Toronto Ratings and Updates

from the Toronto Star
August 30, 2001

Radio watchdog raps Stern

Canadian council decries demeaning sexist comments

American radio shock jock Howard Stern got a knuckle rapping yesterday from the arbiters of good taste in Canadian commercial radio over "extremely demeaning and degrading sexist comments" he made one day last summer on his New York-based radio show, which is carried on Toronto's Q107.

Stern had suggested that a Playboy Playmate, eager to appear on his program, should sniff underwear and eat food out of a dog dish while naked.

But the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, which is administered by private radio and TV station owners, has decided not to punish Q107 for what council national chair Ron Cohen calls "an unfortunate event that occurred for unknown reasons on one particular day, July 12, 2000."

The CBSC ruled that "the cumulative effect of the suggestions that the Playmate smell underwear, be rolled up naked in a rug and forced to ride in an elevator, eat a carrot in Stern's lap while she is naked and eat food out of a dog dish while naked is demeaning and degrading in the extreme."

Stern's subsequent comments to a listener on air who called to complain about the Playmate incident were "both racist and sexist," the council panel added. "They are not borderline. They are extreme. They have no place on the airwaves in this country."

The CBSC won't take action against Q107 because ownership of the station changed hands - Corus took over from WIC - only six days before the incident, Cohen said yesterday. "And in the year since it happened, we haven't received a single additional complaint (about Stern)."

Stern's show airs live in East Coast U.S. markets and is subject to an eight-minute delay when it's broadcast in Canada, giving operators the opportunity to delete offensive material.

"But something went wrong on that particular day," Cohen said. "The new owners - and the same operator who was on duty in the day in question - appear to have done extremely well in deleting objectionable material."

Q107 began airing Stern's syndicated morning talk show in 1997 and scored impressive ratings, especially among women 18-to-34. However, his ratings have steadily declined both here and in the U.S., where Stern was recently in danger of losing the show following several bouts with the Federal Communications Commission, which has imposed fines amounting to millions of dollars on the show's owners and syndicators over regulation breaches.

from a CBSC Press Release
August 29, 2001

Stern Comments under Fire by Broadcast Standards Council

The Panel found that Stern's discussion of immigration did not constitute unduly discriminatory comment because it was nothing more than the expression of Stern's political opinion. Contrary to the complainant's contention, the Panel found that Stern had "made no comment whatsoever suggesting that American citizens of other national or ethnic groups be stripped of their citizenship and returned to their countries of origin. He does not wish new immigrants. It is a defensible view in terms of the freedom of expression."

As to the allegations of sexist and degrading comments, the Panel found that the"suggestions" made by Stern to the manager of a Playmate eager to appear on the Show had gone too far. The Panel concluded that "the cumulative effect of the suggestions that the Playmate smell underwear, be rolled up naked in a rug and forced to ride in an elevator, eat a carrot in Stern's lap while she is naked and eat food out of a dog dish while naked is demeaning and degrading in the extreme." In the view of the Panel, these comments are in breach of Clause 4 of the Sex-Role Portrayal Code and cannot be "‘gotten away with' on Canadian airwaves."

Moreover, Stern's treatment of a caller who had phoned in to exclaim her disapproval of the Playmate dialogue also went too far according to the Panel. Stern had reacted, among other things, by suggesting that the caller "eat a taco out of [his] crotch", calling her a "big fat cow", then a "fat, ugly girl who can't get squat", suggesting she had a mustache, accusing her of living in an apartment with cockroaches and so on. The Panel concluded that "the comments of the host are both racist and sexist. These comments are not borderline. They are extreme. They have no place on the airwaves in this country."

Finally, the Panel addressed the issue of repetitive breaches. The Panel agreed that "objectionable comments are unacceptable. The [editing] process is not part-time; it is not designed to permit occasional breaches of the Codes." The Panel noted, however, that there is "considerable material flowing out of the New York studio where the show originates" and that the CBSC receives edit logs on a daily basis which indicate just what and how much dialogue is excised by CILQ-FM day-in and day-out. The Panel further took into account the fact that new corporate owners assumed management of the broadcaster only two business days prior to the dates of the challenged broadcasts. The Panel considered the drop in complaints received since the new corporate ownership to be a "promising sign" but required that the broadcaster provide a written explanation of further steps which it will put in place to ensure that such "gaps" as occurred on July 12 will not recur.

Canada's private broadcasters have themselves created industry standards in the form of Codes on ethics, gender portrayal and television violence by which they expect the members of their profession will abide. In 1990, they also created the CBSC, which is the self-regulatory body with the responsibility of administering those professional broadcast Codes, as well as the Code dealing with journalistic practices first created by the Radio Television News Directors Association of Canada (RTNDA) in 1970. More than 470 radio and television stations and specialty services from across Canada are members of the Council.

All CBSC decisions, Codes, links to members' and other web sites, and related information are available on the World Wide Web at <www.cbsc.ca>. For more information, please contact the National Chair of the CBSC, Ron Cohen, at (613) 233-4607 or by e-mail, at <ron.cohen@cbsc.ca>.

from the Canada Newswire
June 26, 2001

Corus Entertainment appoints new president of Radio

Mr. Hayes has over 25 years experience in radio at the local, regional, national and international levels. He was the President, Founder and General Partner of Alliance Broadcasting (USA), which he sold to Infinity in 1996. He previously ran two of North America's leading radio stations, WNBC in New York and KYUU in San Francisco.

Hayes' experience in creating and building strong radio brands, his familiarity with the on-line radio environment and his knowledge of the radio listener and advertiser will be significant advantages as Corus continues to harness and leverage the strength of its 49 radio stations in major markets across Canada.

"We are very appreciative of the contribution Terry Strain has made to our radio operations and we are delighted to have attracted an executive of John Hayes' calibre to Corus Entertainment to succeed him," said John Cassaday, President and Chief Executive Officer of Corus Entertainment. "John is a proven builder and leader and his appointment reinforces our commitment to fully develop our radio assets."

"Corus' radio strategy offers many exciting opportunities and challenges," said Hayes in commenting on his appointment. "As the leader in radio revenue and tuning in Canada, we have an opportunity to build an integrated but unique set of radio stations that deliver the best programming and service for listeners. Obviously Corus has a talented team in its radio division that has already built a successful national operation. The opportunity to work with them to take it to the next level is very exciting."

Hayes' appointment is effective July 9, 2001.

Corus Entertainment is one of Canada's leading entertainment companies with 49 radio stations, specialty, pay, conventional and digital television services, and Nelvana Limited, an international producer and distributor of children's programming and products. Corus is also prominent in the digital music market and various advertising service companies. A publicly traded company, Corus is listed on the Toronto (CJR.B) and New York (CJR) Exchanges.

--snips--

from the Toronto Sun
May 17, 2001

Who's listening

New oldies, jazz, black urban radio make their on-air debut

RADIO ROAR: The sun is high, the grass is riz, why wonder where the radio ratings is? Old formats got dumped, but new oldies, jazz and black urban signals made their debut in the spring 2001 numbers fresh from the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement. Highlights ...

AM740 -- the Oakville older-listeners operation that grabbed the CBC's longtime AM address -- jumps half the radio pack to shine as the seventh most popular station.

Flow 93.5 finds an audience for its own mix of black music forms, from rap to hip-hop. Milestone Communications' new entry leaps six established stations, with big word of mouth but minimal promotion.

JAZZ91 -- the reformatted all-jazz CJRT -- claws its way back to these listings after a decade of falling shy of the 1% listener share cutoff. By share -- audience multiplied by how long they listen -- the top stations were CHFI-FM, CHUM-FM, CFRB and KISS92.

By total audience -- a straight ear-count -- the nod goes to CHUM-FM, CHFI-FM, KISS92 and MIX99.

Worth noting: How Andy Barrie and Howard Stern trump the ratings of stations that carry them. EZRock's slow and steady gains, hardly ever noted in the biz. And how many under-performing morning shows fall short of their station's overall share. The Spring 2001 BBM stats...

CHFI-FM/98.1 ... A 10.7 share of total radio audience. 1,035,000 listeners who tuned in at least once. As always, Rogers' jukebox is in a neck-and-neck race with rival music powerhouse...

CHUM-FM/104.5 ... 10.3 share. 1,178,000 total listeners. Consistently tops the million mark, trading honours with CHFI.

CFRB/1010 ... 6.8 share. 718,000 listeners. Off from a year ago: Did seniors slip away to AM740?

KISS 92 ... 6.7 share. 965,000 listeners. The novelty of newness rubs off, but still a solid performer on young radio presets.

CBC ONE ... 6.2 share, 745,000 listeners. Up from a year ago.

EZ ROCK ... 5.8 share. 658,000 listeners. Substantial gain over last spring, up nearly 300,000 ears.

AM740 ... 5.6 share, 550,000 listeners. Self-declared Prime Time Radio -- decades of old music aimed at a 50-plus demographic -- scores solidly with the new power signal. They were hoping to be "middle of the pack" in ratings book one: This is substantially better than that.

MIX 99.9 ... 5.2 share, 932,000 listeners. Off from spring and fall. MIX blew out its morning show last Friday. Changes are coming this weekend.

Q-107 ... 4.4 share. 855,000 listeners. Station is never stronger than Stern.

Classical 96 ... 4.3 share. 383,000 listeners. Same range as a year ago.

The Edge/102 ... 3.7 share. 691,000 listeners. Marginally higher than a year ago.

680 News ... 3.5 share, 813,000. About the same numbers as last year, solid audience in quick news grab habit.

CBC TWO ... 2.5 share, 391,000 listeners. Share up from a year ago.

FLOW ... 2.3 share, 260,000 listeners. A solid start for black urban, despite morning-show jitters and continuing tune-up of music and personalities.

Hits103.5 ... 2.2 share, 550,000 listeners. Same range as last year.

FAN 590 ... 2.2 share, 384,000 listeners. Up from a year ago.

1050/CHUM ... 1.9 share. 277,000 listeners. This final rating hints the golden oldies died here some time ago.

