from the: Montreal Gazette
August 22, 1999
Mike Boone Column
--snips--
Friday will be a sad anniversary for Howard Stern fans.
On Aug. 27, 1998, the outrageous morning man disappeared from Montreal's airwaves when CHOM canceled the Stern show on orders from the station owners, Toronto-based CHUM Ltd. The decision was based on a case of corporate jitters at CHUM, which holds many radio and TV licenses and is loath to annoy broadcast regulators.
A few of Stern's listeners used the Internet to commiserate and formed the S.T.E.R.N. (Stop Toronto Executives in Radio Now) Group. They may not be numerous, but the S.T.E.R.N. gang is humorous, which is more than can be said for the tight-tushed cornflakes salesmen who run Montreal commercial radio.
A recent S.T.E.R.N. Group statement blasts the "stagnant, dull and generic" sounds to be found at virtually every frequency on Montreal's AM and FM radio dials. The blandness is "disturbing and frustrating when cities such as Ottawa, Plattsburgh and Burlington have more variety and choice (in radio) than our city of more than 2 million people."
Amen.
As part of their continuing - and heretofore futile - campaign to get Stern's show back on the air in Montreal, the lobby group is calling for an Aug. 27 boycott of local commercial stations. The Great Montreal Radio Turn-Off will run from 6 a.m. to midnight on Friday.
The S.T.E.R.N. Group also urges boycott participants to let Montreal radio stations know why they're tuning out. Phone, write, E-mail them - and, as much as you'd like to scream "You suck!" and hang up, be polite and articulate.
from the: Montreal Gazette
August 15, 1999
by: MIKE BOONE of The Gazette
If you're planning a leisurely lunch at Picasso restaurant on St. Jacques St. west of Cavendish today, be forewarned that you run the danger of encountering devoted, never-say-die, it-ain't-over-till-it's-over fans of Howard Stern's radio show.
The eatery is playing host to a noon meeting of the S.T.E.R.N. Group, which was formed a year ago when CHOM abruptly yanked Howard Stern's popular morning show off its schedule. In recognition of the corporate factors behind the cancellation - i.e. nervousness at the Toronto head offices of CHUM Ltd., the radio and TV empire that owns CHOM - the Group's acronym stands for Stop Toronto Executives in Radio Now.
Greenfield Park shortwave guru Sheldon Harvey got the S.T.E.R.N. Group going. Howard Gontovnick publishes its Internet newsletter at www.cam.org/~howardg/stern.html.
The Group is dedicated to getting Stern's show back on the air in Montreal - or at least accessible to Montreal listeners. Gontovnick and his gang hold out hope that Stern will show up on a Vermont or upstate New York station with a signal that beams this far north.
Don't hold your breath. It's gratifying, however, that there are a few Montrealers who care enough about interesting radio to keep the flames flickering for 12 months.
How many aggrieved listeners would show up at Picasso's if CHOM canceled the Steve Anthony morning show?
from: Radio Digest
June 1,1999
--Snip--
The worst news is on Greene Avenue in Westmount, where CHUM Ltd.'s two stations, CHOM and CKGM, are headquartered. CHOM-FM has not recovered from the sudden and unexplained cancellation of the Howard Stern Show, which propelled that station to the very top of the ratings in the morning slot and resulted in many listeners staying with the station all day. At the time CHOM-FM cancelled Stern, it also abandoned the classic-rock format that had served it well for years, earning the station loyal francophone listeners as well.
from: The Montreal Gazette
December 16, 1998
But while Stern's absence hasn't seemed to have helped anyone, the lack of his morning show has hurt CHOM - bad. The FM station's weekly audience was 661,800 a year ago, its total hours of tuning 4.4 million. Without Stern, those numbers have plummeted to 505,000 listeners and 3.2 million hours.
A year ago, Stern's quarter-hour average was almost 70,000 listeners. The current CHOM morning show (with fill-in host Rob Reeford for most of the ratings survey) has a quarter-hour average of 27,900.
Thanks to robk for this item...
