After CBC had its townhall, more players are beginning to have multimedia stakeholder relations.

Earlier this month, Astral invited advertisers to come and hear their 2009 PPM results.

Again, Astral is leading the way in relating to the public, their shareholders, and advertisers.

ASTRAL MEDIA INC. | /R E P E A T — Invitation – Conference Call – Astral Media – First Quarter Results for Fiscal 2010/.

A great piece by Grant Robertson on Astral Media.

Astral: The Canadian media player to watch – The Globe and Mail.

From 2000-2009, the number of specialty, pay,ppv, and vod services increased considerably. In some cases, the services were already established and maintained a dominance, like Pay and PPV. Whereas others became diversified and rose in prominence, such as the specialties that quickly grew in number and regulated according to different criteria (Analog, Digital Cat.1 and Digital Cat.2). Finally, one service, VOD began to establish services and we have yet to see its full potential. There are many services that have been licenced, but few launched.

Starting in the year 2000 with the merger of AOL-Time Warner, Canadian media companies saw it in their best interest to become integrated into the digital media world. BCE purchased CTV in order to acquire its content to distribute over its Sympatico portal. This purchase as well as the launch of many specialty services created a war for the concentration of media ownership. All of the major national broadcasters would attempt to get as many non-OTA holdings as possible in order to reaggregate their audiences back to their stations.

Moreover, some new players entered into the specialty circuit. When BCE bought CTV and began to own specialty channels, Rogers wondered if they could do the same. In the end, a CRTC hearing concluded that BDUs could have specialty channels. Shaw and Rogers, who had in 2000 agreed on the divide and conquer strategy for the cable monopolization of Canada, entered onto the scene with some specialty channels of their own. However, Shaw already controlled Corus Entertainment and in theory already was a player in the specialty market, but nevertheless, it took the opportunity to move into the market.

The preceding pie charts displayed the changing portions and numbers of total investments in channels by the biggest players. They did not express the full ownership, but the amount of services each had. Below is a graph that shows the changing ownership of the specialty,pay TV, Pay-per-view and Video on Demand services.

Although it is not on the graph, the year 2000 marked some major purchases. BCE bought CTV limited, and CTV limited bought Netstar (Discovery, and TSN). The most major moments in the decade include:

2006:CHUM merges with BCEglobemedia

2007: CTV taking ownership of CTVglobemedia from BCE

2007: Canwest and Goldman Sachs purchase the Alliance Atlantis Channels

2008-2009: The recession hits the broadcasters as advertising drops. Major owners sell off assets. CTV and Canwest start to sell stations, and services. For instance, CTV sells ArTV, DriveInClassics, and SexTV.

Given the massive debt of Canwest, and its recent brankruptcy protection of its broadcasting assets, and maintaining its control over its specialty services from Goldman Sachs, in 2010, there will no doubt be a sale of some of their less profitable services. There are also numerous services being presented by Astral to the CRTC in February.

The spending spree to secure dominance in the specialty market will no doubt continue as the revenues of the specialty markets continue to increase and the OTA sector faces an economic crisis.

My next post will provide timelines of number of services the various owners over the last 10 years.

From Marketing Magazine (November 25, 2009):
Outdoor ad campaign takes on Toronto’s outdoor ad tax

In response to an impending new law that would tax billboard advertising in Toronto, the Out-of-Home Marketing Association of Canada (OMAC) has launched an outdoor campaign to bring the issue out of city council chambers and into the streets.

OMAC objects to the estimated $10.4 million in new taxes, which it claims would outstrip estimated industry earnings of $8.8 million.

The new law goes before a council vote on Nov. 30 , and is scheduled to go into effect in July 2010.

The association put up 139 billboards yesterday–provided by Astral Media, CBS Outdoor and Pattison Outdoor–that drive curious passersby to CityBillboardTax.ca.

Copy on the billboards say “How can the City tax an industry more than it earns?” and “Any tax affects you. Even one on billboards.”

Rosanne Caron, president of OMAC, said the tax will act as “prohibition” on outdoor advertising, driving costs up for businesses and charitable groups that receive donated ad space.

“We feel it is critical to communicate what is truly at stake if the new sign by-law and tax are passed into law,” Caron said in a statement.

OMAC has asked the council to postpone the vote for one month to examine the law and “reach a workable solution for all stakeholders.”