But now on to Team sports ...

JAZZ91/CJRT ... 1.9 share, 272,000 listeners. Reformatting itself as an all-jazz station produces results. Was a 1.2 last spring, up from 1.8 last summer.

Talk 640/CFYI ... 1.3 share, 306,000 listeners. Down from a year ago. Time to get the MOJO workin', guys.

Energy 108 ... 1 share, 646,000 listeners. But is the poppy play-list dance or increasingly a KISS clone?

MORNING SHOWS: The BBM's ratings for the 6 to 10 a.m. weekday morning block. CHUM-FM, 12.7 share. CHFI-FM, 10.7 share. CFRB, 8.6. CBC ONE, 8 share. Q-107, 5.8. EZRock, 5.3. KISS92, 5.2. 680News, 5.2. MIX99, 4.9 share. TheEdge, 4.2. AM740, 3.8. Classical 96, 3.1. FAN, 2.7. 1050/CHUM, 2.2. CBC TWO, 2. Hits103, 1.7. Flow93, 1.3. Talk640, 1.1. Energy 108, a 0.6 share.

from Canoe.ca
December 8, 2000

GARY DUNFORD COLUMN
By GARY DUNFORD

[Howard is on CILQ (Q-107) - Ed.]

RADIO RACERS: It's not the top of Toronto's fall radio ratings that grabs eyeballs. It's the bottom. Will perpetual last-place finisher Talk 640 change formats -- as early as next Monday? Goodbye talk, Dr. Laura and Dr. Joy. But hello -- what? Will it be country?

New owner Corus Entertainment runs successful country formats on many of its 42 stations, 20 of them in Ontario. Talk640's been stuck in ratings hell for years. Back of the pack. With new management finally in place, buzz is the Talk640 donkey is about to be re-saddled. Within days.

Clues to coming changes may bubble in the recent purge of air staff at Hamilton's Y95. Corus owns Y95 in Hamilton, Edge 102, Q-107 and Talk640 in Toronto. Corus also owns CMT--Country Music TV. And what's the radio format niche missing in Toronto?

"What if they did Contemporary Country on Y95 and Classic Country on AM640 in Toronto?" asks one industry sort. That would solve the biggest problem that plagued country formats at KISS and CKEY: Fans of "new" cross-over country artists hated the "old" roots twangers and vice versa. Might Corus offer earfood for both? Both stations can be heard across most of the golden horseshoe. AM/FM marketing possibilities. Two sides of the same coin. Ad dollars flow to the same pot. Powerful country stations in Calgary and Edmonton are Corus cash jackpots.

Beyond the country speculation lurks one format dark horse: Sports. Could Corus ride 640's Leafs broadcast rights into jocktalk battle? But look at FAN590's numbers below. Do you wade into an expensive sports war to pull a two or three share? Especially knowing that -- when KISS dumped country for rock -- even Garth Muzak was pulling fours and fives?

Guessing about Talk640's future tickles the fall radio ratings, not greatly different from last spring's pecking order. Stronger books for Edge 102, EZRock, CFRB, Q-107, 680News, CHUM-FM and FAN590. Morning shows at CHFI and CHUM-FM ran nose and nose in a photo finish.

Total Toronto radio audience is 100%. The share is each station's percentage of that pie: total listeners, multiplied by how long they listen. The Bureau of Broadcast Measurement numbers ...

CHFI-FM ... A 11.6% share of radio listening. 1,076,000 total listeners. Down from 13.1% last spring.
CHUM-FM ... 10.3% share, 1,107,000 listeners. Up from 9.8% last spring.
CFRB/1010 ... 8.1 share, 756,000 listeners. Up from 6.8 last spring.
MIX 99.9 ... 6.1 share, 896,000 listeners. Was 6 last spring.
KISS 92 ... 6.1 share, 838,000 listeners. Down from 8.2 last spring.
CBC ONE ... 5.9 share, 758,000 listeners. Up from 5.4 last spring.
EZ Rock ... 5.5 share, 567,000 listeners. Up from 5 last spring.
Q-107 ... 4.8 share, 839,000 listeners. Up from 4.3 last spring.
Classical 96 ... 4.6 share, 410,000 listeners. Up from 4.3 last spring.
680 News ... 4.2 share, 843,000 listeners. Up from 3.8 share last spring.
Edge/102 ... 4.5 share, 715,000 listeners. Up from 3.8 last spring.
1050/CHUM ... 2.6 share, 385,000 listeners. Was 2.5 last spring.
FAN 590 ... 2.5 share, 337,000 listeners. Up from 1.9 last spring.
CBC TWO ... 2.2 share, 376,000 listeners. Off from 2.3 last spring.
Energy 108 ... 1.5 share, 648,000 listeners. Was 1.5 last spring.
Hits103.5 ... 1.5 share, 489,000 listeners. Down from 2.1 last spring.
Talk640 ... 1.4 share, 246,000 listeners. Was 1.5 last spring.

MORNING RADIO: Extra doughnuts for Erin Davis, Bob Magee and Roger, Rick and Marilyn. Both wake-up squads grab an 11.6 share of the 6 to 10 a.m. stats. Ted Woloshyn, Andy Barrie and Howard Stern are next in line. The pecking order for morning shows from the top: CHUM-FM 11.6 share of audience ... CHFI-FM 11.6 share ... CFRB 10 share ... CBC One 7.7 share ... Q-107 a 6.6 share ... MIX 99.9 a 5.9 share ... 680 News 5.8 share ... KISS 92 a 5.4 share ... Edge/102 a 4.2 share ... EZRock 4.1 share ... Classical 96 a 3.4 share. Other morning runs each deliver under a 3% share of audience.

from RadioDigest.com
September 26, 2000

--snips--

The Wake-Up Race

from RadioDigest.com
September 22, 2000

--snips--

Same Old Story in Toronto Ratings

News talker CFRB (1010 AM) earned a third-place 7.7 share, but their reach continues to be eclipsed by 680 News (CFTR-AM), who attracted 685,400 pairs of ears against CFRB's 549,300 over the summer months.

Contrary to his recent performance in key U.S. markets, Q107's (CILQ 107.1 FM) "The Howard Stern Show" retained its traditional position, trailing the top three market leaders but securing a 6.8 share (down from 8.0 last summer). The market's most consistent gains continue to be posted by symphonic Classical 96 (CFMX 96.3 FM), which pulls a 4.4 share, reflecting a boost of about 25 per cent over the course of 2000.

from RadioDigest.com
September 5, 2000

Weisblott Writes: Toronto Radio

As "The Howard Stern Show" starts its fourth year of broadcasting in Toronto, and local affiliate Q107 (CILQ 107.1 FM) refines its format to full-blown classic rock, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) has struck yet again.

A pair of decisions announced last Thursday (Aug. 31) concerned the use of the term "retard" by Stern and his sidekicks. The CBSC, representing the private radio industry in Canada, maintains a list of codes whose violation is determined based on listener complaints. In the past, the use of the word relative to Stern show regular "Gary the Retard" was deemed appropriate for Canadian airwaves.

For the latest round of decisions, it was reaffirmed that describing an individual as a "retard" is "clearly tasteless, rude, insulting, offensive and unpalatable to responsible and socially mature adults" but does not represent a breach of the CBSC's code. In the case of the specific episode, where a belly dancer refers to a man who had sex with her at age 15 as a "retard," it was determined the term "conveys her annoyance and scorn," like labeling him a "jerk," "idiot" or "creep."

The second complaint, with which the CBSC agreed and ruled against Q107, concerned a conversation amongst the Stern crew concerning property values, which segued into an "obscene discussion about group homes for the retarded devaluating properties. The remarks then dealt with the sexual proclivities of developmentally handicapped people and description of defecating on the front lawn of a group home for the retarded. ... The attack was obviously directed at the developmentally handicapped community who live in group homes."

The text of the CBSC decision provided some insight into how much of Stern's morning broadcast is snipped at Q107 master control. During the latter bit, on June 14, 2000, a comment about blacks and an impersonation by Howard of a mentally challenged person were dumped from the local broadcast. However, the Q107 operator was not cautious enough to snip all of the offending elements.

Stern's periodic violations of CBSC codes sharply contrast the standards of the Federal Communications Commission. While the management at Stern's flagship station K-Rock (WXRK 92.3 FM) stride to ensure no gratuitous foul language gets on-air, the CBSC is more concerned with avoiding any offensive context.

Last week, Stern made folly of the fact that CBS Television honcho Les Moonves uttered the word "bullshit" during a live interview on-air about the success of "Survivor." The word slipped by simply because no one was expecting a broadcasting standard-bearer like Moonves to use one of the seven dirty words. But the technicalities involving the appropriate use of terms like "titty" and "asshole" during the Stern show has been subject to much lively discussion. The program's reckless use of the word "retard" doesn't seem to be much of an issue.

Put into context by the CBSC, it's unlikely that Stern or anyone else involved with his program could defend the discriminatory nature of the discussion about group homes. But then, it's consistent with the two-decade-old agenda that had made Stern a very wealthy man -- bantering on-air like a bunch of fellows sitting around a bar. Most of the unwashed clods who sequestered themselves in a garage for two weeks for Q107's "Big Brother" knock-off contest certainly sounded like they were prone to having those kind of conversations. Stern provides them with a vicarious thrill, but it's unlikely that he stokes their discriminatory thinking. Nor will they notice when Q107 runs its obligatory messages for three days this month stating they have violated the CBSC codes.

Q107 Gets Some Classic Gas

Stern debuted three years ago this week on Q107 and Montreal's CHOM-FM (97.7). The firestorm that followed his opening-day broadcast, which featured a press conference with the Montreal media, focused on his calling French-Canadians "peckerheads" and displayedcrass disregard for the composure of this country.

Later, Stern backpedaled by insisting much of his maligning comments were aimed at the people of France, not Quebec, but that was beside the point. The first three weeks or so of "The Howard Stern Show" in Canada was the most brutal assault an American media figure has ever attempted on their neighbors to the north. The fact that the Canadian edition of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" is being filmed in New York this week proves that Stern was accurate about our ingrained inferiority complex.