Stern's morning show had a quarter-hour average of 48,500 listeners. Terry DiMonte, in his first ratings period at CJAD, topped the English morning competition with an average of 61,700.
Jam! Television
August 26, 1998
TORONTO (CP) -- American shock jock Howard Stern is getting the heave-ho in Canada.
CHUM Ltd. announced Wednesday that it will not carry Stern's controversial new Saturday night TV talk show on its Toronto-based independent channel, Citytv. Also the Howard Stern radio show will no longer be carried by CHUM's Montreal radio station, CHOM-FM.
"CHUM Ltd. has a commitment to programming of high standards as called for in the Broadcasting Act," said Fred Sherratt, executive vice president and chief operating officer of CHUM, in a news release.
"In addition, CHUM is committed to adhering to the industry codes administered by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. It is clear that the television show will not meet those standards."
Stern's Saturday night debut, carried on some Fox-TV affiliates south of the border, proved to be little more than excerpts from his syndicated morning radio program, but with TV cameras in the studio. Stern says his plan is to clobber NBC's Saturday Night Live in the ratings. But in major American cities, an SNL rerun that included old Eddie Murphy clips easily won the first race.
Jim Waters, the president of CHUM Group Radio, said CHOM had been "extremely effective" in editing the radio show to meet industry codes.
"However, with the introduction of the television show in Montreal from U.S. border stations, CHOM's efforts in editing the show have been compromised as the radio program is now no longer heard in isolation."
Citytv owns the national rights to Stern's TV broadcasts and had made a decision to wait and see how the launch last weekend went. It was carried in the Toronto area by WUTV, a Fox-TV affiliate in Buffalo, N.Y.
"After reviewing the show, we have serious concerns that the ongoing series will not meet our standards," said Jay Switzer, vice president of programming for CHUM Television.
For the most part, the show featured female guests (and one of indeterminate gender) who agreed to undress or at least bare their chests for Stern. The forbidden parts were masked by black squares or pixillated as Stern humiliated the subjects mercilessly. He reduced one muscular but bosomy transvestite to tears by saying he/she looked like nothing more than a man with breasts.
One genuinely funny filmed bit had a Stern staffer ambush O.J. Simpson on the golf course and put a series of questions to him about the progress of his "investigation" into the murders.
Simpson was amiable enough at first, but near the end he quickly departed on his golf cart after being asked if he had any advice for removing blood stains or if he had engaged in "alternative sex" while behind bars.
Stern's New York-based radio show is still carried on a Toronto radio station but on a tape-delay basis to permit on-the-fly editing of offensive bits.
http://www.canoe.ca:80/Television/aug26_stern.html
June 4, 1998
Has the Howard Stern bubble burst?
Montreal radio stations received results of the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement's spring ratings yesterday. The numbers, based on a survey conducted in February, March and April, are embargoed until this morning.
Radio executives respected the BBM's rules by declining to talk numbers on the record yesterday, but CHOM's competitors could not keep themselves from chortling about a ratings decline for the FM station's morning show.
"I've got your ratings headline ready for you," said one caller, requesting anonymity.
"How about 'Stern Storm Blows out of Town'?"
CHOM began broadcasting Stern's syndicated morning show in September. By early January, when the BBM published its fall ratings, the shock-jock New Yorker had surged past George Balcan to become Montreal's top-rated English morning man.
Although the numbers won't be confirmed until this morning, sources say that CHOM's morning show has been overtaken by Mix 96.
Terry DiMonte, in his last ratings period before succeeding Balcan as host of the CJAD morning show, posted his best-ever Mix ratings.
"DiMonte's audience peaked at 88,000 at 8 a.m.," said a source, scanning the BBM book. "Stern is at 64,000."
Q92's Aaron Rand and Paul Zakaib peak with 74,200 listeners at 8 a.m. During morning-radio prime time, Stern is running third.
In the fall ratings survey, Stern's audience at 8 was 92,500 listeners - to 73,900 for DiMonte. Noting the disparity, a radio executive suggested that Stern's autumn audience included "a lot of tire-kickers" who tuned in the CHOM morning show to see what all the fuss was about.