Toronto Adscapes has been following this story. For related posts, check out…
Signing off?
Toronto’s Ad Busters

although i tried to work it out so that my internet would be up and running by the time i got back to jordan, that has not turned out to be the case. i have tried two different companies here–one kuwaiti, one jordanian–and neither gives me a singal. the third and fourth option, well that’s my next post so you’ll have to wait to read about that. but all this is to day that for the next couple of weeks in particular, if you want to follow boycott news you should follow the u.s. campaign for the academic and cultural boycott of israel site via your news readers and twitter. many of you know that i also do that website; given that internet cafe time is challenging during ramadan (don’t forget to boycott those zionist terrorist colonist dates! ) for a number of reasons, on days when i can only manage a couple of hours that’s the blog i’ll be updating first.

but while i am on the subject of boycott i have a confession to make. since i was about fourteen years old i have had a secret love of madonna’s music. not all of it. not all of the time. but it was one of my closeted guilty pleasures in life. (i don’t have many.) over the past few years, enabled by the invention of mp3s and also the fact that i move so much, i no longer have any cds, just mp3 files of music i like (most of which is political). so, when macy gray had her event with the zionist terrorist colonist consolate in los angeles last year, i deleted her from my computer. likewise i did the same for madonna a few weeks ago. and here’s why:

1. During Monday’s whitewashing concert appearance in Tel-Aviv, Madonna made empty references to peace, before wrapping herself in the Israeli flag:

“I truly believe that Israel is the energy center of the world. And I also believe that if we can all live together in harmony in this place, then we can live in peace all over the world.”

Meanwhile in Gaza on Monday, fishermen were attacked by Israel “Defense” Forces for…fishing. Apparently, they failed to live “in harmony” well enough.

here is the above-referenced appalling video (if you can hold your cookies…) :

2. Any political malaise that she may have risked evoking among Israelis dissipated when she was handed an Israeli flag by one fan. Madonna used it to make her final parade on the stage draping herself in Israel’s national blue-and-white colours and displaying where her sympathies lie.

There was certainly none of the controversy she had aroused on her previous two stops, in Romania and Bulgaria.

In Sofia, the Orthodox clergy berated her for showing disrespect to Christianity. In Bucharest, she was booed for criticising discrimination against the Roma (gypsies) of Eastern Europe.

Midway through the show, breaking away from the carefully scripted performance, Madonna expressed her deep affection for Israel: “I shouldn’t have stayed so long away,” she told the adoring crowd. Her last concert here was in 1993.

The 51-year-old entertainer has long claimed a special bond with the Jewish state. For more than a decade, she’s been flirting with the Kabbalah, the essence of Jewish mysticism, and has even adopted a Hebrew name, Esther.

In the run-up to the first of her two shows, Israeli radio stations played Madonna hits round the clock. On Army Radio, a DJ quipped, “Tonight, Aunt Esther is playing at Yarkon Park.”

Brought up as a Roman Catholic, Madonna wrote in advance of her Israeli tour in an article for Israel’s best-selling newspaper, Yediot Achronot, that the study of Kabbalah helps her understand life better.

3. Madonna is reportedly spending the Sabbath eve at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home.

Y-Net reported Friday that Madonna will light the sabbath candles and will spend time with Netanyahu’s children at the official residence in Jerusalem.

The pop singer, who sold out two Tel Aviv concerts, this week toured Jerusalem’s Old City and Tsfat, the seat of Jewish mysticism in northern Israel.

and this is why i’m psyched about artists against apartheid’s new propabanda site (basically a shit list of musicians who don’t abide by the boycott):

The artists listed here have committed to performing in Apartheid Israel, in disregard of the Cultural Boycott of the State’s ongoing human rights violations, apartheid rule, and expropriation of land from indigenous inhabitants.

To cover its extreme racism, massacres, and flagrant violations of Human Rights and International Law, the Zionist State of Israel relies heavily on propaganda “Branding Efforts”, spending Millions of Dollars per year on public relations campaigns, and encouraging “whitewashing” events such as concerts by these International Artists:

Leonard Cohen
Sponsor: Israel Discount Bank (which also finances settlements on stolen Palestinian land)

MGMT

Madonna

Faith No More

Dinosaur Jr.

Lady Gaga

Kaiser Chiefs

Calexico

Depeche Mode

Pet Shop Boys

Macy Gray

Suzanne Vega

Steve Vai

These artists may be drawn by extraordinarily high performance fees, or the desire to “sing for peace”. However, the cultural effect of their appearance is to assist the Israeli ministries in their efforts to normalize of Israeli Apartheid, while disregarding the non-violent struggle for equal rights and justice in Palestine-Israel.