Of course, he was having the last laugh, since Stern's daily radio rant was being imported from the U.S. many years after he turned down an offer to become the morning man at CHUM-FM (104.5). But Chum Limited didn't embrace Stern for long the second time around, since he was pulled from their Montreal airwaves after a one-year contract expired.

Despite initial speculation that Stern would last only a matter of weeks before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) yanked him from Canadian radio, Q107 signed him to a new three-year deal back in June. It was a shrewd move on the part of program director Pat Cardinal, who exploited the window of bureaucratic delay between the station being relinquished by the now-defunct Western International Communications (WIC) and its new ownership, Corus Entertainment. Had that deal been approved earlier in the year, it's almost certain Q's wake-up shift would be handled by P.M. driver John Derringer -- whose appeal could have even improved on Stern's numbers.

Yet with both drive times spearheaded by distinctly outspoken and irreverent personalities, Q has nevertheless conjured up a winning formula that is sure to be reflected in forthcoming rating books. But in what seems like a precautionary measure, the station has repositioned themselves as "Classic Rock," a brand which has been synonymous with Q107 for at least a decade, even if they never ceased to program new music, doing a "Top 10 at 10" each evening since 1984.

Toward the mid-'90s, Q felt the pinch of the alternative-rock takeover and tried various methods to wiggle out of being perceived as a relic station. Edge 102 (CFNY 102.1 FM) had captured most of this town's under-30 male market share, while Mix 99.9 (CKFM-FM) refined itself as a sophisticated outlet for maturing mulletheads. And WIC's Hamilton frequency, Y95.3 (CJXY-FM), solidified a blue-collared (and blues-based) classic-rock format that cannibalized lots of the aging Q faithful.

As a result, the height of Q's identity crisis came in 1996, when they duplicated the Edge's playlist -- with the occasional Led Zeppelin nugget thrown in -- and were reborn as "Toronto's Best New Rock." The fiasco quickly faded, and Q107 never fulfilled what at the time would have been a nifty niche, exposing adult ears to sophisticated new pop acts. Instead, a change in the program director's chair led to Q moving into active rock, dominated by forgettable antecedents of Aerosmith.

Plunking down a wad of cash for Stern in 1997 liberated Q from its blundering image, heralding a new logo and the "Pure Rock" tag -- whose most distinct element seemed to be playing tracks from the ancient "Licensed to Ill" by the Beastie Boys alongside the standard AOR sludge. But such attempts at revived vibrancy couldn't hold listeners after Stern stopped yapping at 11 a.m., and last fall the classic-rock emphasis returned to Q107. The pending purchase that would make Q and Edge 102 sister stations seemed to seal the "Pure Rock" format's fate.

Last week, hearing hoary nuggets like "Amanda" by Boston being taken out of mothballs suggested Q107 would flip the switch and never again play a new tune, abdicating those scintillating Creed and Three Doors Down songs to the Edge. Now, logic would suggest Edge 102 might finally drop all their pretentious eggheaded pretenses, which have lingered since their late-'70s beginnings, and drop the weary grunge-era modern mishmash model in favor of a thudding metal-rap exuberance -- with formatics to match. Otherwise, the Edge staffers will flick on the radio one chilly morning this fall to hear Nelly instead of Nirvana.

--snips--

from the Canadian Press
August 31, 2000

Broadcast council gives Stern warning to radio station for crude remarks

The council, the self-regulatory body that administers Canada's broadcast industry standards, said the station failed to edit out remarks on Stern's show concerning mentally disabled people.

During his talk show on CILQ-FM, known as Q107 to Toronto listeners, "comments were made by Stern and his staff to the effect that 'a retarded home' will diminish surrounding property values," the council said in a release Thursday.

Stern and his cohorts went on to say that 'retarded' persons do cruel things to animals, that 'retarded' persons are more prone to commit rape and do socially unacceptable things in public.

The council said the comments broke the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' code of ethics.

The station has been editing Stern's program before it is aired since 1998 in order to comply with the standards after receiving previous warnings about the show's controversial commentary.

The show is an NBC-syndicated program from New York City that is broadcast on radio stations across North America.

Toronto is the only Canadian city that broadcasts Stern's show. A station in Montreal pulled the plug on it after he made derogatory remarks about French Canadians several years ago.

Stern's program had been "edging closer to the line" of unacceptable commentary, the council said.

"If the only way for the broadcaster to ensure that it does not cross the line is ... removing more of the continually tasteless commentary than it might otherwise remove, then this is the course of action it must take."

Stern's program will not be forced off the air, but the station will have to prove that it can edit the show to comply with industry standards, or risk its status with the council and the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.

A complaint was also issued after Stern stated on a previous show that most "retards" listen to his show and that he is the "King of Retards."

The council ruled that the word "retard" has developed into a street term, and that the issue in this case is one of taste.

"(That is) something the council has always held should be left for listeners to decide via the on/off switch," it said.

from the Toronto Sun
June 27, 2000

Q-107 signs Stern for 3 more years

The people who've been screaming about Howard Stern's presence on Q-107 had best take a deep breath. They've got another three years to scream.

The station announced yesterday it has added a three-year extension to the shock jock's contract, which was to expire on Aug. 31.

"Rumours were running rampant about whether or not Howard Stern would continue to be part of Q-107 and Toronto radio," program director Pat Cardinal said. "It's great for our listeners and for fans of Howard to finally put those rumours to rest."

Stern still has not re-signed with his syndicator, Viacom-CBS. His contract runs out in November, and rumour is he has been offered a $100-million contract to continue.

"One contract has nothing to do with the other," Cardinal said of Stern's ultimate decision to stay on the air. "What our contract means is if he's doing a radio show, it'll be on Q-107."

Stern, who has been chastised in the past for offending the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, has dropped somewhat in the ratings in three years, but still represents half of all listeners on Q-107.

from the Toronto Sun
June 27, 2000

Beaches in the pink

--snips--

STERN STAYS: "Oh happy day!" e-mails Chris. "Did Q-107 fear what Howard Stern fanatics might do if they didn't re-sign the King of All Media?" Stern's syndicated morning ear-tease has a new three-year deal in Toronto, confounding broadcast sorts who doubted Q's new owners would have any appetite for controversy. Q program boss Pat Cardinal broke the gladsome news to Howard in the opening hour of Stern's show yesterday, a clip furiously replayed all day. Stern calls Q "a legendary radio station." Cardinal sez the Stern show is "a tremendous success, in both ratings and revenue." Now, there's the little matter of Howard's own plans: His CBS syndication deal is up for renewal at year's end. But nothing dump trucks of money and time off couldn't solve.

--snips--

from RadioDigest.com
June 27, 2000

The Daily Grind

The contract comes at a time when the future of both Stern and Q107 are in doubt. Stern has not re-inked his deal with Infinity Broadcasting's flagship station K Rock (WXRK 92.3 FM, New York) as he grouses about the company's breeding of imitators. Q107 is awaiting approval from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that will find it changing hands from the now-dissolved company Western International Communications to Corus Entertainment.

However, according to Q107 program director Pat Cardinal, the deal sticks as long as Stern is broadcasting a morning show, regardless of the originating station or syndicator. The renewal will be announced on-air Monday morning, much to the surprise of Stern skeptics across Canada.

There has been sufficient reason to assume Stern's raunchy morning shift wouldn't continue north of the border. Stern's debut in Toronto and Montreal in September 1997 garnered a tsunami of coverage and controversy across the country. The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, a group appointed to monitor the content and conduct of stations, censured Stern during his first few months on-air, but Q107's vow to monitor the content of the show has tempered those complaints.

Montreal's CHOM-FM backed out of carrying Stern after one year, and it was figured that the sale of Q107 to Shaw, a company with a wholesome family image determined to snap up stations across the country, would discourage a contract renewal at all costs. However, with Stern in the wake-up chair, "The Mighty Q" rehabilitated its status as a ratings contender -- so long as bits like "The Wack Pack Gangbang" aren't deemed too outrageous for sensitive Canadian ears.

--snips--

from RadioDigest.com
June 27, 2000

Weisblott Writes: Toronto Radio

This week's announcement of a three-year contract renewal for Howard Stern on Q107 (CILQ 107.1 FM) came as a surprise to all those who figured the rock station's ownership situation would preclude such a decision. Stern's debut on the Toronto airwaves in September 1997 was fraught with controversy stoked by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, and it seemed unlikely that he would last three months, let alone three years. But the new iron-clad deal that keeps Stern on Q clinches his status as the most enduring morning man in the station's 23-year history -- assuming that Stern doesn't leave radio altogether.

At its 1977 sign-on, Q107's early shifter was John Rode -- who still appears as occasional morning fill-in on oldies 1050 (CHUM-AM) -- replaced about a year later by a fresh-faced stand-up comic named Ted Woloshyn, now heard on CFRB (1010 AM). The dawn of the '80s brought the debut of "The Q Morning Zoo," initially headed by Scruff Connors (currently doing a program at dailydirt.com), who was replaced in 1985 by "Brother Jake" Edwards. Connors, incidentally, moved to Philadelphia rock station WYSP (94.1 FM). However, he was replaced the following year by the syndicated debut of New York City's fledgling celeb Howard Stern.

The door continued to revolve at Q, with Edwards bailing out and news-reading mainstay Gene Valaitis joined by Jesse Dylan in 1986. Dylan and Valaitis were then snapped up for afternoon drive on CFTR (680 AM) in 1989, opening the door for Edwards' return. Edwards left again in 1992 and was replaced by Connors, a move that prompted Q107's morning heir-apparent John Derringer to leave and take over the wake-up on Montreal's CHOM (97.7 FM). After CFTR changed from top 40 to all-news, Dylan and Valaitis, who had shifted back to mornings, ricocheted back for a talk-intensive wake-up show for Q sister station AM 640 (CHOG).

