S I read the entertaining thread that debated the greatness or lack there of (depending on which post you were reading at the time) of CKLW and enjoyed it...my question is can CKLW be saved at this point or is it destined for the future of a has been?
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Can CKLW be Saved?
- Thread starter Signal_Faded
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OldiesCat
Guest
It's way past that, I'm afraid.
If by "saved" you're suggesting a return to the glory days of The Big 8, never ever ever. Music on AMs is dead. To suggest that is folly in 2007, much less anybody who suggested it in 1980.
Fortunately, we can revel in the hours of classic CK airchecks available and Art Vuolo's Classic Radio Airchecks.
If by "saved" you're suggesting a return to the glory days of The Big 8, never ever ever. Music on AMs is dead. To suggest that is folly in 2007, much less anybody who suggested it in 1980.
Fortunately, we can revel in the hours of classic CK airchecks available and Art Vuolo's Classic Radio Airchecks.
I assumed that it would never return to glory as a music station...but can it be viable as the talker that it has become? It's signal is huge!
CKLW was killed by the same thing that killed ALL the canadian border stations...the CRTC (canada's FCC) when they demanded a large portion of the music MUST only be performed by Canadian artists.
All of a sudden only ann murrey and the guess who could be played...and the competing stations across the border in the U.S. who could play the REAL HITS of the time...took the audience away.
AM RADIO IS NOT DEAD...WJR-AM PROVES THAT IN EVERY BOOK FOR THE LAST 40 YEARS...but as a music format? it might still work, but ONLY if the CRTC dropped the canadian content music regs so they can actually compete.
All of a sudden only ann murrey and the guess who could be played...and the competing stations across the border in the U.S. who could play the REAL HITS of the time...took the audience away.
AM RADIO IS NOT DEAD...WJR-AM PROVES THAT IN EVERY BOOK FOR THE LAST 40 YEARS...but as a music format? it might still work, but ONLY if the CRTC dropped the canadian content music regs so they can actually compete.
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OldiesCat
Guest
ruger22com said:
I've never said, "AM radio is dead". But the AM band will never again be home to any prominent music formats. And CK's problem going back to the mid-70s was CanCon.
Now, doing talk on CKLW? What could they do that could compete with WJR, WWJ, WXYT and be Canadian compliant?
(hint: nothing)
Oldies Cat said:
Their best bet really is to keep super-serving Windsor and Ontario. Tough to compete with the Detroit talkers doing their thing. They really can't go to American-style political talk. Of their syndicated programs, "Coast to Coast" is their only strong commodity, unless people really care about Dr. Joy or Dave Ramsey.
Only other option besides that is all-news and compete with WWJ. They do have the CTV resources at their disposal. Or they could possibly try music, such as oldies, since the CRTC currently tends to relax Cancon demands in border markets such as Detroit. Still, music formats are a tough sell on AM these days. And their sister station, CKWW (580) is already doing oldies.
If I were them, I'd just super-serve the Canadian side.
Long live the Big 8! CKLW seems to be reasonably successful in being a Windsor-based news/talker..in some ways a waste of that big signal but there's not much else they can do. Wish they'd do another Big 8 reunion though (maybe an entire holiday like WLS did on Memorial Day). By the way, if you want to hear what American News-talk would be after enactment of a new Fairness Doctrine, CKLW would be a good example.
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OldiesCat
Guest
gr8oldies said:
FYI, I've heard there's actually a CKLW Reunion in the works. Some CanCon hurdles to deal with but for a day or two on a weekend, the belief is they'll be able to pull it off.
Stay tuned!
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OldiesCat
Guest
I remember speaking with Pat Holiday when CK was testing their AM stereo signal and somebody wondered if that would somehow diminish their great signal and Pat piped up, "well, all I know is we were coming in great and in stereo in Yankee Stadium". Reminded me of the Big 8 weather forecasts giving temps in Cleveland, Toledo and Detroit. Yes, it's true- daytime in Cleveland and CKLW sounded local. Really, just Lake Erie for that signal to skip over.
True story.
True story.