If you are an artist interested in coordinating with the non-violent resistance to colonialism and apartheid, please refer to the Guidelines for Applying the International Cultural Boycott of Israel recommended by the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) before booking your tour.

i can proudly say i do not have a single mp3 song with any of the above apartheid supporting musicians.

and, the other big story on the boycott news front–with those adhering to it and respecting it, that is–is about the toronto film festival:

The Toronto Declaration: No Celebration of Occupation

An Open Letter to the Toronto International Film Festival:

September 2, 2009

As members of the Canadian and international film, culture and media arts communities, we are deeply disturbed by the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to host a celebratory spotlight on Tel Aviv. We protest that TIFF, whether intentionally or not, has become complicit in the Israeli propaganda machine.

In 2008, the Israeli government and Canadian partners Sidney Greenberg of Astral Media, David Asper of Canwest Global Communications and Joel Reitman of MIJO Corporation launched “Brand Israel,” a million dollar media and advertising campaign aimed at changing Canadian perceptions of Israel. Brand Israel would take the focus off Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and its aggressive wars, and refocus it on achievements in medicine, science and culture. An article in Canadian Jewish News quotes Israeli consul general Amir Gissin as saying that Toronto would be the test city for a promotion that could then be deployed around the world. According to Gissin, the culmination of the campaign would be a major Israeli presence at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. (Andy Levy-Alzenkopf, “Brand Israel set to launch in GTA,” Canadian Jewish News, August 28, 2008.)

In 2009, TIFF announced that it would inaugurate its new City to City program with a focus on Tel Aviv. According to program notes by Festival co-director and City to City programmer Cameron Bailey, “The ten films in this year’s City to City programme will showcase the complex currents running through today’s Tel Aviv. Celebrating its 100th birthday in 2009, Tel Aviv is a young, dynamic city that, like Toronto, celebrates its diversity.”

The emphasis on ‘diversity’ in City to City is empty given the absence of Palestinian filmmakers in the program. Furthermore, what this description does not say is that Tel Aviv is built on destroyed Palestinian villages, and that the city of Jaffa, Palestine’s main cultural hub until 1948, was annexed to Tel Aviv after the mass exiling of the Palestinian population. This program ignores the suffering of thousands of former residents and descendants of the Tel Aviv/Jaffa area who currently live in refugee camps in the Occupied Territories or who have been dispersed to other countries, including Canada. Looking at modern, sophisticated Tel Aviv without also considering the city’s past and the realities of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza strip, would be like rhapsodizing about the beauty and elegant lifestyles in white-only Cape Town or Johannesburg during apartheid without acknowledging the corresponding black townships of Khayelitsha and Soweto.

We do not protest the individual Israeli filmmakers included in City to City, nor do we in any way suggest that Israeli films should be unwelcome at TIFF. However, especially in the wake of this year’s brutal assault on Gaza, we object to the use of such an important international festival in staging a propaganda campaign on behalf of what South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and UN General Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann have all characterized as an apartheid regime.

This letter was drafted by the following ad hoc committee:

Udi Aloni, filmmaker, Israel; Elle Flanders, filmmaker, Canada; Richard Fung, video artist, Canada; John Greyson, filmmaker, Canada; Naomi Klein, writer and filmmaker, Canada; Kathy Wazana, filmmaker, Canada; Cynthia Wright, writer and academic, Canada; b h Yael, film and video artist, Canada

Endorsed by:

Ahmad Abdalla, Filmmaker, Egypt

Hany Abu-Assad, Filmmaker, Palestine

Mark Achbar, Filmmaker, Canada

Zackie Achmat, AIDS activist, South Africa

Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, Filmmaker, Jerusalem

Anthony Arnove, Publisher and Producer, USA

Ruba Atiyeh, Documentary Director, Lebanon

Joslyn Barnes, Writer and Producer, USA

John Berger, Author, France

Dionne Brand, Poet/Writer, Canada

Judith Butler, Professor, USA

David Byrne, Musician, USA

Noam Chomsky, Professor, USA

Guy Davidi Director, Israel

Na-iem Dollie, Journalist/Writer, South Africa

Igor Drljaca, Filmmaker, Canada

Eve Ensler, Playwright, Author, USA

Eyal Eithcowich, Director, Israel

Sophie Fiennes, Filmmaker, UK

Peter Fitting, Professor, Canada

Jane Fonda, Actor and Author, USA

Danny Glover, Filmmaker and Actor, USA

Noam Gonick, Director, Canada

Malcolm Guy, Filmmaker, Canada

Mike Hoolboom, Filmmaker, Canada

Annemarie Jacir, Filmmaker, Palestine

Fredric Jameson, Literary Critic, USA

Juliano Mer Khamis, Filmmaker, Jenin/Haifa

Bonnie Sherr Klein Filmmaker, Canada

Paul Laverty, Producer, UK

Min Sook Lee, Filmmaker, Canada

Paul Lee, Filmmaker, Canada

Yael Lerer, publisher, Tel Aviv

Jack Lewis, Filmmaker, South Africa

Ken Loach, Filmmaker, UK

Arab Lotfi, Filmmaker, Egypt/Lebanon

Kyo Maclear, Author, Toronto

Mahmood Mamdani, Professor, USA

Fatima Mawas, Filmmaker, Australia

Tessa McWatt, Author, Canada and UK

Cornelius Moore, Film Distributor, USA

Yousry Nasrallah, Director, Egypt

Rebecca O’Brien, Producer, UK

Pratibha Parmar, Producer/Director, UK

Jeremy Pikser, Screenwriter, USA

John Pilger, Filmmaker, UK

Shai Carmeli Pollak, Filmmaker, Israel

Ian Iqbal Rashid, Filmmaker, Canada

Judy Rebick, Professor, Canada

David Reeb, Artist, Tel Aviv

B. Ruby Rich, Critic and Professor, USA

Wallace Shawn, Playwright, Actor, USA

Eyal Sivan, Filmmaker and Scholar, Paris/London/Sderot

Elia Suleiman, Fimmlaker, Nazareth/Paris/New York

Eran Torbiner, Filmmaker, Israel

Alice Walker, Writer, USA

Thomas Waugh, Professor, Canada

Howard Zinn, Writer, USA

Slavoj Zizek, Professor, Slovenia

and if you want a real treat check out an amazing artist and musician who has an amazing vision and history. here is an interview with the incomparable harry belefonte and avi lewis on al jazeera’s fault lines:

The Canada Gazette reports a CRTC decision to give Astral Media Inc. permission to operate a new radio station at 99.7 FM in Ottawa.  Astral Media is the company responsible for bringing Virgin Radio to the nation’s capital city.  This new radio station will broadcast soft adult contemporary programming, and will compete directly with Majic 100.3 FM.

The latest Canadian radio ratings are out and things are still not looking good for 106.9 Virgin Radio Ottawa — formerly known as The Bear.  As always, radio (and TV ratings) are conducted by BBM Canada.  The latest ratings are known as S2 2009 and were taken from March 2, 2009 until April 26, 2009.

It seems that Astral Media’s plan to change an already successful radio station and re-brand it under their newly purchased banner “Virgin Radio” continues to backfire. In a city such as Montreal where Astral also did some re-branding of Mix96, the name change made little difference to Anglo Montrealers who listen because quite frankly, they have no other choice.  (Virgin Radio 96 is the only English Top 40 station in town.) They could have called the station “Sumo 96″ and between each song, played the sound of two sumo wrestlers slapping their bellies while saying “we think our listeners are stupid” and Anglo Montrealers would have simply said “Yeah, maybe so. But where else am I going to get my Lady Gaga fix? I’ll just keep listening.”

But in Ottawa, where you do have a choice when it comes to rock-oriented stations, it seems Astral fixed something that didn’t need fixing and it hasn’t worked out too well for them.

The latest numbers show 106.9 Virgin Radio (CKQB-FM) down from 5.0 market share to 4.5 market share.  Their Central Reach (Ctrl Reach) drops from 114.5 to 101.4.  Further more, you can see that the ratings from last year were higher when CKQB-FM was still known as The Bear.

Posted above are the latest Ottawa area numbers.  Click to enlarge.

When I worked in the radio business I was always a little fuzzy on the numbers and how exactly they were calculated, but anyway you slice it, these new numbers are not good.  You can see more detailed ratings by visiting the BBM site here and choosing the Ottawa/Gatineau Anglo link on the side of the PDF document.

The way I see it, with egg on their faces, Astral really has only a few options here.  They can continue to let the numbers fall and hope that in the summer months, things turn around for them (as occasionally the numbers tend to as more people listen to the radio) or they can lick their wounds, put their tails between their legs and figure out a way to bring back The Bear.

