http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2007/pb2007-65.htm#7

Looks like Newcap wants to drop the specialty licence restrictions.

ya think?!

The race is on.  Will some other station flip to country before the approval for this happens and Big Earl launches in Cowtown?  A half or even a third of Country 105's audience probably looks pretty good to the folks at California.

I think the most likely contender is their own sister station.

Flip fuel to Earl, then bring California in as Fuel.

If they can lose the restrictions.  (or the license).  Just because they can't make a go of the format, doesn't mean someone else wouldn't be able to with a little effort and elbow grease.

Might Rawlco sneek in first by tweeking their "Folk" station with lots of Nashville?  ex:  Mike Ness, Ray Lamontagne, Allison Moorer with Tim, Keith, Reba

It's too bad that NewCap wants to go this direction.  I really enjoyed the Breeze when it was on the air, California 103 is okay but they're too much like a cookie-cutter Soft Rock/Smooth Jazz format.  There's no "Sun" on California 103, as far as I'm concerned.

Quoted from raydiyoboy

Might Rawlco sneek in first by making their station more "Folk" station tweeked with lots of Nashville?  ex:  Mike Ness, Ray Lamontagne, Allison Moorer with Tim, Keith, Reba

Yeah, probably. And that's why somebody else might jump the gun to get there first, even if the station in question has only had one book.

Made an impressive debut in Calgary until the 'Jack' monolith hit town, and never recovered after that.  How hard did the station's handlers promote the station over its short life?  Not so much, imho.  Rather than carve out its own niche, NewCap now pleads poverty to the CRTC at its licence renewal.  It robs the Calgary market of a unique music format, and makes the whole 'specialty licence' process useless and redundant.  The Commission should play hardball with NewCap, forcing the company to "strenuously" prove that the format truly doesn't work.  

Go back a few years to the beginning and you'll find that when the Breeze actually pulled some numbers (I believe they had over a 6 share at one point) Paul Larsen was the PD. When he left the nosedive started and they just couldn't find someone who could do it as well. Then they brought in their current management and... well.. the results speak for themselves.

If Newcap wants to be honest in their CRTC request, it should read something like... "we're just too inept to be successful".

Quoted from thatguy

Flip fuel to Earl, then bring California in as Fuel.

If they can lose the restrictions.  (or the license).  Just because they can't make a go of the format, doesn't mean someone else wouldn't be able to with a little effort and elbow grease.

Didn't BJ Wilson take part in the original Big Earl?  That didn't go so well, hence Fuel.

First Breeze book was a healthy 4-something. Second book was their best; 5.6 sticks in my mind but I could be slightly off. Then the bottom fell out.
I never really bought into the "Jack-done-'em-in" excuse. traveller is probably closer to the truth. After listening to a couple of Larsen's radio stations, I think he was the guy with the magic touch.

As an afterthought, is Newcap not opening itself up to the possibility that the CRTC may decide to revisit the bidding process for the license? These are major changes. To simply cave to the request would encourage others to promise anything just to get a license, secure in the knowledge that they can get what they *really* want five years down the road. "It didn't work. Who knew?"

CRTC are rubber stampers.  This one's gonna pass without trouble.  In fact, I'd say that Newcap has been priming the Commission for a long while.  Forseeing the request, could it not be the reason the Commissioners only licenced four instead of five new licences for Calgary?  Click on this and scroll down to "Dissenting opinion of Commissioner Helen Ray del Val".

http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Notices/2006/pb2006-97.htm

By not handing out the 5th licence (which analyzed by CRTC workers could be financially feasible), the Commissioners kept the window open to "help out" their buds at NCC.  In other words, the Commissioners will be able to substanciate that the city can afford to have another non-specialty commercial licence, opening the door for CIQX-FM to drop its requirements.

For those who say that Newcap has to demonstrate a bigger WHY:  the application states that Newcap has invested nearly $20 mil and has lost $3 mil.  Whether or not it was intentional to lose money for the sake of getting the requirement dropped, the CRTC have the numbers on file and will be sympathetic to the non-Jazz cause in Calgary.

I really think there should be an intervention process at the time a company's license comes up.  Even more than that.  Your 5 year window is up?  You re-apply for your license and can have competition for it at the same time.  Could make the terms longer to give you time to implement a business plan and see it through, but every 10 years or so stations would have to drop the VT, up their CanTalent commitments and spoken word to save their ass.

It's sad that Newcap will in essence be rewarded for ineptitude when there are countless companies out there who could do it better if only given the chance.

Intentional to lose the money??  That doesn't add up, as it's not a guarantee the CRTC will approve the licence revision.

Remember, it was Newcap that inherited this licence from Telemedia's P.O.P., and obviously the research in the niche format for Calgary or Canada for that matter didn't exactly work out.