Things have changed a lot since the Big 8 days..one, the night pattern goes more directly east into Canada than it used to. During the last reunion show on a Saturday night, I remember reading that listeners in Cleveland had severe interference. There is also a lot more former daytimers on night power making 800 sound like a graveyard at night. All I could hear live of the reunion show in Dayton, OH was a faint "Scorpio" making it through the din. Thanks to the internet I got to hear the show later. I drove up to Sandusky one night and could barely hear CKLW with a University of Michigan game as far north as Bucyrus. In the Cedar Point parking lot later that night, Coast to Coast was clear as a bell.
You won't find a bigger "Big 8" fan than me...but it seems to me that CK has done about all it can do given its current circumstances.
Perhaps they might consider ading a Saturday or Sunday night show that honors the heritage in the same way Mark Simone does on WABC. It would be great to hear interviews with Bill Gable, Pat Holiday, Rosalie Trombley, et al on a regular basis.
They might also consider dropping the wimpy "AM 800" marketing and return to calling it "The Big 8". Seems to work for WLS as a talk station. They returned to "The Big 89" as a handle a few years back.
Perhaps they might consider ading a Saturday or Sunday night show that honors the heritage in the same way Mark Simone does on WABC. It would be great to hear interviews with Bill Gable, Pat Holiday, Rosalie Trombley, et al on a regular basis.
They might also consider dropping the wimpy "AM 800" marketing and return to calling it "The Big 8". Seems to work for WLS as a talk station. They returned to "The Big 89" as a handle a few years back.
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Catawba Scott
Guest
I agree. Plus, I think it would be cool if they use some of the old jingles as their bumper music(And Now Ladies And Gentlemen-Windsor Now)
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cARLOS Blake
Guest
Is CKLW lowering their power at night? They used to never fade at night but now do, and that's about the only time I listen! Daytime programming is horrible! A bunch of loudmouth Canadian women talking women's lib issues all day. "Do you breast feed your child in public? Give us a call". Plus the bumper music is all stale 90's Sugar Ray & 3rd Eye Blind 89X probably threw out :
The best thing about CK now are the fact that on Sunday they start C2CAM early & let it run 'til 6am Sunday Morning. Once I left the morning show on after C2C & they were making fun of Art Bell! No Canadian disses my boy Art!!!
One thing I find amusing is during news they talk about "The O.P.P"...If they only knew about what Naughty By Nature was singing about! Kim Komando & the Pet Show are listenable on Saturday, but funny...the only thing tolerable are syndicated shows from here in the U.S! The Sattellite Sisters is another barfola women's lib show. I feel bad for the morning guy who has to be on with the mean power hungry chick who's always off on maternity leave, or if she is there she's male bashing or comparing women to men. The call letters should be CNOW!
The best thing about CK now are the fact that on Sunday they start C2CAM early & let it run 'til 6am Sunday Morning. Once I left the morning show on after C2C & they were making fun of Art Bell! No Canadian disses my boy Art!!! One thing I find amusing is during news they talk about "The O.P.P"...If they only knew about what Naughty By Nature was singing about! Kim Komando & the Pet Show are listenable on Saturday, but funny...the only thing tolerable are syndicated shows from here in the U.S! The Sattellite Sisters is another barfola women's lib show. I feel bad for the morning guy who has to be on with the mean power hungry chick who's always off on maternity leave, or if she is there she's male bashing or comparing women to men. The call letters should be CNOW!
I heard them at 9PM at night while vacationing up in the U.P. last week. Not bad signal. The only other "metro Detroit" signal that was louder was WFDF-910, but they shoot everything north at night.
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cARLOS Blake
Guest
Wait a minute...CNOW........Windsor N.O.W..........hmmmm.
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cARLOS Blake
Guest
My ears perked up last night during C2CAM when they ran a promo for some retro show at some Canadian bar/restaurant & they were using some old "Big 8" jingles in it. It's almost like resurrecting the dead but only for like 2 seconds when you hear those great old jingles on there. Then...poof!...the animate dead spell is over. Flop! Back to bland Canadian programming :. (Except when George Noorey's on!
. (Except when George Noorey's on! Perhaps the news format should move to CKWW, and their music to CKLW. It is a waste of a 50kW signal to have a news/talk station aimed at Windsor and Essex County. I wouldn't mind listening to CKWW's music on 800 up where I live.
ruger22com said:
Truth be told, I was recently in North Dakota and Montana and listened to a Canadian radio station (CHAB 800 out of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan). It specialized in classic rock, and I was thrilled to hear a bunch of songs (and a few artists) I had never heard before on stateside radio (I live in Ohio).
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