Although I’m sure, as always, the suits at Astral will find a way to put a positive spin on this.  Lord know how they will pull that off.

Ragazzi l’estate è cominciata, i lavoretti estivi pure, quindi poco tempo per la musica di IPod, ma non per la Musica.

Si sente infatti tanta radio, perciò stavolta topfive strana:

1. Radio Capital
2. Virgin Radio
3. Radio KissKiss
4. Radio2
5. Radio Deejay

adieu =?

P.S. non sono due simboli a caso, ma la traduzione della faccina più bella del mondo

Excited to let you know that we are tightening up a few loose ends and shifting the url of this blog directly to the Mother Ship at http://skyaak.com/skyaak-rd-blog/

From now I will posting and hosting on the skyaak blog at this spot.

I just wanted to let you down gently by sharing the current blog post at skyaak.com.

So from now on you are invited to CLICK THROUGH to the new url!

In the meantime, have fun, happy skyaak-ing and see you there!

Michael Gaudet

Introducing Mathieu Gratton, host of the popular Montreal-based TV show “Le Banc d’Essai du Peuple” or “Taking it to the People“

Click on Mathieu to view the TV feed from the recent feature on Skyaak, where he takes it to the streets of Montreal.

Just scroll down about a third of a page from where you land and you will see the thumbnail for the Skyaak video.

Received the DVD today in the mail from the producers of the show. They sent along a request that I not replicate the DVD in any way. I found the link to the Skyaak segment on their website with a link provided. So it’s all good. I can share the video with you now through their link.

My grasp of the french language is a tad spotty, anyone who can help me out with some translation would be greatly appreciated.

Judging by the ‘body language’ and overall enthusiasm here, I would wager a guess that Skyaak was quite well-received on the cosmopolitan streets of Montreal.

It’s worth clicking through to watch this. It’s kind of priceless really. Check out how excited the little canine participant is to encounter his very first Skyaak. My spider senses are tingling…could this be a message that we should be looking at R&D into the Skyaak ‘fetch’…?

Astral Media is looking for a Developer, Interactive for an 8-month contract tow ork on their TV-oriented websites: Family, TMN, HBO Canada, MPix, Viewer’s Choice, etc.  There’s some AJAX and PHP in there, but it sounds like there’d be a fair amount of HTML, graphics-cutting, and so forth.  

There’s not really enough there to latch on to, but if this sounds like something you’d be interested in, then it might be worth inquiring further.

They’ve got enough properties that it could be interesting work, but it just doesn’t feel like they put enough effort into their web properties to make it really challenging.  There are interesting avenues to explore like social elements, syndication feeds, and so on.  Then again, if you don’t join, you can’t convince them to fulfill their unrealized potential.

They’re also looking for some roles that are outside of my normal coverage: Bilingual Communications Assistant, Programming Co-ordinator, Supervising Editor.

Excited to let you know that we are tightening up a few loose ends and shifting the url of this blog directly to the Mother Ship at http://skyaak.com/skyaak-rd-blog/

From now I will posting and hosting on the skyaak blog at this spot.

I just wanted to let you down gently by sharing the current blog post at skyaak.com.

So from now on you are invited to CLICK THROUGH to the new url!

In the meantime, have fun, happy skyaak-ing and see you there!

Michael Gaudet

Introducing Mathieu Gratton, host of the popular Montreal-based TV show “Le Banc d’Essai du Peuple” or “Taking it to the People“

Click on Mathieu to view the TV feed from the recent feature on Skyaak, where he takes it to the streets of Montreal.

Just scroll down about a third of a page from where you land and you will see the thumbnail for the Skyaak video.

Received the DVD today in the mail from the producers of the show. They sent along a request that I not replicate the DVD in any way. I found the link to the Skyaak segment on their website with a link provided. So it’s all good. I can share the video with you now through their link.

My grasp of the french language is a tad spotty, anyone who can help me out with some translation would be greatly appreciated.

Judging by the ‘body language’ and overall enthusiasm here, I would wager a guess that Skyaak was quite well-received on the cosmopolitan streets of Montreal.

It’s worth clicking through to watch this. It’s kind of priceless really. Check out how excited the little canine participant is to encounter his very first Skyaak. My spider senses are tingling…could this be a message that we should be looking at R&D into the Skyaak ‘fetch’…?