"And Stern's woman listeners deserted in droves," the sources added. "Maybe he did one too many features on necrophilia."
CHOM program director Ian McLean refused to break the ratings service's embargo. "All of my competitors who talked to you have violated the BBM partnership agreement," McLean said when he was asked to confirm the decline in Stern's numbers.
"I'd love to comment on what they're saying, but I can't."
Reticence will evaporate this morning. With the embargo lifted, execs at CHOM - McLean and his boss, general manager Lee Hambleton - will be free to counter suggestions that Howard Stern was a one-hit wonder.
And the BBM muzzle will be off at CIQC, allowing the station to crow about Jim Duff's numbers. The CJAD refugee posted a top quarter-hour of 26,000 listeners - almost double the peak audience Howard Galganov got as host of CIQC's morning show.
CJAD's numbers are down: the station's share of breakfast tuning among English-speaking listeners tumbled to 17.7 per cent from 23. But when CJAD's execs are allowed to talk about the ratings on the record today, they will point out that the ice-storm aftermath - tumbled transmitters, migration to the 990 kilohertz frequency - were mitigating factors in CJAD's poor performance. Having returned to 800 kHz, CJAD should bounce right back.
The big story on the French side of the radio dial is the resurgence of CKVL. Having hired Andre Arthur for its morning show and successfully transformed itself into a lively, blue-collar, populist alternative to hidebound "heritage station" CKAC, Verdun-based CKVL (part of the Pierre Beland/Pierre Arcand empire that includes CKOI, Q92 and CIQC) has rung up significant audience gains - up to 145 per cent in some demographic subgroups.
January 18, 1998
Mike Boone, The Montreal Gazette
Rob Braide, general manager of CJAD and Mix 96, takes me to task for my interpretation of the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement's autumn ratings.
Specifically, Braide is annoyed by the notion that Howard Stern has dethroned George Balcan to become the new king of Montreal's English morning radio. He says that in preparing my report on the BBM ratings, which ran in The Gazette on Jan. 10, I was "snookered'' by CHOM, the station that has brought Stern's syndicated show to Montreal.
"It's been a tough week for Standard Broadcasting here in Montreal on a number of levels," Braide writes. "You can imagine how badly it stings to have had incorrect information fed to you by CHUM (which owns CHOM). It has cost my operation significant revenue and served to demoralize my staff."
Braide included a chart that ranks Montreal's English radio morning shows according to market share of tuning by the anglophone audience.
Balcan is a clear leader. His market share is 24.9, to 18.8 for Stern. Third place went to Aaron Rand and Paul Zakaib of Q 92, with an 18.5 share, while Terry DiMonte and Ted Bird posted a 15.9 share at the Mix.
One small problem with Braide's analysis: he is changing the yardstick by which morning shows are measured in press coverage of the BBM ratings.
I've been writing about broadcasting in Montreal for almost 18 years. During my very first attempt to fathom BBM ratings, it was explained to me by a radio person in the know (probably Ted Blackman, but it could have been John Mackey, Ralph Lucas or Peter Shurman) that morning shows and other programs are best assessed by their quarter-hour average, defined by the ratings service as the average number of listeners tuned to each 15-minute block of a radio show.
Since 1980, I have written, by conservative estimate, 65 columns about the BBM radio ratings. In each one, I rated Montreal's morningmen according to their quarter-hour averages.
And in each BBM ratings column except one (during the summer of 1986, when Balcan was unexpectedly edged by DiMonte's CHOM morning show), I reported that CJAD had English radio's No. 1 morning show. Oddly enough, not once during this string of Balcan-Is-King stories did anyone at CJAD point out that morning shows ought to be rated according to share of hours tuned among anglo listeners.
Memo to Rob Braide and his distinguished colleagues and competitors: Mrs. Boone didn't raise any idiots.
Through all the years that CJAD dominated morning radio - a run that dates back at least to the 1970s - competing stations tried to change the rules of the game. Sure, Balcan may look like No. 1, the losers would lament, but our guy was tops among one-legged trilingual albinos between the ages of 54 and 120 - "and Mike, I wouldn't lie to you: this is a very important demographic group for advertisers."
