June 26, 2008 / 09:10
That's cool, many morning shows don't last, so they must be doing something right. Not my cup of tea. It's sort of like what I say about artists I don't like. Take Janet Jackson or Michael Bolton. I don't like their music, but they must be doing something right if they are that succesful.
Yes Danger, I just compared you to Micheal Bolton. But, I meant it in the nicest way possible.
June 26, 2008 / 09:17
Andy Barrie, CBC Metro Morning, started September 1995 and not going anywhere
June 26, 2008 / 09:21
...and most of the '80s and '90s CFNY listeners are listening to it.
June 26, 2008 / 09:31
I've made the correction on the posting. I was referring to "commercial" radio.
June 26, 2008 / 09:53
Could there be a change in the works, seeing as Alan Cross has been reassigned? It would be a good thing, too. DB may be the longest running commercial morning show, but that still doesn't it make it any good.
June 26, 2008 / 09:57
unfortunately there's not one morning show i like. even Stern got tiresome after awhile, but he still has some pretty funny shit.
i find all morning shows very forced with faux laughter..edge is at least the most real and the guys say what's on their minds..but really..talking about shit and similar matters at 8am makes me want to vomit in my mouth. (come to think of it..the thought of me vomiting in my mouth makes me want to vomit in my mouth).
and for the love of god, Edge, expand that effing playlist!
June 26, 2008 / 10:03
Speaking of funny (or unfunny) morning shows, CFRB promos for Bill Carroll keep emphasizing the "laughs". Laughs? He may try, but he's about as funny as a toothache. Oakley is funny, and more informative too.
June 26, 2008 / 10:10
unfortunately there's not one morning show i like. even Stern got tiresome after awhile, but he still has some pretty funny shit.
i find all morning shows very forced with faux laughter..edge is at least the most real and the guys say what's on their minds..but really..talking about shit and similar matters at 8am makes me want to vomit in my mouth. (come to think of it..the thought of me vomiting in my mouth makes me want to vomit in my mouth).
and for the love of god, Edge, expand that effing playlist!
June 26, 2008 / 10:10
unfortunately there's not one morning show i like. even Stern got tiresome after awhile, but he still has some pretty funny shit.
i find all morning shows very forced with faux laughter..edge is at least the most real and the guys say what's on their minds..but really..talking about shit and similar matters at 8am makes me want to vomit in my mouth. (come to think of it..the thought of me vomiting in my mouth makes me want to vomit in my mouth).
and for the love of god, Edge, expand that effing playlist!
June 26, 2008 / 10:13
Ryan seems very repetetive...like our playlist. Thanks for the recognition Freddie.
Jason
June 26, 2008 / 10:28
Weird Morning Radio must be really Voltile. I can only take Dean and the boys in small doses. Just not that funny to me. But Kudos to them they are doing something right obviously.
June 26, 2008 / 10:30
We can't explain it either James, but we're going to keep on keeping on until the axe comes down.
June 26, 2008 / 10:41
See, I tried to play nice but someone still pointed out the two things about The Edge that stink the most.
Maybe it's time someone started an official petition, because I can't find anyone happy with The Edge playlist.
As for "The Show" I've politely said it wasn't my cup of tea but it is what it is.. meh.
June 26, 2008 / 10:43
Oops the above comment was me. Dunno what's wrong with me today.
June 26, 2008 / 11:00
Good for you Jason... you deserve the success. As well to Dean and Todd.
June 26, 2008 / 11:25
Jason,
it was this site that posted my note a few times...musta been a glitch...
but nice one!
i can sense even you guys are sick of the playlist, plus i know you're a little more honest than other station's jocks since you often criticize certain songs. i would too if i heard nickelback, theory of a deadman and the chili peppers over and over and over.
i emailed alan cross about expanding the playlist (a wider playlist seems to be successful for indie 103.1 fm out of L.A) but he gave me a form letter response. Man has he ever turned into...well..the Man.
June 26, 2008 / 11:27
For a short time a yr ago I lived and worked with a friend of mine. We shared the drive sometimes and he insisted on listening to the dean blundell show. At first I found them a bit crude, however the more i listened the more i looked forward to what they had to say the next morning. They had elements of howard stern type material in their content but unlike him who I quickly grew tired of (when he was played in cda) i continued to enjoy their show.
Rare is a show where they speak their mind. Politically incorrect or not they say what most of us 'think' but are 'afraid' to say. So I think they are to be commended with what they do.
I even found the elements that some here complain about i.e. playing the same 4 or 5 songs over and over on their playlist as funny. Its obviously part of the schtick so I got it.