Stern listeners, however, would be sure to follow to any Corus spot -- Edge 102 (CFNY 102.1 FM), Y95.3 (CJXY-FM) or long-shot prospect Talk 640 (CFYI-AM), which will surely be revamped. Program director Pat "Q Zoo Killer" Cardinal asserts that Stern's new set-up runs through 2003 as long as he's broadcasting, regardless of the show's originating station or syndicator. An entirely different matter, of course, is the saga of whether Stern will actually continue in radio, with ongoing reports of no contract renewal with Infinity Broadcasting's flagship K-Rock (WXRK 92.3 FM).

Regardless, Derringer has been waiting for about a decade to take over Q107's morning show. His perseverance may well pay off in about three years -- that is, if they don't rehire Edwards, Dylan or Connors instead.

--snips--

from Radio Digest
June 20, 2000

--snips--

Toronto Rock Station Doomed?

Around that time, Corus' purchase of erstwhile Western International Communications' stations is expected to meet approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), Canada's equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission. Corus, a spin-off company of Shaw Communications focusing on radio and television, will take over Toronto's Q107 (CILQ 107.1 FM) and Hamilton's Y95.3 (CJXY-FM), adding to its current portfolio that includes Toronto's Edge 102 (CFNY 102.1 FM), and Burlington's Energy Radio (CING 107.9 FM) and Talk 640 (CFYI-AM).

Within the Toronto market, all of the above stations reflected flat or declining fortunes in the recent spring 2000 survey from the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement. Energy's all-hit format's inferior signal can't compete with Rogers Media's recent ratings champ Kiss 92 (CISS 92.5 FM), so it's anticipated that either the Edge or Q107 will take the fall to allow Corus to introduce into the market its contemporary-hits Power franchise, which is popular throughout Western Canada. Both CFNY's modern image and CILQ's mainstream rock approach have remained pretty much static since 1977.

While it's long been rumored Edge 102 would be the casualty, sources inside the Corus ranks claim that Q will be the station to sign off within the next 10 days. If that happens, morning man Howard Stern's remaining months of a three-year contract could be muted in Toronto. And Q107's recently rehired afternoon driver John Derringer would be transferred to either a remodeled CFNY or mellower rock outlet Y95.3.

This scenario would also allow for Corus -- which also owns the CMT Canada country-music cable network -- to shoehorn a country station in the C&W-depleted Toronto market with the 107.9 frequency. The city's nearest country outlet, Newmarket's 88.5 The Kat (CKDX-FM), changed its format to "dancin' oldies" earlier this month. And just last Friday, Corus lost its bid to the CRTC to program a kids' format on the AM dial to a senior-citizen-geared station named Prime Time. Talk 640 would be ideal real estate for that concept.

--snips--

from Radio Digest
May 30, 2000

Weisblott Writes: Toronto Radio

--snips--

More Ratings-related Bloodbaths:

Q107 (4.3 share, 803,000 listeners): Big plunge after rebuilding momentum with a return to classic rock, but consistent with all other stations with a majority male audience. Mix 99.9, Edge 102 and The Fan 590 also went down. Howard Stern slumped a couple of points, landing at 6.1. Just do the math, and it doesn't reflect very well on the 19 hours a day of Q programming that doesn't originate in New York City. But these results for Q107 predate new afternoon driver John Derringer, who left mornings at The Fan in February and started at his old stomping grounds at Q on April 17, after the ratings period ended. The next book should reveal whether Derringer's liberal use of the word "shit" during his half-hourly rants will lure listeners.

from RadioDigest.com
May 25, 2000

--snips--

Classical Matches Stern in Toronto

The number of Toronto listeners who'd rather hear a symphony is now neck-and-neck with the amount of ears tuned to Howard Stern affiliate Q107 (CILQ 107.1 FM). Following a rebound last fall with a return to classic rock, Q slumped downward, with Stern losing one-quarter of his crowd since last fall. But that was consistent with results that didn't favor those Toronto stations whose appeal is mainly male. Mix 99.9 (CKFM-FM) scored a 6.0, active rocker Edge 102 (CFNY 102.1 FM) registered a 3.4 and sports radio The Fan 590 (CJCL-AM) sunk to a 1.9.

By contrast, topping the heap was adult contemporary CHFI (98.1 FM), with a 13.1, ratings that were only bolstered after the departure of longtime wake-up guy Don Daynard. Hot adult contemporary CHUM-FM (104.5), which sustains the highest reach of any Toronto station, held relatively steady with a 9.8. And top 40 Kiss 92 (CISS-FM) maintained its stranglehold on teens, with an 8.2, eviscerating competitor Energy Radio (CING 107.9).

But news talker CFRB (1010 AM) had its worst book ever, with a scant 6.8 share for the once-unimpeachable ratings leader, whose heritage status has certainly reached its end. 680 News (CFTR-AM) had a 3.8 share, but short-attention span 680's all-news reach of 812,400 has now eclipsed CFRB's 763,000 for their interminable local talk shows.

The ratings period covers the first four months of 2000, a period which involved more shakeups in Toronto morning show personnel than any other in recent memory. CHFI, Kiss 92, Mix 99.9, The Fan 590 and Talk 640 (CFYI-AM) all experienced some turnover in the wake-up chair. Fan morning mouth John Derringer landed in afternoons at Q107 right after this spring survey ended, which raises the stakes for how his high-priced talent is expected to perform in conjunction with Stern.

--snips--

from the Toronto Sun
May 25, 2000

KISSing the million mark

WHO WANTS TO GRAB A MILLION AIR? Three FM music stations rule the latest BBM radio ratings, with pop-monster KISS 92 breaking into the million-listeners-plus club previously owned by CHFI and CHUM-FM. MIX99 just misses making the millionaire's cut. Ratings highlights...

What happens when Don Daynard leaves CHFI-FM? Toronto's biggest radio audience defies gravity and actually goes up.

If Q-107 kills Howard Stern, call Suicide Watch: He's their strongest card, pulling half their audience.

And 680News clocks more total listeners than CFRB -- whose older folk have apparently been successfully scared off to the CBC. Hey, wasn't that the plan?

"It's all those darn housewives who write in their BBM diaries," mutters one rueful radio sort. "CHFI and KISS." Mum and the kiddos, a powerful voting block. And you've got to fill in the little book to be counted.

Total radio audience is 100%. The share shown below is each station's piece of that pie. Share is the number of listeners, multiplied by how long they say they listened. Stations left on all day get an advantage...

CHFI-FM ... A 13.1% share of radio listening. 1,103,000 total listeners. Up from 12.3 last fall.
CHUM-FM ... 9.8% share. 1,132,000 listeners. About equal with 9.6 share last fall.
KISS 92 ... 8.2% share. 1,035,000 listeners. Up from 7.6 last fall.
CFRB/1010 ... 6.8 share. 763,000 listeners. Off from 8.4 last fall.
MIX 99.9 ... 6 share. 936,000 listeners. Was 6.7 last fall.
CBC ONE ... 5.4 share. 721,000 listeners. Up from 4.3.
EZ Rock ... 5 share. 449,000 listeners. Was 4.8 last fall.
Q-107 ... 4.3 share. 803,000 listeners. Was 5.2 last fall.
Classical 96 ... 4.3 share. 399,000 listeners. Was 3.4.
680 News ... 3.8 share. 812,000 listeners. Was 3.8.
CFNY/Edge ... 3.4 share. 660,000 listeners. Was 3.8.
1050/CHUM ... 2.5 share. 347,000 listeners. Was 2.7.
CBC TWO ... 2.3 share. 422,000 listeners. Was 2.
Hits103.5 ... 2.1 share. 678,000 listeners. Was 1.6.
FAN 590 ... 1.9 share. 336,000 listeners. Was 2.3.
Energy 108 ... 1.5 share. 677,000 listeners. Was 2.
CFYI/Talk640 ... 1.5 share. 282,000 listeners. Was 1.

The BBM counts anybody in their survey who can name one, some or all of the stations they listened to for at least 15 minutes during the surveyed weeks. Most mentions, the most listeners. But the longer they listened, the higher the share. That's how CFRB can produce double the share of audience of 680News, despite having 51,000 fewer listeners.

MORNING SHOWS: In theory, a morning show should deliver the strongest numbers at its station. By that measure, Erin Davis and Bob McGee, Roger, Rick and Marilyn, Ted Woloshyn, Andy Barrie, Howard Stern, the 680 news team, and Humble and Fred deliver higher listener numbers than their station's average. The weekday morning show ratings, from the top ...

CHFI-FM 12.9 share of audience ... CHUM-FM 11.9 share ... CFRB 9.1 share ... CBC One 7 share ... Q-107 6.1 share ... KISS 92 6.1 share... MIX 99.9 5.6 share ... 680News 5.4 share ... EZRock 4.3 share ... and CFNY/Edge 3.6 share. The rest of the wake-up radio pack each deliver under a 3% share of morning listeners, in order: Classical 96, Fan 590, 1050 CHUM, CBC Two, Hot 105.3, CFYI, Energy108.

Would you turn the radio on if you had the new Matchbox 20 CD? Or a mix tape of Rob Zombie and William Shatner?

from RadioDigest.com
April 25, 2000

--snips--

The future of the "Pure Rock" formula remains the subject of much speculation, related to the fate of "The Howard Stern Show." Third-hand sources insist Stern has just inked a three-year deal with Q. However, a report last week on RadioDigest.com's "The Daily Grind" suggests Stern's future in old-school broadcasting may be limited in favor of seeking unregulated frontiers through Internet and digital radio.

No matter what happens with Stern's future on-air, it seems doubtful that the current transformation of Q107's ownership from Western International Communications to Corus would involve upper management making such long-term plans. (Yet alone would they make those plans with a show that has been the source of so many complaints to the stern Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission since the show's debut in September 1997.)

Bucking Convention

According to "The Rich List" section that ran in last weekend's National Post, new Q107 owner J.R. Shaw of Corus is the third-richest man in Canada, with a fortune of $5.9 billion. It's doubtful he'd risk his family-friendly broadcasting empire for the sake of Howard Stern. (Incidentally, the fortune of Allan Slaight, keeper of the Standard Broadcasting kingdom, is counted as just $650 million. Which must explain why he makes his employees take all radio columnists to lunch at the greasy-spoon diner Fran's instead of someplace fancier.)