Much as it pains me to hurt morale among all my dear friends at CJAD (some of whom are so despondent they can barely muster the energy to slag The Gazette on-air), let me reiterate what the BBM autumn ratings show: Howard Stern's morning show has a higher quarter-hour average than George Balcan's.
January 11, 1998
Stern: others will want him.
It wasn't a real good 12 hours for CJAD.
On Thursday afternoon, the station learned that the latest Bureau of Broadcast Measurement radio ratings survey showed Howard Stern as English Montreal's No. 1 morningman. And while shell-shocked executives digested the news that the controversial New York shock jock had toppled George Balcan and ended CJAD's 30-year dominance of morning radio, the station's transmission towers collapsed under the weight of accumulated ice.
CJAD was off the air yesterday morning. And CHOM was broadcasting Stern's proud boast that his show was No. 1 in Montreal and a very strong No. 2 in Toronto.
And this is only the beginning. Lee Hambleton, general manager of CHOM, predicts that Stern's invasion of Canadian airwaves will pick up steam based on the BBM numbers.
"This is the biggest broadcasting story in Canada," Hambleton said. "Out of the gate, Howard Stern has 1,144,000 listeners per week in the two largest cities in the country. You can bet that radio executives in Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton are going to look at these ratings and start dialing Stern's syndication office."
Hambleton says CHOM was confident that the Stern show would be tops among English FM programs. Launched Sept. 2 with a wild broadcast during which Stern unburdened himself of a francophobic tirade, the new CHOM morning show benefited from an avalanche of free publicity - including a November ruling by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, which deemed Stern's show generally unsuitable for this country's airwaves.
Officially sanctioned as the bad boy of Canadian radio (to comply with the standards council ruling, CHOM edits out the most objectionable portions of the morning show), Stern is turning the Montreal and Toronto markets upside-down. He's breaking rules - and shattering radio legends.
"We thought we would challenge George Balcan," Hambleton said. "But we didn't predict we would beat him."
The performance of radio programs is measured by quarter-hour average, the number of listeners tuned to each 15-minute bloc of the broadcast. A year ago, CJAD's quarter-hour average was 74,000 listeners. CHOM's was 41,800.
The latest BBM numbers, reflecting Montreal radio listening during September, October and November, show Balcan with a quarter-hour average of 64,600. Stern's is 67,800.
"Why did AD take the biggest hit?" wondered CJAD program director Steve Kowch, who could not recall the last time his station was not No. 1 with morning listeners.
"Incredible," said CFQR/CIQC general manager Brian Kenemy. "Who the f--- who listens to Balcan would tune Howard Stern?"
Kenemy's own new morningman, anglo rights activist Howard Galganov, did not fare quite as well as Stern. CIQC's morning quarter-hour average is 8,600 listeners. It was 9,200 with Gord Logan a year ago.
"Our fight is not against CJAD," Hambleton said, while exulting in CHOM's conquest of the perennial morning champ. "Our battle is on the FM side, and our toughest competition was Mix 96. Well, Mix is now number four among English morning shows."
Number 3 is Q92. CFQR posted strong morning numbers (a quarter-hour average of 51,200 for Aaron Rand and Paul Zakaib) and good ratings throughout the broadcast day.
"This is a great BBM book for us,"said Q92 programming director Ted Silver. "We're number one with anglophone listeners in all the demographic groups that mean anything to anybody."
Delving into demographics, Hambleton noted with glee that Stern's show, dire predictions to the contrary, did not alienate French-speaking listeners.
"They say we pissed off every francophone in town," Hambleton said. "But we retained 93 per cent of our French-speaking morning audience - with a 100 per cent spoken-word program. Fully 45 per cent of Stern's audience is francophone."
And although misogyny is a basic element of Stern's act, the the number of women tuned to the CHOM morning show has increased 26 per cent since the sophomoric sexist signed on. Hours of tuning by women is up 88 per cent.
