Freddie P's Blog

December 4, 2007 @ 09:34

I received an unsettling e-mail from former colleague Rick Loewen yesterday. You probably know him as “Ripkin.”

“Ripkin” wrote to tell me about the passing of a mutual acquaintance named G. Bain Arnold.

Those of you who work within the radio industry probably know Bain; he worked at Angus Glen Golf Course from its inception until 2005 where he was usually heavily involved in corporate and media tournaments.

More recently he ran GBA Consulting.

On Friday Bain had an allergic reaction and died leaving behind his wife Margo and baby Wilkin. G. Bain Arnold was only 35.

I won’t pretend I was great friends with Bain because I wasn’t, in fact the only time I ever saw Bain was at Angus Glen or various other "events" but he was always happy and helpful and I kept in touch with him through “facebook.”

My favourite golf shorts were courtesy of Bain. I showed up at Angus Glen one day for a media tournament a few years back and it was unseasonably hot.

Bain couldn’t stand to see me go out on the course in black pants so he “donated” a pair of PGA khaki shorts and I still wear them.

A memorial visitation will be held on Wednesday, December 5th, 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. at the Dixon-Garland Funeral Home, 166 Main Street N. (Markham Road), Markham, Ontario. Memorial donations can be made to the Lung Association.

''A musical and spiritual celebration of Bain's life will be held early in the new year''

Category: Friends

December 4, 2007 @ 09:33

Prime Minister Harper is setting himself up for more Liberal bashing this week as the United Nations gathers in Bali, Indonesia to discuss the next phase of global warming.

All indication are that the Prime Minister will not waiver on his stance which was summed up nicely by the Canadian Press.

"Any new agreement must incorporate all the world's major emitters of greenhouse gases and must impose binding, absolute targets on them.

"We already saw at Kyoto, if we get a third of the world to sign on first and wait for the other two-thirds it's never going to happen."

Bang on and good for you Mr. Prime Minister.

Category: Politics

December 4, 2007 @ 09:32

The radio ratings were released yesterday and it was a lot of the same. If CHUM-FM isn’t leading the pack then it’s CHFI and in this latest round it’s the latter.

CHFI has a 9.6 Share. CHUM-FM has an 8.9.

Canada has a flawed ratings system that sees mostly women fill out Bureau of Broadcast Measurement ballots and often they fill them out for the men of the house and end up writing down their own preferences.

You probably have no idea what I’m talking about because the vast majority of you have never seen or heard of a BBM ballot and therefore have no idea how ratings are arrived at.

A household gets a ballot or diary for every member of the family and during a given week they have to write down what radio station they listened to in quarter hour segments. (I'm not kidding)

Apparently, in the coming months BBM will be introducing something called people meters where a select few will agree to wear meters that will record all radio stations that they come into contact with during a day.

It too will have some flaws, but it will definitely be better than the current system, and will probably provide some surprises.

There a few stations in Toronto that probably don't have the audience they get credit for, they get numbers based on heritage and the fact that "mom" probably fills out ballots for dad and the kids.

When people ask me about ratings and I tell them who the perennial winners are they often can’t believe it and I feel for them because I have to admit I don’t know anyone who listens to CHUM-FM or CHFI either

I have kids in their twenties, friends in their 30’s, relatives in their 40’s and a spouse in her 50’s and none of them ever reference CHUM-FM or CHFI.

But don't get me wrong, this is not to criticize. These stations play the game and play it very well.

These are ratings “friendly” radio stations that can often be heard in doctor, dental and business offices but don’t honestly reflect the quality of radio that’s available in the city and their over-all standing does not tell the entire story.

CHFI and CHUM-FM lead the ratings with listeners 12 years of age and older and they dominate in most female demographics over 25 years and they make lots of money, but not a whole heck of a lot more than Q-107 which has a 6.3 share but owns the market in men over 25.

Or how about the Edge, it dropped to a 3.8 share in the latest book but it still dominates the male 18-34 demographic and that’s arguably the most lucrative demographic of all.

It’s also next to impossible to get an 18-34 year old male to fill out a ballot, so like it always has, The Edge has a lot more listeners than it ever gets credit for.

