTR because it seemed more musically diverse.   And XL radio was my preferred choice over AM106 when it came on the air (Calgary, 80's).  I can proudly say I've driven a John Deere tractor listening to Mickey from Tony Basil while spreading cow shit on a field.  
 

No kidding about streams and satellite not being much better than AM stereo. In fact, most of the XM channels have almost a lifeless, flat sound compared to any OTA FM. Channel 7 (70s) and 39 (classic rock) are simply horrible sound. Only 11 (KIIS) and 12 (Z100) sound comparable to an FM station, and oddly enough they are the only commercial FM stations on XM, so I guess they pay for extra bandwidth?

Irvine, we shared exactly the same opinion of CKOC vs. CHUM and CFTR. I don't know why I liked it so much better, but for sure they 'seemed' to play more music. Or maybe I was just brainwashed by "Ontario's Music Leader, CKOC"

I still like scanning the AM band once in a while at night to see what is still offered south of here in the way of music. More just out of interest, than anything else. Here we have 600 CKAT country, but there is 740 from Toronto, 1150 from Hamilton, 1460 CJOY, 1560 WQEW, 1580 CKDO , two nights ago I discovered this really interesting variety/alternative format only refered to as "Be spontaneous - the shuffle", which was on 1510 (I believe), I was using a little Sony LW/MW/FM analog tuner which I had in the cabin on the boat at the time. They never stated the calls, or had any breaks or commercials before I fell asleep. In the morning, of course there was just static.

 

Last edited by FM DXer (June 1, 2015 5:14 PM)

That little country station, AM-1300 WXRL, Buffalo/Lancaster has a huge following in S. Ontario particularly Niagara region and north to[url=#78448250]Brantford[/url] & Bright plus Scarborough/Pickering/Ajax/Whitby where reception is excellent

 

Ouch!   I didn't know that.  I didn't mean to be insensitive ... I was out of the country for a few years.