So it continues… 3,000 visitors this week.  That’s how many of you have been looking for an outlet for your disappointment in the new Virgin Radio 106.9.  (You know, that new station in town that replaced that other one known as The Bear.  Maybe you’ve heard of it…)

Anyway, folks in Ottawa shouldn’t feel all alone. Likewise in Montreal, there has been some backlash to the switch from Mix 96 to Virgin 96.  But then again, as I’ve said before, English Montrealers really have no other choice (except for 94.7 Hits FM) so Mix 96 could call themselves Asshat 96 and play a sound clip of Peter Griffin barfing and tell the listeners it’s “today’s best music” and the listeners would have no choice but to believe them.  (Or they could invest $12 month in satellite radio and hear what really passes for today’s music.)

But fear not, like with most things in life, there is a Facebook group for Montrealers to join if they want Mix 96 back. There’s also one for Ottawa peeps to join in an attempt to bring back The Bear.  And as always, Astral Media will pretend they don’t exist and go about business as usual.

Mix 96/Virgin 96 midday jock Nat Lauzon was upbeat about the station switch on her blog (scroll past the vacation pictures and towel art to see what she has to say)- but then again, what’s she going to say, right?  Nat is actually a gemwhen it comes to people in radio.  Aside from having a great set of pipes (and being very attractive), she is down to earth and cares deeply for animals and their rights (read her blog some time and see for yourself.)

I’ve never met Nat in person…

no, wait…

I have met Nat.

About nine years ago I was taking a refresher course in radio broadcast when I was still in Montreal and part of the course included a tour of Mix 96 studios.  And Nat happened to be there hosting her evening show at the time.

From what I remember, she was very polite and smiled a lot.  She probably doesn’t remember me, which is okay, but I do remember her being nice. She would later go on to host a morning show with Andre Maisonneuve/Katfish Morgan (who can now be heard on Live 88.5 FM in Ottawa) Honestly, I wasn’t a big fan of the show as I think Nat shines on her own, but what do I know?  The duo went on to win an award for comedy.

And since we’re on the topic of Ottawa’s alternative station Live 88.5, I’ve been fortunate enough to listen to that station because of work and one of the highlights comes courtesy of Ms. Jen Traplin who hosts the afternoon show.  Wow. Yes. Add her to the list of reasons I’ll be glad to live in Ottawa.

Damn… I’m really getting off topic here, aren’t I?  Where was I going with this…?

Okay… so right.  There’s been a lot of backlash about the recent switch of branding with The Bear (and some with Mix 96 in Montreal) but as I said, we shouldn’t expect any drastic changes in the near future.  At least not until the latest book comes out (the term used in radio for ratings).

Maybe now we can all get back to normal… although I must say I have been enjoying all the attention this blog has been getting. I shall try my hardest to make sure it’s interesting for all the new readers who have found their way here.

Feel free to let myself, and others know your true feelings about the new 106.9 Virgin Radio Ottawa.

Will this actually accomplish anything?  Probably not, seeing as Astral Media is quite content to do as they please – one of those cases where the big corporation thinks they know what the listeners want more than they do.  But it will still be fun to see what the results are.

It does seem that so far, the results are pretty easy to see.  Ottawa folk hate the Virgin Radio.  To be fair, I was listening to it, as well as the one here in Toronto and even Montreal’s new Virgin Radio 96 and you know what?  They all smack of corporate culture and big-time sell out.

Don’t get me wrong.  I like Richard Branson.  I think what he has done with “his little company”  is great.  But for a company like Astral Media deciding to abandon all creativity and buy into a brand name simply in hopes of getting more listeners is pretty sad.  It’s the same as when CHOM-FM (in Montreal) and Q-107 (in Toronto decided to start airing the Howard Stern show back in 1997.  But as they learned, just because something is popular, doesn’t mean it will work in the long run.

I’ve been to Virgin Megastore.  I’ve been to the Virgin Mobile offices in Toronto.  I even drank Virgin Cola when it was readily available – in Ottawa, no less!  But Virgin Radio blows.  It’s nothing different except for a shiny coat of paint and a new name.

Radio used to be about being original and new and creative.  When disc jockey Alan Freed took a chance playing “Black music” back in the 50’s and he called it Rock n’ Roll he was balls-to-the-walls rebellious.  And he was right to do so.  It worked.  He did something different.  And sure, maybe the first Virgin Radio was creative and different, but if it made its way across the pond to Canada and stations in Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver are buying it… then it’s not orginal anymore.