Enjoy you guys a ton, you made alot of long drives in morning pass by as rather than focus on traffic I listened. Even had times after a long drive due to heavy traffic or accidents where anyone would want out of the car but I sat there in a parking lot wanting to hear the rest of what they had to say.
Kudos!
PS Todds Gay
June 26, 2008 / 12:20
Mike Boon dot com did a little experiemnt with the Edge playlist last week. Check it out if you want. Then google R&R and take a lot at all the stations across North America and see what they play. The current Edge playlist is an insult to its history. There is no innovation, no "New Music. First."
Please bring back the spirit!
June 26, 2008 / 13:03
Here's a closer look at the Edge 102 playlist: http://www.torontomike.com/2008/06/a_closer_look_at_the_edge_102.html
June 26, 2008 / 14:25
what became of Henny?
June 26, 2008 / 14:41
Overall, Toronto morning radio has me wondering...Hey! Wah Happen? I agree with Ryan in that most of the morning shows seem to have forced laughter and lame grade 5 jokes. As it stands right now, Dean Blundell & his crew have the truly funniest morning radio show currently.
Bring back RIPKIN! He's currently doing afternoons at HANKFM. Please...save him.
June 26, 2008 / 15:06
Hi everyone;
just thought i'd share this info. It was in response to an email i sent to Alan Cross about the narrow playlist. I'm sure Alan wouldn't mind, because let's face it..he's probably been asked this a million times from old cfny'rs like many of us..here it is!
--------
"Thanks for the note. Lemme try and offer an explanation or two.
One of the great challenges of working at the Edge is determining what songs to play and what songs to leave out. With 50,000 new releases every year, we're inevitably going to leave out a few. That’s why we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on audience research (auditorium testing, call-out and on-line) determining the wants, needs, desires and demands of the Edge listener. We pour over charts, graphs, trends, sales figures, concert attendance, requests and more in order to determine what songs to play, how often they should be played—and when to stop playing them. This all comes up for discussion every Wednesday at 3 when our Music Committee convenes.
The corollary of this is that we also determine what songs not to play in the first place.
Complicating everything is the fact that by law, we have to devote 35% of our playlist to Canadian music.š That just leaves 65% for the rest of the world.š You can see how things may get squeezed out.
And there's more.
One of the weird things about radio is how much it’s changed in the last few decades. It used to be that you could play a million different songs a day and still get high ratings.š That’s because we had less competition.
These days, though, radio has to compete with so many other things for your attention and leisure minutes.š The Internet, computer games, dozens of cable TV channels, video-on-demand, DVDs, multiplex cinemas, monster bookstores—the list is endless.
Complicating matters is we’re now living in an “on-demand” culture.š People want what they want when they want it—and they all want it NOW.š Hundreds of thousands of people are always tuning in and tuning out as they go about their day—and when they tune it, they expect to hear a big song almost immediately.š Otherwise, they’re gone.š They switch the station.š We know this to be true because we conduct regular and highly scientific research into listener behaviour that costs us hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.š
Speaking of research, we’re constantly asking our audience what they want to hear using several extremely reputable firms who specialize in finding out what people want to hear.š Since we started applying what we’ve learned from this data, our ratings have gone through the roof.š
Obviously, any radio station can’t respond to the needs of every individual that’s listening at any given time.š Therefore, we have to hope to appeal to the greatest number of people as much as possible and as often as possible.š And the only way to do that is, unfortunately, to repeat big songs more often.š Believe it or not, it works when it comes to getting ratings—and as a commercial radio station, that’s the name of the game.
Another thing to consider is that the Edge is perpetually 27 years old. šOur business goal to appeal to men under the age of 35. We may age, but the target age of the station doesn't.
And finally, it’s a sad reality that most of the people in this world aren’t as big as you or I might be. You may not be a fan of, say, Nickelback, but they sell millions of records and can sell out the ACC.
SOMEONE must like them—and we need to serve that constituency. If we didn’t, we’d be ignoring an extremely large portion of the rock audience in Toronto. And that would be bad business.
At the same time, you and I may be huge fans of the Clash and the Talking Heads--but the typical 28 year-old isn't. They just don't care because this music is not from their generation. And every generation has a biological right to believe that the music of their youth is the greatest music ever made.
That’s the short version of a long, complicated explanation of why we do what we do. I hope it helps."
June 26, 2008 / 16:30
Hey congrats to you and the guys Mr. Barr. And great to see all these years later, still raggin' about the same ole shit. So glad i'm on the west coast now! Hell, i played Clutch today! Ansy Barries a union member right? no wonder he still there!
