Hot Country Clarence/Rockland and Hawkesbury changed owners and formats today
Last fall Evanov announced they were going to shut down 3 stations. Two were branded Hot Country, one operating in Clarence/Rockland and one in Hawkesbury. The other station was Lite 98.5 Ottawa. That station was sold to Torres Media and rebranded to Mix 98.5.
The two hot country stations were also sold and today Radio communautaire Cornwall-Alexandria took over the stations and rebranded them to BIG-FM “Playing… Whatever”
The company, which owns French Variety “92.1 GO FM” CHOD-FM Cornwall, agreed to acquire both stations last September. The new brand launched at 12pm today after a six hour loop of Mitsou’s “Bye Bye Mon Cowboy”.
In the time I have been listening to it today, the station has played songs from Nirvana, The Backstreet Boys, Dolly Parton, Whitesnake, Phil Collins and a lot more.
I actually really like the music mix on this station, compared to Boom, Jack, Bounce, Summit and others. This playlist seems much bigger compared to the other stations. Maybe it is just the early days of the station but hearing The Backstreet Boys into Phil Collins, The Killers and then Dolly Parton before Whitesnake and then Nirvana, to me is a really good mix. Another observation is if they keep the playlist as big as it seems to be, then the mix will always remain interesting. On stations like Jack and even Boom the playlist seems so limited that a lot of the time the same songs get played and the station almost gets predictable, and to a degree boring. The only thing that makes those stations good is the on air staff so a station like this one with only a morning show will still sound really good.
So far the only confirmed host on the station is the Big Breakfast with Derrick Scott. I hope they end up adding an afternoon show at the very least.
Breaking news with regard to Evanov Comm. Jimmy T, of “The Morning Show with Jimmy T and Melanie” on Z103.5 has been let go as of Monday June 23. I had noticed his name was scrubbed from the Z website two days ago and when i called someone to confirm, they didn’t say anything, literally nothing! This morning it was confirmed it was very recent. This is notable in that this is the second time he has been fired by Z! And also recently, they’ve brought back Scott Fox, a former Z morning show host who was also fired at least once. What is it with this company; they don’t want to seem to invest in talent. Richie Favalaro, ex of CHUM-FM filled in a couple of weeks ago (forgot all about him as its been a couple of years since he was let go). Now there’s an idea; a decent talent with experience.
It’s so very sad and a great loss for Darren Osborne to be gone. He had the greatest voice for being on radio. He certainly will be missed. Wishing you Darren all the best in your journey in life wherever it takes you. Hoping to hear you on another radio station or on TV soon.