Hambleton predicted that his competitors would attempt to dismiss CHOM's ratings as a mornings-only indicator of the station's popularity.
"The fact remains that every advertiser looks at morning drive as the base of their radio buy," Hambleton said. "That's what prime time is in radio.
"Share of hours equals share of dollars," the CHOM exec added. "Our share of hours is up 48 per cent. That means about $2.5 million in annual revenue, maybe more."
Hambleton would not divulge figures, but he said that all syndication agreements with Stern include incentive clauses based on ratings performance.
"That's what makes it such a great deal. Stern gambles with you. But he wants to share."
Montreal has become an important milestone in Stern's career. In none of the 40 other cities in which the program is heard has the Howard Stern Show shot to number 1 after four months on the air.
© 1997 The Montreal Gazette, a division of Southam Inc.
ATTN: News, Entertainment, Business Editors
RE: News for Immediate Release
CHOM FM's overall English weekly audience has increased 31%! With "Midday" audience numbers up 22% and "Afternoon Drive" tuning up 6%, the big story continues to be the impact Howard Stern is making on CHOM FM and the Montreal English radio market.
"We knew that Howard would grow our numbers for us. . . but we didn't expect to see increases like this so quickly!" says Lee Hambleton, Vice President & General Manager of CHOM FM.
When asked where the audience increases were coming from, Ian MacLean, CHOM FM's Program Director pointed out three trends that seem to be appearing. First, The Howard Stern Show is a hit with men of all ages. In the key advertising demo of 18-49 men, CHOM's share of weekly hours is up 63% from the Summer BBM to a 23.6 share. The total number of English men listening is also up by 30%. At the same time, Mix 96's Male 18-49 share has slipped by 16%, placing the market leader in 2nd spot.
CHOM's female audience has seen huge growth. . . by as much as 145% in share of tuning by Women 18-49 to The Howard Stern Show. . . while Q92 and MIX 96 have seen their morning drive shares drop in this demo, 11% and 10% respectively.
Another part of the Howard Stern phenomenon in Montreal, is the repatriation of people back to radio. Thousands of Howard Stern fans are saying they are again listening to radio because there is finally something interesting to listen to. What other Montreal Mroning man last week (Let alone in the past year!) had as his guests Sylvester Stallone, Lauren Chapin, Jerry Seinfeld and his own mother all in one show?
A surprise to the folks on Greene Avenue is the shift in the make-up of CHOM's audience. The Howard Stern Show and the new musical environment have combined to attract large numbers of women to CHOM FM! The most recent BBM shows CHOM's weekly audience breakdown is 44% female and 56% male. Montreal is a unique market in so many ways and so it is with Stern; the breakdown for his Montreal show is 42% Female and 58% Male as opposed to the more traditional 70% Male and 30% Female mix in other Stern markets.
Another key benefit Howard Stern is bringing to CHOM is increased audience numbers in the lucrative 35-49 age group. Since the launch of Howard Stern CHOM's breakfast numbers for this age group have grown by 75%. The release of Monday's BBM also ended specualtion about the profile of the Howard Stern listener.
The number of people listening to CHOM FM who have a university education has grown by 47% since the launch of Howard Stern. The number of listeners employed on a full-time basis has increased by 36%, while the number of entrepreneurs, professionals, senior managers and executives listening to CHOM in the morning increased by 54%. These are the hard stats that advertisers and agencies have been waiting to see.
This increase in the profile of CHOM's audience, along with the fact that more than 21% of the respondents listed their household income as $80,000 or more per year makes CHOM's morning drive a great time period for advertisers to reach Montreal's affluent consumers. Stern has attracted 33% more listeners with annueal household incomes of $60,000 or more since his debut on CHOM FM.
An important fact that came out in this latest BBM is that the number of french speaking Montrealers (an important part of CHOM's history) tuning to The Howard Stern Show has increased by 4% since the Summer BBM.
The BBM Report released this week covers the survey period of July '97 through October 15th, 1997 which includes 4 weeks of pre-Stern numbers and only 4 weeks of the Howard Stern Show. At the time of the final survey week, Howard Stern was only into his 7th week of broadcasting his popular North American show which reaches over 20 million listeners each week.