--snips--

another email denying Howard's going anywhere:

April 19, 2000

From: Pat Cardinal 
To: (xxxx)

 We have made NO announcements concerning the future of Howard Stern on Q107.
 The internet article you refer to has no basis in fact.

Patrick Cardinal
Program Director
Q107.

from the Bring Howard Stern to Northern Michigan Radio & TV
**4.16.MM**

CORRECTION

(By Chuck)

On April 12, I reported that radio station CILQ Q107 in Toronto will dump the Howard Stern Show in August because of their new owner, Shaw's family values policy. Shortly thereafter, I reported my site to KOAM.COM. A day later, the e-mail at BHSTNMRAT HQ was rolling.

One letter came from Q107's promo guy. He told me that Stern WILL NOT be dumped from the station. Another came from the webmaster of the Canadian Stern site telling me if this was true, since his e-mail bag was full. He then forwarded me a letter from the PD from Q107 saying that Stern will not be canned in August and not to take my report seriously.

What had happend was that I took the report from the Baxley Entertainment Report, a free lance entertainment site published by a friend of mine, Jackson, MI native Steve Baxley, a graduate of the Columbia School of Broadcasting and a current student at Baker College mastering in website design. His site is taken from reliable sources and is very credible.

Baxley's report said that his sources took info from Toronto newspapers. I thought this was serious enough to report on my site, so I did, and the rest is history.

Well, it's safe to say that Stern WILL stay at Q107. If he were to be canned in T.O., it would be a sad day in Canadian radio history.

In closing, I want to apologize to any Canadian Stern listener that I've offended, and especially to the staff and crew at Q107. They work very hard to bring Howard's show to Canada, despite forcing to bow to CRTC pressure.

As for Steve Baxley, I will still rely on his reports. We all pull boners once in a while (remember when NBC got their asses kicked for reporting the death of Joe DiMaggio BEFORE he died?) and I forgive him for it.

Thank you.

from The Unofficial Canadian Howard Stern Website
April 18, 2000

Stern to stay another three years?

To use a tired cliche, Stern fans in Toronto may soon breath a collective sigh of relief. According to a source close to Q107 and to the Canadastern mailing list, reports have surfaced that Q has signed Stern for another three years in the morning slot on Q107. This definitely echoes Pat Cardinal's statement that "Stern does mornings on Q107. Period". Sounds good to me!

I got the following E-Mail from Pat Cardinal - Program Director of Q107, regarding Howard's status on the station. Taken at face value, this is good news, however there's nothing said about the future. We'll have to wait and see what happens.
April 17, 2000

These rumours (and that's all they are rumours) are based on a speculative article on a web site. In short, the writer has no clue about what he's talking about. We have made no announcement about dropping Howard Stern or who is replacing him.

Here's the deal:

Howard Stern does MORNINGS. John Derringer has been hired for AFTERNOONS.

Thanks for your note and thanks for listening to Q107.

Patrick Cardinal
Program Director
Q107

from Radio Digest
April 11, 2000

Dave Doria writes: "Is Howard Stern really going to be gone? Is it strictly a money thing with Shaw? Is he too pricey? I would think the revenue he generates would offset the price of the show. I was told by someone with past radio experience that one rumor is Stern going to Talk 640. This guy also said that Shaw is committed to investing in Humble & Fred. I told him that was like investing in Bre-X."

Marc Weisblott writes: Stern's three-year deal runs through August 2000. By that point, Q107 will be fully owned by Corus Entertainment which, in turn, is owned by the Shaw family, whose reputation as broadcasters doesn't indicate they would be interested in doing business with Stern. While Pat Cardinal, Q107 program director, keeps persisting this is pure speculation, the decision is ultimately out of his hands -- as is whether or not Cardinal will still be Q107's program director at that point in time.

Naturally, the decision to rehire John Derringer after a seven-year absence for afternoon drive establishes a nifty replacement for Stern that honors Q's 23-year heritage. And, beyond Stern, it's debatable whether Cardinal has made Q an essential listen in his three years at the helm. Without a doubt, it's the momentum managed by Derringer's return that will shape Q107's future.

As for Humble and Fred ... hey, watch it. I've been trying to be nicer to them over the last month, just to find out what it feels like.

from the Bring Howard Stern to Northern Michigan Radio & TV
April 14, 2000

STERN WILL BE CANNED IN TORONTO

It seems that corporate radio is popping champaigne bottles while Stern fans are moping. It was announced that Shaw Communications, the new owner of Toronto AOR station CILQ Q107, will dump Stern in August when his contract expires. The new morning man will be current midday jock John Derringer.

The reason why Stern will be dumped in Toronto is because Shaw is well-known for its ultra-conservative family values. Q107 was the last Canadian station airing Stern's show; CHOM in Montreal dumped Stern after its owner, CHUM Group, cut all ties to the King after they thought the appearence of the CBS show was too inappropiate for Canadian viewers.

from Radio Digest
March 28, 2000

Weisblott Writes: Toronto Radio

Derringer Debut Set (Sort of): Following two months of anticipation, John Derringer's first afternoon drive shift in over seven years for Q107 (CILQ 107.1 FM) will tentatively take place on April 17. After abruptly sealing a return to the Mighty Q after a half-decade of mornings at The Fan 590 (CJCL-AM), Derringer has presumably yet be fully freed from his Fan contract.

Management at Q107 is hopeful that the wry-minded Derringer, who turned down a wake-up offer in 1997, before Howard Stern was secured for the rock station, will be stoked to introduce "Sweet Emotion" over and over and over again within three weeks. In the meantime, another long-time Q presence, swinger Jeff Chalmers, has been axed from the on-air lineup in favor of cost-cutting automation in overnights.

Chalmers was in his third tour of duty at Q107. Just like Derringer, he joined the station barely out of high school in the early '80s. Returning to the fold in 1990, Chalmers was part of the "Rock 40" format practiced by AM 640 The Hog (CHOG-AM). After The Hog retooled to a rhythmic focus, Chalmers mutated into the moniker "Def Jeff."

Moving back to Q, Chalmers spent the mid-'90s on the early shift, first as a buffer for the shows where Scruff Connors would call in sick (or just show up that way), then as straight man to the notoriously unentertaining "Brother Jake" Edwards. Jeff got bounced with Jake in 1996, but returned to Q107 the next year for overnights.

Chalmers has snared himself some short-term weekend shifts on Hamilton's jock-depleted middle-of-the-road rocker Y95.3 (CJXY-FM), itself in the midst of some blatant belt-tightening amidst an uninspired musical approach. This fiscal philosophy at both Western International Communications (WIC) outlets comes just a few months before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is expected to rubber-stamp their purchase by Shaw Communications spin-off firm Corus Entertainment. Once that transaction is completed, expect the September expiration of Stern's contract to be filled with Derringer mornings on Q107. Furthermore, Y95.3 seems certain to swap its frequency with lower-coverage all-hit franchise Energy Radio (CING 107.9 FM), if Edge 102 (CFNY 102.1 FM) doesn't end up doing it first.

With the 14-year run of WIC running radio stations in the Toronto market drawing to a close, let us not forget the impending tenth anniversary of the 640 AM spot's format change from country heritage CFGM to the aforementioned The Hog. That disaster-prone experiment in power piggishness lasted just over a year, kicking off a fatalistic decade manifested in the perpetual number struggles of Talk 640 (CFYI-AM). The 640 braintrust would gain great press if they devoted this June to commemorating the foul-mouthed "Maximum Grunt" format that tried to take the town by storm ... and failed miserably.

--snips--

from the Toronto Sun
February 22, 2000

Derringer goes from jock to rock

STERN'S LAST SPRING? Radio buzz surrounds morningman John Derringer quitting FAN 590 yesterday to return to a job he once dumped: Q-107's afternoon slot. There's no start date for his move back from jockdom to rockdom. It's still being worked out.

"I packed it in," Derringer cracks of his sudden resignation. "After seven years, I'm going back to the mighty Q. This should be normal."

But might Derringer's return to Q's drive-home slot be temporary? It's the same job that prompted his move to Montreal in the early '90s, when a different management team wouldn't put him in mornings. What's changed?

Radio circles suspect the CRTC has reason to believe that if all goes tickety-boo in the transfers of WIC radio properties to CORUS -- the Shaw media spin-off -- Howard Stern may go away. The syndicated New York City shock jock's three-year contract with Q expires in August. While Stern delivers Q's highest ratings, his outrageous act drives the federal regulators and media standards gurus nuts. A little wheeling, a little dealing with the new owners ... could Q get a 6% ratings share in the mornings without Stern? And major brownie points for CORUS in its other broadcast applications.

"We now have Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa," sez Pat Cardinal, Q's program boss, hoping Stern & Derringer hit big for spring ratings. Has he heard trade speculation Stern's days might be numbered? "Is that right?" he says. "As I sit here now, Stern is our morning guy, Derringer is afternoon guy. We've got the best on-air talent in Canada and the best on the continent." So there. Wait and see. Place no bets.

--snips--

December 15, 1999
from canoe.ca

--snips--

Power 92 -- the new kid that kicked country crossover out the door for a steady diet of pop chart toonz -- rocked Toronto's fall radio ratings.

Rogers Broadcasting junked New Country when they purchased CISS-FM last summer. Power's first BBM ratings book is a doozy. A solid 7.6 share virtually doubles the audience that listened to 92.5 when Garth Brooks was god. Power's steady spin of teen-friendly music and promotions with hotties like the Backstreet Boys goosed listener numbers to nearly a million.

"If kids get in the car, mom's music or talk station gets zapped for Power 92," scopes an industry vet. And existing FM pop music formats got side-swiped in Power's heavily hyped launch. The stats, from top to bottom...

CHFI-FM ... 12.3% share of total radio audience, 1,074,000 listeners. Long-run winning streak continues. Daynard & Davis morning show grabbed a 12.2 share, and the "perfect music mix" holds ears thru the day.