That’s why it’s often so hard for people to believe who the so-called leaders are when it comes to radio ratings. For someone who listens to the Edge, CHFI is not part of their world so why would they believe its Toronto’s top rated station?

From my perspective, if we could come up with a ratings system that actually worked, I’d expect Q-107 to be at or near the top.

There is no other radio station or morning show in Toronto that I hear referenced more than Q-107 and the Derringer Show by both men and women alike and there’s no bias here because I’m not really a classic rock guy.

I am however a fan of good solid entertaining radio and there is not a better FM morning show in the city right now than the Derringer Show and if ratings were based on quality, Derringer would leave all other shows in the dust.

There are other quirky stories related to the BBM, too many to relate actually, and it the end it really doesn’t matter because the system is what the system is.

It’s flawed but empires are won and jobs are lost based on a system that requires what it rarely gets.

Accurate feedback.

Category: Radio

December 3, 2007 @ 12:29

I honestly don't know what to say. Not being of a large technical ability when it comes to such things I had to put my predicament in the hands of Toronto Mike.

On Thursday afternoon some weird things starting happening with FreddieP.ca so I immediately contacted Booner to get his take on the situation. It turns out my host didn't like something that was going on with my website and immediately shut it down.

Again, the technical explanation is better left to Mike, but I can tell you this; there's a chance my problems were the result of one person or place that decided they either didn't like my site or they don't like what I have to say on my site. In other words, radical malicious censorship.

They did something my host red flagged. What that was or could have been, I don't know, that's another question better left answered by Toronto Mike.

I'd like to think this wasn't the case but the more information we receive there doesn't seem to be any other explanation. It may have been one of those people who expounds freedom of speech as long as the speech is something they agree with.

In the end however it could all turn out for the better. Mike fixed everything and hooked me up with a new server and a better platform for creating FreddieP.ca.

We will right this off as a learning experience and continue on bigger and better than ever.

Category: Stuff

December 3, 2007 @ 11:44

Over the next couple of days The Fan 590 will respond to a threatened lawsuit by Sean Avery of the New York Rangers.

It deals with an incident a few weeks ago during the pre-game skate at the ACC. Darcy Tucker took exception to Avery's trash talk which was apparently directed at the Leafs Jason Blake.

The Fan's Howard Berger reported that he had talked to an unnamed source within the Rangers dressing room who said Avery had been yapping about Blake's battle with cancer.

Avery denied it and the end result is that Berger was hung out to dry.

Last week Avery's lawyer served The Fan with a libel notice so the radio station decided it was best if they aired retractions and given the situation its hard to argue with that.

But the question begs to be asked, why haven't Tucker or Blake had anything to say about the incident, and where's the unnamed source?

This whole issue could have been cleared up is somewhere along the way either Tucker or Blake had confirmed what was said, but neither will comment on it.

Obviously something cut pretty deep that night or Tucker wouldn't have reacted the way he did, and it must have been bad enough for one of Avery's team mates to actually talk about it, but nobody will confirm anything.

I realize when it comes to the professional sports fraternity; the welfare or reputation of a radio reporter doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot, but in this case how about a little decency?

This entire controversy could have been nipped in the bud by either Tucker or Blake with confirmation of what was said. I can't believe that if Avery actually had something to say about Blake's cancer that he and Tucker would put Avery's reputation above Berger's

On second thought, let me put it this way. I don't "want" to believe it.

Category: Radio

December 3, 2007 @ 11:38

I've been invited back out to CHCH TV this afternoon to talk about boobs. Hooters, cans, love pillows, tits.

A recent article in the Daily Mail of London about prosthetic breasts for woman gathered a lot of attention and the good people at Live at 5:30 thought I was just the guy to discuss it.

You see, these boobs aren't for women who have lost one of both, these prosthetic breasts are for women who just want bigger ones.

Catch Donna, Mark, me and my favourite Liberal Mary Ann Meed Ward this afternoon at 5:30 as we talk about instant boob jobs.

Category: Television

December 2, 2007 @ 17:37

If you can read this, propagation is complete. You're looking at the new freddiep.ca, even though it looks an awful lot like the old freddiep.ca.

Fred will take it from here... assuming he can find his way around MT4. I'm moving down the information superhighway to my regular home at Toronto Mike.

~ Mike

Category: Guest Columnists