With the release of the Fall BBM Survey in early January, CHOM FM expects to be challenging their competitors for the No. 1 position in the key demos that advertisers need to reach.
For more information contact:
Mark Dickie
General Sales Manager
990 CKGM/CHOM FM
(514) 937-2466
December 11, 1997
A month ago, Q-107 in Toronto, and CHOM-FM in Montreal, were given one month to comply with a conclusion by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council that the U.S. import was unacceptable in Canada.
CHOM says it has complied with the council's requirement to broadcast in prime time its Nov. 11 statement of reprimand. That statement said the Stern show breached provisions of the broadcast ethics code with its "abusive or discriminatory comments."
Meanwhile, Q-107 has issued a similar statement, but adds it is also implementing a four-point plan of action. This includes hiring a producer to monitor the Stern broadcasts to ensure "sensitivity," entering into discussions with Stern's producers, an immediate commitment by (station owners) WIC Radio of $200,000 for a three-year program to train Canadian radio talent, and a daily feature on the Stern show promoting Canadian music.
The council, a creature of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, does not have the authority to force the stations to modify or pull the Stern show, but it could eject them as council members. The issue could then go before the CRTC, the federal regulator, which does have the power to not renew their licences, something unheard of in Canadian broadcast history.
CHOM says it will monitor Stern and take "appropriate measures, if necessary." The station supports the broadcast codes, but says Montreal listeners have responded positively to Stern, citing recent Bureau of Broadcast Measurement ratings numbers.
Stern, who has had fun mocking the controversy over his syndicated program, said last month he was being crucified by the council and would like an opportunity to appear before the body to tell his side of the story.
"It looks like I'm Hitler or something," he told listeners after hearing of the CBSC ruling. "Get a sense of humor for God's sakes."
The morning program, which originates from New York City, was picked up by the two Canadian stations in September. On his first day on the air in Montreal Stern called French-Canadians peckerheads and scumbags.
Promising to add an extra Canadian "music feature" and another producer to monitor Stern's morning broadcast, "with a view of ensuring sensitivity," Q-107 yesterday also offered to established a $200,000 fund to develop "Canadian radio network personalities over the next three years."
"Confident that it will remain in compliance with its obligations," Q-107's parent company, Western International Communications (WIC), also pledged to "discuss" with Stern's own New York producers certain production "implications."
Stern, already fined $2 million by American regulators, has said he won't allow his show to be censored. He has said Canadian broadcast regulators are treating him "like Hitler."
Denying any plans to censor him, Q-107 program director Pat Cardinal said "listen to the show and draw your own conclusions." The council reviewed Stern's show after more than 1,000 complaints.
Both Q-107 and CHUM-owned CHOM-FM in Montreal claim to have complied with the CSBC's Nov. 11 decision when they broadcast the decision on air. The deadline for telling the council what they would do about Stern was yesterday. Council president Ronald Cohen had no reply to the stations' statements yesterday.
CHOM-FM did not have its own version of Q-107's "four-point plan."
"We support the Canadian Association of Broadcasters and the voluntary broadcasting codes it has developed," said CHOM-FM general manager Lee Hambleton in a statement.
CHOM-FM plans to "monitor" Stern "closely" and "to take appropriate measures if necessary" that he remains "in compliance with Canadian broadcast standards."
That's like admitting to the police you're speeding when caught, but planning to do it the very next day, says Ian Morrison of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.
"They're flaunting Stern," he said yesterday. "This is a direct challenge to the CSBC. Since it is financed by the (radio) industry, its integrity is on the line. In effect, the third-largest (WIC) and four-largest (CHUM) broadcasters in the country are thumbing their noses" at the council.
The council can only kick an offending broadcaster out as a member.
December 11, 1997
SKY STOPS FALLING! All the Chicken Littles who believe huge hunks of Canadian sky are falling on pets and children because Howard Stern is heard here, can sleep easier tonight. Q-107 reveals its Four Point Program to respond to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council's cluck-clucking about the radio bad boy's act. (For those who have been on Mars, the industry watchdog barked its butt off about Stern last month. Sit, watchdog, sit. Roll over, boy. Good dog.)