I expected there to be a bit of backlash regarding The Bear’s switch from it’s previous format/name to the new Virgin Radio Ottawa.  However I never could have anticipated the amount of people who would come to my site!  Thank you to everyone who went looking for Virgin Radio Ottawa and landed here and voiced their opinions.

While the comment queue was full, only a handful of comments could be published.  Many of them were down right nasty and rude.  (But I don’t blame you.) I’m assuming that radio listeners in Ottawa (and everyone else who enjoyed The Bear) used this site as a chance to blow off some steam about how upset their were/are with the new station.

And of course, parent company Astral Media will downplay this negativity and/or not even acknowledge the fact that close to 1,000 people came to this site looking for answers because, after all, they are a big radio and multi-media company and they know what they’re doing.  Right?

Truth is, Virgin Radio Toronto will be presented as a success – at first.  Likewise, the same thing will happen in Ottawa.  Astral will tout how the switch doubled their listeners, blah, blah.  But after some time – maybe a year or so – when they look and see that listeners are going elsewhere for their rock music, then what?  Do they call Sir Richard Branson and say “Um, we screwed up?”

Remember when ENERGY 1200 became OSR 1200 and then The Team 1200? Well, after CHUM Radio saw how successful The Team was in Ottawa, they tried flipping all their AM music stations to Team formats.  Now, only Montreal remains along with two other stations including Ottawa.  Why? Because sometimes big ideas that seem really good on paper don’t work. CHUM had to scramble and fix their mess and flip all their stations back to their original formats.

Now, the same thing could happen here.  If enough people revolt against 106.9 Virgin Radio Ottawa, then maybe Astral will do the right thing and bring back The Bear.

Now, come Monday, the same thing will happen in Montreal.  Long-standing MIX-96 will become Virgin Radio Montreal.  But over there, English Montrealers who listen to The Mix for their Top 40 fix will have nowhere else to go so I expect the backlash to be very minimal.  At first there might be a bit of upset, but after a few days, the listeners will continue to listen because they have nowhere else to turn.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out in Ottawa over the coming months and years.

One of my favorite Ottawa radio stations 106.9 The Bear is about to get a drastic make-over this Friday (January 9) when it becomes Virgin Radio.

Similar to it’s Toronto counterpart that made the switch in 2008, the once great Bear-FM will sell out change it’s name an adopt the Virgin Radio banner in an attempt to mix things up a bit. Basically parent company Astral Media bought the rights to use the name Virgin so they’re trying to slap it on as many of their radio stations as possible.  The change will also happen next Monday (January 12) in Montreal to MIX 96, which honestly, has been pretty crappy as far as radio goes since about 1999 so maybe the change will do them good.

The Virgin Bear will continue to play “Ottawa’s rock” under its new name, but will also be introducing new announcers to coincide with the name change.  (One will be Alice Cooper.)

You want my honest opinion?  This is a stupid mistake.  The Bear was great.  The Bear was awesome.  The name alone sounded cool.  They were a rock station and they were doing something different.  Visiting Ottawa always meant listening to The Bear.  But now it means just another cookie-cutter radio format.  Sure, they say they’ll keep they same music, but a piece of a great Ottawa radio station dies on Friday because corporate Astral has to justify buying the Virgin name.

Either way, folks in Ottawa are in for a change.  If Toronto’s Virgin Radio is any indication of what to expect, Virgin Radio Ottawa will be just another reason to buy an iPod.

This is the exchange between myself and the CFRB 1010 radio show today Monday November 24, just before/around 4 PM. The issue? York Strike.

Now, before I called, I knew that it is the business of ‘talk radio’ to  insult the audience to get a reaction out of them to make the show more ‘interesting’. But even with that understanding, I was shocked to hear such a blunt racist statement. I am more used to polite types of racism…

(editor’s note: the following is a transcript of the conversation provided by the radio station)

Caller: I’m a TA at York and I just want to say I’m happy with whatever I’m getting paid right now. So lets just get that out of the table. But what bothers me is the people that are calling and make comments and make judgements and they don’t know what exactly is going on.

LeDrew: Correct us then.

Caller: Because the issue of increase of the pay of the TA is only a very small part of what is happening and is concern of a lot of students and contract faculty.

LeDrew: Daria [sic] .. quickly what are the issues then

Caller: So one of the issues on the table is classroom sizes, why don’t you talk about classroom sizes … and you can say we don’t talk about classroom sizes because of A & B & C

Coren: May I ask you a question? What do you teach?