CHUM-FM ... 9.6 share, 1,208,000 listeners. Most listeners of any station -- but the share shows they don't stay tuned as long. Mornings, Roger, Rick and Marilyn run well ahead of the pack with a 10.7 share.

CFRB/1010 ... 8.4 share, 857,000 listeners. No teachers' strike, no snowstorm and news stations stay flat. Ted Woloshyn's wake-up info circus is ahead of the station average with a 10.9 share.

POWER 92 ... 7.6 share, 948,000 listeners. Will morning men Mad-Dog Michaels & Daryn Jones survive a 61-hour stunt drive to Florida? The morning show, better by the day, starts at a healthy 5.6 share.

MIX99.9 ... 6.7 share, 1,037,000 listeners. Solid numbers, but suspicion ears drifted to check out Power. Rob Christie's wake-up has a 5.9 share.

Q-107 ... 5.2 share, 880,000 listeners. Howard Stern rules! Little danger of Stern's disappearance when his 8.2 share easily eclipses the rest of Q's day.

--snips--

from: Radio Digest
August 31, 1999

Weisblott Writes: Toronto Radio

Yet Another Stern Warning. It's fine to call someone a "retard" on Toronto radio. But watch what you say about Polish people, especially if your name is Howard Stern.

In a decision released Monday (Aug. 30), the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) responded to two 1998 complaints regarding The Howard Stern Show. The group, which consists of 430 Canadian broadcasters, monitors content on the nation's radio and television.

"The remarks did not mock or make fun of members of the handicapped group generally," read the CSBC's latest ruling, "but rather attributed diminished mental capacity to an unchallenged individual."

However, an incident where Stern pronounced that "Poles hate Jews" was determined to have breached the council's human rights provision. These CSBC decisions dictate what segments from Q107's (CILQ 107.1 FM's) Stern broadcast are "dumped." Last year, over 90 minutes of one Stern show, featuring "Gary the Retard" in a dating game, were censored.

In another decision released Monday, in response to a complaint against the Showcase cable network, the CSBC determined that the 1978 movie "Midnight Express" was not offensive to Turkish people.

.........

Coren Roast. After claiming that he would come out swinging for his 6-9 a.m. morning show debut on low-rated Q107 sister station Talk640 (CHOG 640 AM), Michael Coren started off Monday with a real sluggish start.

His promised swipes against Stern, who is booming from a console right down the hall, were few and far between. Coren alluded to the above CSBC decision, but offered little else. The program reached its creative peak when Coren called his lovely mother back in England.

Coren is a boisterous British immigrant with a punk rock-inspired approach to his conservative views, which has made him a provocative personality. But this was in little evidence for Coren's first Talk640 show, which hit the airwaves a week earlier than first advertised.

"If Stern were sitting across the booth from you right now," barked the rare confrontational phone caller of Monday morning, "you wouldn't be saying anything because he'd be responsible for your paycheck."

Coren was recruited from CFRB (1010 AM), where his antics generated considerable heat. He was reviled for being an upper-class bow-tied buffoon, which may have been a comedy act. The Y2K model Michael claims to be more compassionate. He writes a column for The Toronto Sun and hosts a nightly shouting match on faith station CTS-TV.

Before tailoring himself to the masses in sweatshirts and khakis, Coren was a biographer of British literary figures with names that most Toronto broadcasters have never heard of. ("G.K. Chesterton? H.G. Wells? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? What kind of radio names are those?")

Rivers Ran Shallow. Coren's first morning show included some ribbing at CFRB, which has maintained ratings that are about ten times Talk640's cellar-dwelling 1.1 share. And the majority of CFRB's current lineup consists of refugees from Talk640 and/or Q107. Bill Carroll, Jane Hawtin, Dave Trafford, Karen Horsman, food show hosts Marty & Avrum, Alan Mayer, Jim Richards and John Dickie were all lurking around the Western International Communications (WIC) outlets through the mid-'90s.

The movement of Coren in the opposite direction coincided with the departure of Tom Rivers, whose feeble-minded enthusiasm for Talk640's wake-up, which he hosted for 20 months, came to a crashing halt.

As reported in the Canadian satirical rag Frank (where, ironically, Coren gained his cult status with the media as a sharp-tongued society columnist), Rivers was interested in finding out about a new gig posted on an online newsgroup. Apparently, ol' Shotgun pulled the wrong trigger and sent his plea to get out of Dodge to all of the group's subscribers, including Talk640 program director Pat Cardinal.

Talk640's revived effort to overcome its ratings malaise (yours truly hosted Saturday nights there during 1996 - and the phones were so quiet you could hear the tumbleweeds) involves more than the drafting of Coren and his right-hand man, Iain Grant. The station has also added Alberta-based noontime talker Dave Rutherford and the pugnacious pugilist Spider Jones (who was formerly heard on the FAN 590).

Other changes at 640 include Dr. Joy Browne and Dr. Laura Schlessinger switching time slots, so that neither one is heard live. Rutherford, a right-wing loudmouth from Alberta, is beamed in for lunchtime. Marsha Lederman, the last survivor from the station's original lineup, does afternoon drive, while syndicated talkers Rhona Raskin and Art Bell fill overnights. Plus, the paid-time Christian talk show "Focus on the Family" will now appear on 640 at 10 p.m.

Coren promises a more robust debate regarding Howard Stern later, during his first week on the air. Maybe he'll even call his mother and ask her what she thinks. After all, she really hates the French, too.

from the: Toronto Star
August 31, 1999

'Slip-up' let Stern's remarks go to air

By saying that "Poles hate Jews," Howard Stern has been described as "abusively discriminatory" in a report released yesterday by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, an Ottawa-based media watchdog.

But it was Toronto radio station Q-107's "slip-up" that let the syndicated New York talk jock's remarks to get on air, council chairperson Ron Cohen said.

"The Toronto station has been editing the show with great success," Cohen added yesterday.

"In the past year-and-a-half, we've had only one complaint. That's a pretty good track record for a program that's on more than 20 hours a week."

Before Q-107 started censoring the Stern show via a tape-delay process, the standards council was deluged with complaints.

Since the censoring began, the complaints have largely subsided.

Q-107's slip-up "is not a great concern on our part," Cohen said.

Stern, a shock-seeking morning host, raised hackles with his show's very first Canadian appearance on Montreal's CHOM-FM on Sept. 2, 1997, when he called French Canadians "snivelling cowards" and "scumbags."

He later explained that he "can't imagine anyone would take what I say serious. I'm a disc jockey."

One reason CHOM-FM dropped his show a year ago was an anti-Stern backlash from French advertisers, several radio sources have said.

In a related ruling yesterday, the council found Stern had not breached its code of ethnics for calling one of his production staff members a "retard."

"In this case, the comment was directed at an individual and does not attribute negative stereotypical characteristics to a defined minority group," the report read.

from the: Canadian Press
August 30, 1999

Howard Stern rebuked by broadcasters' association

TORONTO (CP) -- Radio shock jock Howard Stern has done it again.
The New York radio host has run afoul of the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council because of a repeated on-air comment that "Poles hate Jews."

Stern breached the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' code of ethics in the remarks heard on his morning show, which is broadcast on Q-107 in Toronto.

"This accusation of an entire people that they hate any other national group contrary to generally accepted principles, is likely to bring opprobrium on the 'haters' rather than the 'hated,' " the association said in a statement Monday.

"It is in this sense abusively discriminatory vis-a-vis persons of Polish nationality."

It's the third time that Stern, whose program was cancelled by CHOM-FM in Montreal a year ago, has had his wrist slapped by the council.

The council dealt with a slew of complaints about the program, resulting in decisions against Stern in November 1997 and March 1998.

At about that time, CHOM-FM and Q-107 both introduced tape delays so they could delete offensive remarks.

"We had virtually no complaints after that which requested treatment by regional council," said Ron Cohen, national chairman of the standards council.

He described Stern's comment about Poles and Jews as a "slip-up."

"There's no particular consequence, as the last time when there seemed to be a continuation of the breaches of the code," Cohen said.

The council also ruled Monday on a complaint against use of the word "retard" by Stern in an argument with a member of his production staff.

This didn't breach the code because the comment was directed at an individual, and didn't mock or make fun of members of a handicapped group generically, the council said.

Cohen said the council receives copies of the log sheets showing material has been bleeped from Stern's program. In one case, he said, Q-107 bleeped an hour and 51 minutes of programming.

"One has the sense that the former pattern of problem is gone," he added.

from the: Toronto Star
August 11, 1999

Coren up against Stern

And he thinks U.S. shock jock should be kicked off airwaves

Coren knows full well that Stern has made it possible for him to have a Talk 640 show in the first place, beginning Sept. 7. The ratings success of the New York shock jock's morning show on Q-107, Talk 640's sister FM station, is the major profit centre for both stations.

Unlike former Talk 640 morning host, likeable music deejay Tom Rivers, who was given his walking papers Monday, Coren will be in direct competition with Stern, although Coren's audience will be somewhat older.

Coren's weekdays show will run from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., directly opposite Stern's.

Coren's reputation has already made it to Talk 640, with the station getting calls yesterday from disgruntled listeners who say they won't listen if he's on air. "But by now we're used to controversy because of Howard," said Talk 640/Q-107 program director Pat Cardinal.

"Actually, we didn't even think of the conflict (with Stern) when we signed Michael." (No details of Coren's contract were given.)

To stir things up all the more, Coren's position on his debut show will be that Stern should be kicked off the Canadian airwaves.

"I believe in censorship," Coren explained yesterday with a laugh.

Considering all the controversy he stirred up during his four-year CFRB stint in the evenings, his anti-Stern crusade may be the exception to the new rule in talk radio - be nice. Coren's own fame - or notoriety - aside, Canadian talk radio has never been as vitriolic or virulent as the U.S. model.

For years, American radio waves have bristled with ranters such as Morton Downey Jr., who happily told his "creepface" callers to "zip it" when he disagreed with them, which was most of the time.