Howard Kroeger is involved with the two stations... Can you say 103BOB-FM

Not a chance.

Will find out in 2.5 hours what California 103 will turn into

WPGGUY may be on to something with the type of format.  But the name may be off.  The domain XL103.ca is registered to Newcap.  If I were a betting man...

Midnight has come and gone and California 103 has not changed.  Perhaps a format flip later Saturday?

Quoted from spiffiness

The domain XL103.ca is registered to Newcap.  If I were a betting man...

'08 Radio Nerd award of the Year.  (Awesome!)

Quoted from spiffiness

The domain XL103.ca is registered to Newcap.  If I were a betting man...

You looked for that and found it:

'08 Radio Nerd award of the Year.  (Awesome!)

You make it too easy, Newcap.



Looks like Classic Hits/Oldies to me!

I like the Logo.  Where did you find it Aaron

Nice work Aaron!  

Let's hope that Newcap can do something innovative with the format, programming, and on-air talent.  

Quoted from Hondaman2003

I like the Logo.  Where did you find it Aaron

Go to another Newcap station, open their media player, change only the base of the URL to the found domain.

So when to expect the format flip?  1:03 today?  Monday?  April Fool's Day?  Guesses?

The CRTC deadline for submissions in regards to the 'non-hit' policy is Tuesday, and a decision should follow in very short order. It's expected the rule is going away completely, which would make this format MUCH more viable. They may hedge their bets and launch before, but I'd expect them to wait.

Quoted from Aaron

You make it too easy, Newcap.



Looks like Classic Hits/Oldies to me!

Looks like the old CKXL "Sunspot" (OH am I old!!)

I know what you mean paddyboy Brings back a lot of memories

I just read the CRTC decision (2007-427: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2007/db2007-427.htm) to allow CIQX to drop the requirements on its specialty license.  What piqued my interest was item number 9:

"Newcap also stated that it remained committed to providing long-term diversity to the Calgary radio market, indicating that it would continue to expose Smooth Jazz artists to Calgary audiences if granted its request to operate CIQX-FM as a conventional non-Specialty FM station. The licensee added that it was seeking the programming flexibility to grow its audience and to compete on a fair and equitable basis with other Calgary broadcasters in order to increase the level of such exposure. It suggested that the proposed station format would be similar to the New Adult Contemporary/Smooth Jazz format currently offered by CIWV-FM Hamilton/Burlington, which operates as a conventional non-Specialty FM licensee."

Now, how are you going to expose smooth jazz artists to Calgary audiences if you go with a Classic Hits/Oldies hybrid type format?  Or was this just lip-service?

Lip service. No different than the 3 CHUM AM stations that were going to keep on spinning the oldies when they moved to FM.

Quoted from Aaron

Go to another Newcap station, open their media player, change only the base of the URL to the found domain.

What part is the base? And change it to what?

Quoted from Coffee Table

What part is the base? And change it to what?

Change http://www.california103.com/mediaplayer/mediaplayer.asp to http://www.xl103.ca/mediaplayer/mediaplayer.asp

Whatever little bit was at xl103.ca has now been taken down.  

the website is up http://www.xl103.ca

Now there's a set of calls that brings back a few.....

It's happening right now.

First song - Elton John, Crocodile Rock.

This is making JACK sound strangely awkward.

The "XL" is a stroke of genius, now can they live up to their namesake?

If they can, they have a bombshell!!!  Let's slip some new stuff in there once in a while too...

Keep in mind 103...the talent is there to entertain. Give 'em the space they need to do that, otherwise I'm going back to the iPod.
You don't have long to show you're different.

One has to wonder how/if this will effect Rawlco's plans for the soon to be launched 97.7.

OK, so I've only been listening for seven or eight songs now. For a "Greatest Hits" format, there appears to be a liberal dose of 80s cuts. "Crazy River" by robby Robertson into "Working for The weekend" by Loverboy. Admittedly both canCon. I'm just wondering how much the music will change (if it all) when the CRTC announces their decision re:the hit/non-hit rule. Would be nice to hear some Motown/60s pop (Association, 5th Dimension, etc.) in the mix rather than the Jack-type rock.

The first afternoon so far looks about 70% hit. Remember, they had almost 2 full days this week of nearly 100% non-hit with California, so they've got a good head-start.

If anything, it's the Cancon that seems responsible for a lot of the Jack-rock, although it seems like the station in intentionally rock-leaning anyway.

Does it seem a little odd that they've played "Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffett, as well as "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash, twice in 16 hours?  If they have 30 years of hits to choose from, would it not make sense to have a slighter wider musical universe?

It's normal to replay songs from the daytime in the overnight hours. Keeps you from wasting a fresh spin when nobody who heard it the first time is listening.