Caller: Why is that relevant?

Coren: I’m asking you the question … it’s just courtesy … what do you teach?

Caller: I teach … um … health, science course

Coren: OK … I just got the impression … I’m not trying to be rude … but maybe English wasn’t your first language.

Caller: No … it’s not … but why is that relevant?

Coren: Because I think your English should be fluent if you’re teaching kids in the English language

Caller: Well I think you’re very ignorant because my English is perfect … so it is not a problem

Coren: No … it’s not … and you’re also rather rude D’aria [sic] … I was on your side … I was only a question … but if you’re the quality of TA’s and that’s how you speak to people who ask you a question then we have a problem …

LeDrew: So at the end of the day if she’s happy with the money but it haas to deal with classrom size … what baloney … are you now coming over to the right side of the argument … are you agreeing with me that the government should step in to get rid of the strike ….

The caller is no longer on the radio … the topic moves to John Moore who comes into the studio to promote his show coming up after the news …

Of course I was not going to let an idiot’s comments ruin my day. In fact, I burst into an ironic and bitter laughter after hanging up. But not saying anything about it was also not an option for me given we all claim we work for social justice and against racism and oppression. So I am sharing my story with you…if any of you would like to make a comment to the radio, these are the emails you need (editor’s note: I’ve provided a complete list of contacts at the bottom of this post, below the break), or feel free to post a comment on their website though I did not find a blog for that show. I understand people’s busy days and the tiredness after a long day of picketing ( which I haven’t been doing for a few days due to illness)! So no pressure

…and ESL TAs, GA s, faculty, and students, do not let such comments EVER influence your self confidence.

If you want to contact CFRB, here is some contact information:

CFRB 1010 Website

CFRB 1010 Operations Manager, Steve Kowch: opsmngr@cfrb.com, Direct line: 416-323-6847

Astral Media

CFRB 1010 is owned by Astral Media. Astral Media’s corporate values include “respect”:

Respect
Each individual deserves to be treated with dignity and consideration. Nothing justifies a lack of respect, not in the Astral Media culture. We accept individual differences and are open to other points of view. This ensures we work in a company where performance does not mean a cutthroat culture. We can indeed thrive and still be nice peaople.

It’s also interesting to note that Astral Media has a “Guide to Ethical Business Conduct” (section E, pdf link) that outlines that employees of the company “deserves to be treated with dignity and consideration” and “does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.” It would seem as though consumers of their services don’t get such consideration by employees of the company.

Astral Media Radio Contact information:

Mr. Ross Davies, Vice President Programming, rdavies@radio.astral.com

Astral Media Radio Phone number: 416-323-5200

CRTC

The CRTC is Canada’s government agency responsible for regulating Canada’s broadcasting and telecommunications systems. Register a complaint about the conduct of this host. Its worth noting that the Canadian Broadcast Standards does not outline racism as an example of ethical misconduct.

BROADCAST/CABLE

Showtime has picked up the wildly popular series “Dexter” for two more blood-soaked seasons. The show, now in Season 3, averages 2.5 million viewers each week, which is a 16% increase from the show’s second season. Yahoo!/The Hollywood Reporter (10/22)

MSNBC may have a new star on its hands in Rachel Maddow, the liberal news-commentator-turned-TV-host. Since the launch of “The Rachel Maddow Show” on Sept. 8 at 9 p.m., the time slot has attracted an average of 1.7 million viewers, about double the number tuning in before Maddow’s arrival. The New York Times (free registration) (10/20)

A new study from ABI Research predicts that 20% of Americans with analog TVs will allow those sets to “go dark” after the switch to all-digital signals next February. The study went on to say that 10% will switch to either cable or satellite service and that 70% will use digital-to-analog converter boxes. Multichannel News (10/21)

HBO Canada began a multiplatform ad campaign Monday to raise awareness about its Oct. 30 launch on Astral Media’s The Movie Network and Corus Entertainment’s Movie Central. The campaign — which includes TV, radio, out-of-home, online and print — is playing out across the country in cities such as Toronto, Halifax, Vancouver and Calgary. Cartt News Service (subscription only) (10/21)

Comcast is rolling out its “Best of the City” video-on-demand series to the Greater Sacramento, Calif., area. The guides marshal together the top food, shopping, entertainment and family-fun options in a given city in three- to five-minute video capsules. American City Business Journals/Sacramento, Calif. (10/21)