Dr. Joy Browne, another New York-based syndicated talk show host who is also a Talk 640 regular, thinks that an aggressive host "is more part of the American media character. We've had it longer. We're used to it," she said in a recent interview.

Still, more than most Canadian stations, CFRB has been home to aggressive and opinionated hosts and commentators, from Gordon Sinclair in the 1950s and '60s to Charles Adler, who returned briefly to the news/talk AM station in 1996.

Yet as its consultants have discovered, CFRB shouldn't follow the U.S. model. For one thing, its listeners expect a lot of news to go with the opinion, the station's New York-based consultant Walter Sabo noted.

"You will not find a station in America with a news department like CFRB's. There's another factor, too. In terms of media, Toronto is far more progressive than even New York. We don't have anything like a CITYtv. Your 24-hour cable puts ours to shame."

But Coren thinks he and CFRB were evolving away from his more dogmatic early days without any prodding from management. Yes, he'd heard murmurs that there were concerns about his born-again Christian views. A scheduling conflict with his weeknights religious talk show for the Crossroads Television System (CTS) forced his parting from CFRB.

"And I feel there is a strong anti-Christian undercurrent in the media," he said yesterday. "But on my (CFRB) show I was extremely conscious of not talking about explicitly Christian issues. We had a rule: No one is allowed to quote scripture."

His last show was Friday.

"But I think I was changing too," he added. "For the first two years on CFRB, I was very right wing. For the last two years I'd become left of centre on many issues. People change."

And so does talk radio. Rocketing to staggering ratings success in the 1990s, talk radio followed Rush Limbaugh's own rush to prominence. In the early 1980s, fewer than 60 stations were formating talk radio full time. After Limbaugh, "the Elvis of talk radio," more than 1,200 stations are talking their way non-stop to big ratings and even bigger profits.

But the same stations are now being warned that they must expand beyond the traditional talk show audience, which has been mostly white, angry, middle-aged and male. For instance, sources close to CFRB say it also wants to attract more female listeners and has considered hiring a female host to replace Coren in the evening.

"I think radio programmers are realizing there's more than one sex out there," CFRB operations manager Steve Kowch said yesterday. "You want to attract females and you want to have more than men on the air. We do well with a female audience, I think. But you have to look to get more." It's good for business, after all.

New mega-media companies, now allowed through a recent policy shift by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), will mean a more corporate style of talk radio - conservative but less confrontational.

When a single owner can have up to five stations in each major market, "they're going to take fewer risks than ever," one consultant said yesterday.

from the: Toronto Star
August 28, 1999

--snips--

Shaw, a conservative company, is likely to give Stern the boot this fall and eat the last third of his three-year contract - a chomp worth about $100,000. So long, Howard, it's been a ride.

--snips--

from the: Toronto Sun
August 10, 1999
By GARY DUNFORD, TORONTO SUN

SNIP

STERN SOLID: "We have a contract to air Howard Stern thru August 2000 and will do so," Q-107 confirmed yesterday, in the face of looming ownership changes, rumours of format flips and endangered Bababooey fans. The Stern show begins the final year of a three-year deal with Q next month. Safe at third. Whatever happened to the columnist who swore Stern would be gone in three months?

from: canoe.ca

RUMOUR OF THE WEEK:  Heard the ear-popper that claims when Shaw Radio completes its deal to acquire Q-107 from WIC -- including the required regulatory blessings -- it will re-launch the wayward rock powerhouse as ... a country station. Perhaps by the fall? We blame way-bright sunlight on too many pub patios. You get idle industry fermentation about this time every year, after long afternoons of drinking and gossip. Peculiar percolation. Brain buzz. Still, Howard Stern fans best listen while they still can. How much notice did we get when KISS flipped?

May 27, 1999

By morning show, the ranking is as follows:

1. CFRB 1010 AM Ted Woloshyn
2. CHFI 98.1 FM Don Daynard & Erin Davis
3. CHUM 104.5 FM Roger, Rick & Marilyn
4. CILQ 107.1 FM Howard Stern
5. MIX 99.9 FM Rob Christie

Here are the rankings by total audience share:

1. CHFI 98.1 FM 12.2 share 1,990,000 listeners
2. CHUM 104.5 FM 10 share 1,175,000 listeners
3. CFRB 1010AM 9.1 share, 942,000 listeners
4. MIX 99.9FM 82. share, 1,128,000 listeners
5. CBC Radio One 5.4 share 797,000 listeners
6. 680News 4.7 share 813,000 listeners
7. Q107 FM 4.4 share 921,000 listeners <---- Howard
8. EZ Rock 4.4 share 483 listeners
9. CFNY Edge 102 4.2 share 699,000 listeners
10. Classical 96 3.7 share, 399,000 listeners
11. KISS-FM 3.6 Share 522,000 listeners
12. FAN 590 3.1 share 418,000 listeners
13. Energy 108 2.6 share 721,000
14. 1050 CHUM 2.5 share 369,000
15. CBC Radio Two 2.4 share 369,000
16 Hot 103dot5 2.1share 399,000
17. Talk 640 1.1 share, 285,000

Thanks to: The (Unofficial) Canadian Howard Stern Website!

from: canoe.ca

December 17, 1998

MORNING RADIO: Nice 10th anniversary present for Don Daynard and Erin Davis in the fall '98 radio ratings. The CHFI duo top the Toronto morning shows, measured by average quarter-hour share of total audience in the central area, from 6 to 10 a.m.

Shares for each of the morning shows, from top to bottom:

CHFI/98.1 ... 12% share of total audience.
CHUM-FM's Roger, Rick & Marilyn ... 11.3.
CFRB's Ted Woloshyn ... 10.8.
Q-107's Howard Stern ... 8.3.
MIX99.9's Rob Christie ... 7.7.
CBC1's Andy Barrie ... 6.
EZ Rock's Mike Cooper & Christine Cardoso ... 5.8.
The Edge/CFNY's Humble & Fred ... 4.3.
CISS-FM's Jeff Lumby, Mike Richards 3.7.
1050/CHUM's Brian Henderson ... 3.7.
FAN590's John Derringer, Pat Marsden ... 2.5.

December 15, 1998
Toronto Star

CHUM tops radio ratings

Pop is top again as CHUM-FM scored big in the fall radio ratings released this morning to stations by the BBM Bureau of Measurement.

Almost exactly 30 years since it flipped from classical to rock, CHUM-FM (104.5 FM) had more than 1.23 million weekly listeners, enough to knock long-time total listeners champ CHFI (98.1 FM) out of the top spot. In the spring, CHUM-FM sat at the No. 3 spot.

In fact, The Mix (CKFM 99.9 FM), staying at No. 2 with 1.15 million weekly listeners, also topped CHFI, which had an audience of 1.14 million.

Next in line were Howard Stern's home Q-107 (CILQ 107.1 FM) with 930,700 listeners, CFRB (1010 AM) with 846,800 fans and CBLA FM (CBC Radio One new to 99.1 FM) with 742,500 listeners.

Ironically, Stern himself was one of the hardest hit of all.

His New York-based syndicated morning talkfest plummeted to sixth place among morning show hosts with an 8.5 per cent share of the time slot. Just a year ago, the King of All Media was slugging it out with the big kids on the block.

"That's where he'll stay, too," said a rival broadcaster yesterday, "a mid-level talk show host."

CHFI topped all others percentage-wise with a 12.5 per cent share of the market. Other winners are The Mix, which had an 8.2 share and EZ-Rock (CJEZ 97.3 FM), which continues to ease its way up in the ratings, with a 6.5 per cent share compared to 6 per cent last spring.

But while music-based stations were the big ratings winners, the big loser was talk radio.

Talk radio leader CFRB saw its share of the local radio market slide to 8.4 per cent. Although good enough for third-place over all, it fell from a 9.8 per cent share last spring and a robust 10.2 in the fall a year ago.

And in what radio insiders call the "money chart," CFRB's share of the big-spending market of adults 18 to 54 years old went to 3.3 per cent, down from 5.1 per cent last spring and 5.5 per cent the previous fall.

CHUM-FM's Roger, Rick and Marilyn now rule the morning drive slot with 14.2 per cent of the audience.

"But talk radio needs hits, too," CHUM radio president Jim Waters said in an interview yesterday. "And there haven't been any talk 'hits' recently."

September 25, 1998

The newest ratings book is out - and Q107 has gone up in ratings, from 7th in the spring 1998 (5.1 share) to 6th in summer 98 (5.5 share).

The Toronto Star
June 4, 1998

Light rock beats shock talk in radio ratings

Baby Boomer rock gave Howard Stern a stiff kick in the ratings, according to the spring numbers released to radio stations yesterday by the Broadcasting Bureau of Measurement.

After pumping up all of radio's ratings last fall, Stern, the self-proclaimed "King of All Media," lost 100,000 listeners, about 20 per cent of his audience, in the first four months of this year. Most of the losses were women listeners.

With 8.9 per cent of the audience for his syndicated show on Q-107, the New York-based shock talker is tied for third place among audiences of all ages with CHUM-FM's Roger, Rick and Marilyn in the morning market.

CHFI-FM's Don Daynard and Erin Davis lead the pack with 11.7 per cent, followed by CRFB's Ted Woloshyn with 11.4 per cent.

But while Q-107 gained "in every male category," Stern did lose a portion of his female audience, station manager Pat Cardinal said yesterday.

Stern's ratings tumble was even more pronounced at CHOM-FM in Montreal, his only other Canadian outlet, several sources reported yesterday.

It might have been expected. "The curiosity factor is over and clearly it was over for women first," said one rival programmer.

"We're back to where we were before the Howard storm," said Mix program director J.J. Johnston. "But it's not over yet."

With 14.8 per cent of the entire market, CHFI (98.1) continues to rule the "money" category of adults between 25 and 54 years old.

CHUM-FM (104.5) follows in this demographic with 10.9 per cent of the highest-spending audience, followed by The Mix (99.9 FM) with 9.7 per cent.

CHFI also gets to claim bragging rights as the most listened-to station in town, with a total audience of 1,144,400 people.