The new XL 103 fm will speak to an underserved portion of the market, adults 35+. Currently most radio stations, particularly in Calgary, are aimed at a younger audience and largely ignoring this listener. "Most of the stations in the Calgary market act as if adults don't matter. The music simply doesn't speak to them," added Peck. FROM MILKMAN RELEASE

... I just thought this was kind of funny. Q107, LIte 96, Country 105, JACK, Classic Country, the Eagle in Okotoks, the Range in Airdrie/Cochrane, if the Rawlco station plays similar to what it's testing, even CJAY to an extent. Ummmm....  yeah, none of them target 35+. People turning 40 this year were BORN in 1968.

Does this guy actually believe what he's saying? Near as I can figure - that's anywhere between 7 to 9 stations that hit Calgary and the rural commuters.

And yeah, I get it - play the "me too" game, take a bit of share from each one and hope to pull a 3 or 4. Really not the worst idea and considering the braintrust, probably the best they could hope for.



"YOU say there's no easy answers, I say you're not looking hard enough!!"

are there any jock or staff changes? is Hal Gardner still there?

Are they going to run jockless?

I've heard jockless till next Monday...

I heard Hal this morning.  He is still there

It'd be a shame, but no surprise... if they were playing the same, old, tired, 500-tune, heavily-researched playlist that's been around for 20 years.

While I do not knows the brains at NewCap, I still don' trusts 'em.

Indeed, this is a monster target demographic. However if the grownups in the audience continue to get treated like the sister who wasn't allowed to appear at the family gatherings, it'll just be another patronising, poorly conceived and ultimately doomed exercise.

Nice calls, though! Kinda makes a feller wanna Drive Decent, Dammit!

Quoted from pave

It'd be a shame, but no surprise... if they were playing the same, old, tired, 500-tune, heavily-researched playlist that's been around for 20 years.

While I do not knows the brains at NewCap, I still don' trusts 'em.

Indeed, this is a monster target demographic. However if the grownups in the audience continue to get treated like the sister who wasn't allowed to appear at the family gatherings, it'll just be another patronising, poorly conceived and ultimately doomed exercise.

Nice calls, though! Kinda makes a feller wanna Drive Decent, Dammit!

So far, sadly, it seems like the tired 500 tune beancounter playlist.
I was bored to tears. At least John Tesh makes an effort. This is all hype, no substance.
1965 to, what, 1990? That's 35 years of music. There shouldn't be a repeat in a week!!!
What a waste of a great call  

Back to the iPod...so long xl103  

Quoted from pave

It'd be a shame, but no surprise... if they were playing the same, old, tired, 500-tune, heavily-researched playlist that's been around for 20 years.

While I do not knows the brains at NewCap, I still don' trusts 'em.

Indeed, this is a monster target demographic. However if the grownups in the audience continue to get treated like the sister who wasn't allowed to appear at the family gatherings, it'll just be another patronising, poorly conceived and ultimately doomed exercise.

Nice calls, though! Kinda makes a feller wanna Drive Decent, Dammit!

It is a shame.....I don't trust the "brains" either.  But so far, and at this point, I've already "don't care".

FUEL is going to finally impact, both with X and CJ in play;  XL isn't.  Newcap should've stay'ed with the original Breeze 103.  I hope they pay for "playing" the system-they don't seem to deserve good ratings.

Newcap has a wonderful opportunity to play music than disappeared when 66 CFR switched to all news. It's pretty sad when stores in Calgary are playing The Eagle out of Okotoks because they are the only station with a large music library. Xl should play a mix of rock pop including Motown and R&B of the early 70's. I agree that they are sounding too much like Jack Light. If people still want to hear the Fab 4 and the stones, I'm guessing there's still room for Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gay.This could be excellent but so far it's just ok.

Thems were, indeed, Venus - the "groovy tunes" and there will - so long as this demographic is still sucking air - be a place for them.

Now, the key is to present them - all of 'em - and surround them with material that won't drive me away in spite of a (potentially) magnificent music-mix.

remember XL date night at the Calgary Stampede?  that catch phrase still comes up with some of my weirdo friends every now and then.........

Quoted from paddyboyy

So far, sadly, it seems like the tired 500 tune beancounter playlist.
I was bored to tears. At least John Tesh makes an effort. This is all hype, no substance.
1965 to, what, 1990? That's 35 years of music. There shouldn't be a repeat in a week!!!
What a waste of a great call  

Back to the iPod...so long xl103  

Perhaps they're playing it safe while the CRTC decides on the hit/non-hit policy.  Perhaps once that decision comes down in their favour there will be a greater selection.  There aren't any DJs yet either.  Who knows what kind of ideas the programming folks have in mind once the people are in place (next week?).