Here in London, one of the most competitive radio markets in the country, you can tell that fall ratings are almost upon us. In Toronto radio stations are now rated by People Meters but here we still go by the old spring/fall ratings periods and this fall is going to have more changes than any season in years.
It started a couple of months ago with the city’s #1 morning show team splitting up, Tucker and Taz on FM96. Tucker left for a destination unknown and it became The Taz Show. The wonderful Kelly Maher stayed on in news and they put swing guy Jim Kelly on as the third piece of the puzzle.
Tucker’s next stop has been the subject of tremendous speculation.
This week, Astral fired the morning co-host and longtime afternoon host on EZ Rock and signaled a pending format change by taking the station as we knew it off the air and streaming music. The website is down and only a countdown clock and a “listen live” button are up in its place. Where everybody behind the scenes will land is all the buzz with many people claiming to know what’s going to happen. And although the EZ morning host is my brother-in-law, I probably know less than some. He has integrity up the wazoo and they’ve been sworn to secrecy. But note that Astral’s signature formats are Virgin and Boom.
Astral also let go of its longtime afternoon host on its country FM station, BX-93.
Last week Jeff McArthur announced he was leaving his longtime talk show on AM980 to host a new talk show on AM640 in Toronto, from 2-4 pm. That also opens up the morning show on my previous station, 1039FM, now known as More, because Jeff did double duty.
If you’re in radio and entertaining the thought of working in London now might be the time to act! Although the chess pieces have likely already been moved behind the scenes, when there’s change, it never hurts to throw a hat into the ring. As for me, I’ll just duck and cover until everything settles and watch it all unfold. Long live the games!