June 26, 2008 / 21:35
Alan Cross provided a very thorough explanation for the Edge's playlist. Now I'd like to hear the rationale for Q107's. They play classic rock. There's literally 1000's of songs that fall in that category, so someone explain why the f**k I have to hear Heart's "Magic Man" and Queen's "Killer Queen" 3 times a week!
June 26, 2008 / 22:31
Because the music is tested and despite what you might think, the majority of people want to hear those hits. They're obvously playing the right songs because they're one of the most listened to radio stations in the entire country, by far....
June 26, 2008 / 23:51
Sorry Moxie, let me rephrase that for you. The majority of the people that LISTEN TO EDGE 102 want to hear those hits. The majority of people do not
They're one of the most listened to radio stations in the country because they're in the largest city in the country.
You obviously work in the industry
June 27, 2008 / 11:03
Anyone want to e-mail Alan Cross and ask him why a wider playlist works just fine for Indie 103 and a bunch of other superior stations to The Edge?
In other words, all that freaking money you're wasting on "research" you could use on a secondary station/stream at the VERY LEAST.
I'm sure there is some truth to what Alan is saying, but at the end of the day what it means is "Corus wants the Edge to make money and we really don't care how that goal is achieved. If we need to play Nickelback 400 times a day, we will."
RIP The Spirit.
June 27, 2008 / 11:53
I take the words of Alan Cross with a grain of salt.
Personally, I don't have a problem with Alan programming CFNY as it is. It is a business and a public business, therefore maximizing shareholder profit is priority 1.
Where I take Alan to task is his incessant shrill on how progressive or cutting edge Edge 102 is. Edge 102 is always quick to add the latest Coldplay record but when it comes to a lesser known name, it's completely different. Think Fratellis, Think MGMT, Think She Wants Revenge (barely played). Think Silversun Pickups. The list is extensive, huge alternative songs that were added LATE by 102.1 FM
In short Alan, if you want to pimp yourself to the system, that's perfectly fine. We all need to make a living. But please...cut the shrill about how incredibly wonderful you & your Alternative CHR station is. Because that's what Edge 102 is. It's the home of the hits.
If you've ever been a fan of real rap music, you've probably heard the term House N*gg*. It's a term from a time when there was rampant racism against Black people and was used to describe a black man that sold his soul out to the white man (and hence got to live in the house). He set aside his convictions, his beliefs, his passion to service the man in exchange for a better life.
And that's essentially what Alan is. On one hand, he sells his soul & mind to the man, but on the other, he still expects us to swallow his shrill that he's still that Alan Cross, the progressive & intelligent radio & music man.
I can respect David Marsden for what he does. His work at CFNY, The Rock, in creating online radio in Canada LONG before online radio existed. During that time I was told by Edge 102's Neil Mann that online streaming was "of no benefit to the station now or in the future".
Alan is a talented man. But the day I read about him in the Star talking about his car was the day all respect ended for him. Where I to come on this forum and bragg about my $$$ from my oil patch income, I'd be shot down in flames as arrogant and self righteous.
Move along Alan. Your time is over.
July 7, 2008 / 16:29
I'm coming late to this discussion but I've been on vacation.
Anyhoo, I can't listen to the Edge anymore. Dean Blunder and crew are crap, pure and simple. Hated them from day one and still hate them. Horrible replacements for the best morning team there ever was, Humble & Fred.
The music is crap too. Repetitive, cloned, canned, so-called alternative. Just a load of bollocks.
I get the Edge music survey by email and the songs they send for review pretty much all sound the same to me, except for the occasional, actual new music song as mentioned by Irvine, but as Irvine also stated, there is so much more out there it's laughable.
When I can, I now listen to the UK's Virgin Extreme online. Great stuff. I get to hear the best of the British Indie Rock scene long before any of it turns up over here.
As for North American new rock, I don't get to hear much of the real stuff anymore coz I can't find it being played!
I now listen to Q107 in the morning, Derringer and crew are much closer to my generation but the music sucks big time.
In the afternoon I listen to Bill Walters - sorry you didn't get that gig Freddie, you should have, that guy they hired is awful.
The only things I will listen to on the Edge are Alan Cross' History of New Music, that is still interesting, and the Strombo Show - though that man seems to be fast becoming the new face of the CBC. Well good for him but they are shoving him down the public's throat way too much. I like him but he needs to watch out for overexposure.
Hey people, how's this for an interesting little Toronto radio tid-bit.
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