Beginning immediately, WIC promises ... 1. an additional producer will monitor Q's broadcast of the New York-based Stern show to "ensure sensitivity" ... 2. Q will discuss with Stern's producers new "methods of production" ... 3. WIC Radio -- Q's owner -- promises to spend $200,000 to "develop Canadian radio network personalities" over the next three years ... 4. Q will insert a daily Canadian music feature in the Stern show to show the flag. The insert will be heard during one of the show's lengthy commercial breaks, so not a bit of the Howard feed will be missing. To those who love the Stern show: it continues, as Q puts it, as "an on-going source of humor and entertainment." The deal is done. Funny how the "three years" WIC promises to throw cash at Canadian talent matches the length of the Stern/Q contract. To those who hate the Stern show: Turn it off! Why are you still listening? To those who fall somewhere between love and hate on Stern -- or never think about him at all -- glad to see you have a life
P.S. - Never hire Michael Harris as a fortune teller. "Say goodnight Howard," indeed. A hunk of sky must have conked him.
WHAT'S THE DEALY-OH? Posties screw up radio ratings, you bet they do. The "fall" radio ratings -- due out next Thursday -- won't be ready 'til after New Year. Since listener diaries move by mail to the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement, the postal strike scuttled the ear-count. That leaves stations sweating another fortnight over what impact the Stern's arrival stink made on the ratings. (They already have a good idea: Too much.) The ratings are now set to appear January 9, or -- CUPW and the BBM computers willing -- perhaps a few days earlier.
Courtesy of: the Montreal Gazette
December 3, 1997
He may be anathema to broadcasting watchdogs, but Howard Stern is a hit with CHOM listeners.
The Bureau of Broadcast Measurement ratings service has published another set of numbers that indicate dramatic improvement at CHOM since the FM station began airing Stern's controversial syndicated morning show. The latest stats, delivered to Montreal radio stations this week, show CHOM improving its numbers in virtually all audience demographic groups.
Most surprising to CHOM general manager Lee Hambleton and to anyone who deems Stern's program a sinkhole of sophomoric sexism the New York shock jock is proving popular with Montreal women.
"Stern normally plays to a 70-30 male-female audience," Hambleton said. "We're 58-per-cent men listening to the morning show, 42-per-cent women."
Go figure. Montreal women seem to be able to tolerate excesses that have had Stern in hot water since the morning he signed on at CHOM (and at Q107 in Toronto). "Montreal is a unique market in many ways," Hambleton added, "and this certainly seems to be the case with Stern."
Hambleton has been lying low through the three weeks that have elapsed since the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, responding to listeners' complaints, decided that Stern's show is in clear and ongoing contravention of broadcasting codes that govern discrimination and sex-role portrayal. But the CHOM exec emerged from his Greene Ave. foxhole yesterday to crow about the latest set of BBM ratings (while still declining comment on the CBSC decision). "CHOM wins big again with the release of the second batch of Stern ratings," said Hambleton, lapsing into headline-speak to convey his excitement. "We're still No. 3 overall, but we continue to narrow that gap in a rather fast way."
In the morning English FM competition (the English AM ratings race is the usual stroll on the beach for CJAD's George Balcan), CHOM trails Mix 96 and Q92. But the BBM numbers indicate that Stern is making a serious run at Mix's Terry DiMonte and Ted Bird and the runner-up tandem, Q92's Aaron Rand and Paul Zakaib.
The BBM numbers published this week are an average of eight weeks. The survey tabulated listening in two-week periods of four months: July, August, September and October. Stern was on CHOM for only half the BBM survey period. The numbers are useful for trending analysis because they can be compared to averages for earlier eight week/four month surveys.
For example, during the months of June, July, August and September, the average daily "reach" (defined as the number of listeners who tune in at least once) of the CHOM morning show was 95,900. This audience reflects two weeks of Stern's program and six earlier weeks of the Pete Marier/Andrew Carter morning show on CHOM.
