Format changes coming after Christmas?
There has been a lot of talk of possible format changes happening after Christmas. Currently several Corus stations in Ontario are running an all Christmas format but that is typical for the majority of stations. This year however was a new entry, Energy 95.3. The rumors have been running wild of a format change since the early fall, and it appears one is coming. Some rumors suggest AM640 Toronto could be broadcast on 95.3 as well. The issue I see with that is there would be to much Toronto talk fo a market that recently lost its talk radio station (due to Corus shutting it down). Another rumor suggests moving Edge from 102.1 to 95.3 and running talk on 102.1 but again that seems unlikely. Could Energy flip and become a competitor to Legend 102.9, a station that was sold to Whiteoaks Communications from Bell earlier this year?
Another rumor swirling around Energy is that Corus will shut down the Hamilton studios. Currently on Energy The Hot Mic with Kat and Dave broadcasts from Guelph on the Kitchener Station 91.5 The Beat. Middays are with Mr D who is also at 91.5 The Beat. Red is the afternoon show at Energy, and is the only local Hamilton host from my understanding on 95.3. Over on Y108, mornings and middays are the same as on FM96 London and the hosts broadcast from London. Brian West the afternoon host, is afternoons on both FM96 and Y108, but I believe does his show from Guelph as well. Any evening and weekend hosts broadcast from other markets, so it would make sense to close the studios. By flipping Energy there would most likely not be any job losses, but new voices being heard in the market.
Other potential, and often rumored format changes within Corus, are in Ottawa, Kingston and Cornwall. Ottawa has Jump and Boom, Kingston has BIG FM and Fresh and Cornwall has Boom and Fresh. I have heard that it would be Jump and Fresh stations changing format. The most recent rumors point to a potential Classic Alternative format on all of the flipping stations.
Other potential rumors of format flips are Virgin Radio Edmonton, as one of the morning hosts is leaving to go back to Toronto. I heard rumor in the summer that Bell was going to do more flips of stations, after Pure Country Windsor flipped back to 89X. It would make sense for Virgin Edmonton to change and potentially go back to the old EZ-Rock branding. Other stations that may change formats before the New Year are possibly owned by Rogers. There has been plans to either expand the Jack brand or change the Jack brand in general. I have heard rumors that Rogers was going to abandon the Jack name, and just call themselves something along the lines of Whatever FM. At one point it was rumored that the Kiss stations in Winnipeg and Lethbridge may flip to a Jack like station. At one point it was also rumored that Rogers was going to expand the Sonic brand to more stations but after the Vancouver/Chilliwack/Abbotsford station flipped from Sonic to Kiss Throwbacks this year, that plan seems to be abandoned.
As we get close to Christmas and the potential of format changes I will be making updates as I get them.
But my question is this, how many stations will actually change formats between Christmas and New Years? Will we see any? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