Next is The Mix with 1,082,900 listeners, followed by CHUM-FM with 1,041,100.

The genre called adult contemporary music rules radio more than ever. CHFI is up in most categories over last year, ratings are back up for The Mix and are soaring for EZ-Rock (97.3 FM) - perhaps the biggest winner in this rating's book.

The Mix has 7.6 per cent of the market when all ages are included in the survey, up from 6.5 per cent last fall. EZ-Rock has 6 per cent, up from 4.5 per cent last fall.

"We're doing better because we're now playing more hits," said The Mix's Johnston. "We're in a music cycle where what was alternative two years ago is now more mainstream."

Translated, this also means radio's audience is increasingly older than the one for television. TV sales reps continue to pitch a younger demographic.

"And it will be this way for radio for a few more years," said one programmer yesterday. "Then the big change will come."

Stern's arrival on the Toronto' airwaves last Sept. 2 boosted Q-107 into fifth place. But rival stations are recovering. The Humble & Fred Show on CFNY (The Edge, 102.1 FM) has climbed back to a 4.7 per cent share of the market, after being Stern-gunned down to 3.5 per cent last fall.

And all-sports The FAN (AM 590) continues to hold its own with its 2.5 share of the market in the battle for the Stern-dominated all-male ratings, although it's beginning to lose its older audience.

CBL (740 AM), CBC Radio One's local outlet, had a 5.6 share of the market, up from 4.8 per cent last fall, although the addition of the 99.1 FM frequency with parallel programming is not seen to have much of a ratings effect this time around.

Some niche stations, like all-talk 680 News (AM 680) and dance-orientated Energy 108 (107.9 FM) and Hot 103.5 FM, continue to hold their own.

Country's CISS-FM (92.5 FM) took a ratings hit down to a 3.8 share after 4.1 per cent last fall, while Classical 96 (96.3 FM) also slipped slightly to a 3.7 per cent share from 3.9 per cent last fall.

February 20, 1998

A letter from the President and C.E.O. of WIC Radio (CILQ-FM) to the CBSC said in part:

The traditional method of dealing with talk content programs is to utilize a seven second delay and a technical operator/producer to monitor the content. The new system we now have in place for the Stern Show is as follows:

1. New Producer

As of December 29th, 1997 we added a second producer whose sole function is to monitor/edit the show to ensure compliance with Canadian broadcast codes and regulations. This producer has been fully versed in these issues by our legal counsel and provides a daily log of edits to our management and legal counsel. This log consists of the number of edits made, the time of the edits and the content removed. The technical producer also monitors the original feed as a back up and double check on content. The average number of edits to the show have been about 15 per week.

2. Digital Equipment

We have also installed a digital time shift recorder that enables us to expand the original time delay period from two minutes to eight minutes. This unit is not only state of the art, but needed to be custom built to meet our needs which also added to our delay in implementation. The original unit was ordered in December, but delayed because of the holidays and did not arrive in our studios from the manufacturer until late January, 1998. At that [time] it was not complete, as it would only accommodate up to the original two minute time delay. The final piece of software was only received the week of February 9th. It is now installed and allows us the full buffer period of eight minutes. This new equipment allows us the opportunity to seamlessly remove any offending material in its entirety without interrupting the show for our audiences.

3. Announcements

We have also heeded the suggestion of CBSC and now insert into the Stern Show, an announcement which runs a minimum of three times each morning and states as follows:

"this program is being monitored to ensure compliance with Canadian broadcast codes and regulations".

--snips--

Editing the Howard Stern Show

Both broadcasters had acknowledged that the Howard Stern Show contained content which would be likely to be in violation of the Codes to which they had themselves subscribed. By adding to their infrastructure in both sophisticated digital equipment and personnel, they further acknowledged that special steps would be required to ensure that Canadian standards would be respected in the broadcasting of the Stern Show. This was, in the view of the Council, a significant acknowledgment since the Stern Show had had a "take it or leave it" reputation; it was indicated that it could not be tampered with, revised, edited or altered in any way. As Stern himself described the situation in the first show broadcast in Canada on September 2, 1997:

Caller Darrell: Howard, let me tell you, I've been listening to Toronto morning radio all my life and all these just suck. Finally we have something we can enjoy and wake up in the morning and listen to, but I got to put a little damper...I don't know if Gary has the clippings, but what they're doing here in Toronto is putting you on a sixty second delay.
Howard Stern: That's all right.
Caller Darrell: Is that okay?
Howard Stern: I don't care.
Robin Quivers: Usually it's a seventy.
Howard Stern: Yeah, usually seventy. They're actually daredevils out in Toronto. The reason they do that, by the way let me clear that up, is not for censorship reasons.
Caller Darrell: Well, that's what they're saying here, though.
Howard Stern: The reason they do that is they need time to in our commercial breaks link up with us to know when our last commercial is. That's all that is.
...
Howard Stern: Yeah, we control the sixty second delay in Toronto which would allow us to block content should we deem - you know what this is for, the sixty second delay, by the way, they're not contractually not even allowed to hit it, the only time they use it is so that they can -
Robin Quivers: Link up with commercials.
Howard Stern: Yes. Don't worry about that. They had to put that out so the press wouldn't be all over their ass.

--snips--

Even Stern appears to have recognized the entitlement of Canada to deal with his Show differently. The following brief exchange took place on the January 28, 1998 show:

Toronto Caller: I got another point for you, you know the station in Toronto, I'm in Canada right now, that, uh, your affiliate station, Q107, they've actually hired a guy to monitor your show.
Howard Stern: Good.
Toronto Caller: His whole job is to sit there and listen to your show.
Howard Stern: Well, yeah, because otherwise we would have been off the air. They did the smart thing.

--snips--

It should also be noted that CILQ-FM has provided the CBSC with editing logs for the Stern Show since the acquisition of the digital time shift recorder. These indicate that the station has implemented approximately 77 individual edits between February 23 and March 20, 1998 (on 17 of the 20 shows in that time period). The cuts have been from a few words in length to entire segments of the show, two of these edits running as long as 20 minutes. (While the show can build a delay of as long as 8 minutes in the stored material, the use of stop-sets can extend the length of a cut almost indefinitely. Stop-sets, which consist of other station-generated content such as news, information, commercials and so on, can be introduced until the point when one begins to use the stored digitized program content.)

January 9, 1998

Book tells Stern story

Q-107's bad boy did good.

Howard Stern dropped a bomb on Toronto's fall radio ratings, released to stations yesterday. There's smoke, fire and Q's rivals are furious. Will this success fuel the Stern controversy or settle it?

Stern is "the most listened to morning man in Canada." That's Q's claim, based on Stern's average quarter-hour shares, full coverage area. (In Toronto, Stern's fourth behind CFRB's Ted Woloshyn, CHFI's Daynard & Davis and CHUM-FM's Roger Ashby & Co.) But thanks to Stern, Q's share of audience across southern Ontario jumped almost two share points, its total listeners nearly doubled. All the good news is Stern's. Q doesn't make the top 10 afternoons.

"You know how desperate a station has to be to put me on the air?" Stern once asked sidekick Robin Quivers. "They have to be in the dumpster! We're their last hope!" Riding an astonishing tide of should-he-be-on-the-air controversy, media hype, boycotts and a popular movie in videostores, Stern's mix of sex, shock and kaka have done their devil work. "Stop!" we hear Q's rivals scream. Okay.

By share of listening, CHFI overall is tops, then CFRB and CHUM-FM.

By total listeners, it's CHFI, CHUM-FM and ... Q-107.

Below, the pecking order by full coverage share of audience, (in parenthesis, the share a year earlier), and last the total listener number.

CHFI-FM ... A 12.2 share of total audience (was 12.2 in fall '96) with 1,092,000 listeners. 
CFRB/1010 ... 10.2 share (was 9.6 a year earlier) 913,000 listeners. 
CHUM-FM ... 9 (7.3) 1,038,000. 
MIX/99 ... 6.5 (7.8) 942,000. 
Q-107 ... 5.8 (4) 1,020,000. 
CBL/740 ... 4.8 (4.6) 653,000. 
EZ-97 ... 4.5 (4.7) 468,000. 
CFNY-FM ... 4.1 (5.6) 683,000. 
CISS-FM ... 4.1 (5.1) 468,000. 
Classical 96 ... 3.9 (3.5) 336,000. 
680 News ... 3.2 (3.4) 638,000. 
1050/CHUM ... 2.8 (3.1) 363,000. 
ENERGY 108 ... 2.7 (2.7) 612,000. 
FAN ... 2.6 (2.7) 401,000. 
CBC Stereo ... 2.2 (2.1) 386,000. 
hot103dot1 ... 2.1 (2.2) 475,000. 
TALK640 ... 1.1 (1.2) 223,000.

But the story of the book is Stern.

"If it was a Canadian doing Stern's act, he'd be long gone," says one rival. "It'd have been nipped in the bud. Our government and watchdogs are afraid of the great big Americans."

"He hurt everybody," says another. "That (Q owner) WIC can throw some guy from New York on the air to talk about t--- and c---- and make millions of dollars is outrageous. If they're permitted to take dollars out of the pockets of broadcasters doing their own programming, you're gonna see Stern plugged into every market. If he robs you in one, you might as well try to make money back in other markets. Let announcers say whatever they want, there's no broadcast act and abolish the standards council."

One rival chain threatens to put Stern on the air in Ottawa: "See how (the regulators and politicians) like having him force-fed down their throats in their own backyard every day." (Stern did well in Montreal, his only other Canuck market.)

But if Stern's "the most listened-to morning man in Canada," who tells his stations to stop? What "standards" is he breaching? Who does Stern offend if his critics don't listen? And if other station groups buy plug-and-play morning shows from the U.S, who bells the cat? This genie is out of the bottle. Don't count on the CRTC to put it back.

© 1998 Gary Dunford

December 11, 1997

Radio stations plan no Stern action

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.

Stern staying, despite Canadian complaints

Round one goes to Howard Stern.

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

Q vows to stem Stern

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.

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.

Summer 1997

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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