The latest reach an average of four weeks of Stern, four of Marier and Carter is 119,000.
It's clear that the morning show reach increases as more Stern numbers are crunched by the BBM computer.
Another telling stat: The average weekly number of hours English-speaking Montrealers spent listening to the CHOM morning show last summer was 258,000. That number (again, reflecting four weeks of Stern and four weeks of his predecessors) is 540,000 and increase of 109 per cent.
The most important set of radio ratings are yet to come.
The BBM autumn survey, covering listening patterns in September, October and November, will offer the best indication of how Stern is performing. The ratings were scheduled to be published Dec. 18, but that's been pushed to January because the mail strike has disrupted BBM's collection of listening diaries that supply the ratings service's raw data. "The delay is disappointing," Hambleton said. "It's not that we can't turn Stern's numbers into cash, but we need the BBM autumn survey to maximize the cash."
While looking forward to the advertising revenue Stern will generate when the next set of BBM ratings are published, Hambleton pointed out that the trending report published this week reflects only anglophone listening. The fall survey will include CHOM's French-mother-tongue audience traditionally large and, Hambleton believes, loyal to the station despite Stern's rabid francophobia.
Some additional info I received from Farrell in Montreal:
I was bouncing around various Howard Stern pages, and came across the Montreal ratings page...which you have wrong information about us Canadians. The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council is not like the American FCC, it is more like a Better Business Bureau...our version of the FCC is the CRTC, the Canadian Radio and Television Committee.
One note about the Better Business Bureau...it is not what people think. It is not a consumer complaints advocate, it is actually paid for by business's themselves, and allows them to know when people are complaining about them, and who they are. Kinda Scumy, eh?
So, basically, the CBSC can only say "Naughty Boy!" and slap them on the wrist. The CRTC probably won't do much about Howard Stern, since they don't want to get into the exact programming of each station, and opens a great big can of worms. As long as a company keeps to it's stated format and has the requisit hours of community programming and Canadian Content, the CRTC will stay out of it.
And that is good for us HS fans here in Canada.
Since going on in Montreal and Toronto in September 1997, The Howard Stern Show has been doing very well in the ratings. From the reports I've heard, he's #1 (or close to #1) in both cities, although I have yet to see any concrete numbers.
What has been going on in Canada though is probably worse then what happens to the show in America vis-a-vis the Federal Communications Commission. It certainly is just as dumb.
Canada has their own quasi-version of the FCC called the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, or the CBSC. If these guys have their way, Howard will not be on in Canada for very much longer.
So you can get a flavor of what this council does, some basic decisions against Canadian radio stations, dating back to 1993, are here.
CBSC-Quebec and Ontario Regional Council complaints are here. These are the specific issues they have with The Howard Stern Show as rendered in their verdict handed down on October 18, 1997. Remember, this is the group that got the "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" thrown off of Canadian television, so you can imagine how silly they really are.
Appendices to the complaints against CHOM-FM and CILQ-FM regarding The Howard Stern Show are here. These appendices are the details of what these complaints hold. In general, and quoting from their page,
appendices A through D contain lengthier excerpts from various Howard Stern Shows between
September 2 and 12, 1997.
They are representative of material broadcast but do not purport to include every example
of offensive speech in that period.
Appendices E and F contain excerpts from the various complaints.
The letters are presented as received by the CBSC.
Appendix A (Stern's French and French-Canadian Comments)
Appendix B (Stern's Sexist Remarks)
Appendix C (Stern's Racist and Homophobic Comments)
Appendix D (Stern's Improper Sexual Comments during Potential Children's Listening Hours)
Appendix E (A Sampling of Complaint Letter Excerpts by Subject)
Appendix F (A Sampling of Complaint Letters at Full Length)
Thanks to thornton@headwaters.com for these URL's.
To contact the CBSC:
email: info@cbsc.ca
Phone: 1-613-233-4607
Fax: 1-613-236-9241
or write them at:
Canadian Broadcast Standards Council
P.O. Box 3265, Station D
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 6H8
Canada
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