yeah Fox... I htink that is more what I meant "as we know it."  The of course will be a place and home for music.

and every market will still have a station or two that will be a "soft mix of today's light favourites playing 55 minutes of nonstop music" because that is a service the is needed by someone.

but any station that tries to be adventuress with music, will shoot themselves if they can't present the music well and be entertaining.  Really, the music should almost be the segues between the good stuff (entertainment, information, education, comedy, community).  And we're not there yet... but we will be.

the station I always use an example is KISW in Seattle.

Talk show morning
heavy personality mid-day show with very focused music (KISW is big tent ROCK station)
Talk show afternoon drive
music evening show
Talk show late night (Tom Leykis)

and in a very competitive market, they do extremely well.  They even still call themselves "The Rock of Seattle." but in actuallity, play very little rock.

the more music intensive stations, (KNDD 107.7 the End for example)  is getting killed, so they put Carolla (talk) on in the morning and he is the one strong point for the station ratings wise.

oh i hear ya, and i agree wholeheartedly.. music stations with heavy personality have always been a favorite of mine to listen to (come for the music stay for what an ipod can not give you).. i remember listening as a kid thinking i just wanted to hear the "talkie bits"  haha

but my point was more the fact that there are still many people out there who want their 40 min music sweeps and such.. so for them technology will give them the choice of non stop music and personality based radio.. ill use "HD" radio as a loose example.. with the ability to have more then one station on one frequency to maybe give them that choice from the smae outlet..

but back on topic, i wonder if the vancouver hearings and decisions will be any kind of foreshadowing for the up coming edmonton hearings..?
i gotta stock up on the pop corn for the show

Quoted from Aaron

Rogers doesn't seem to be afraid to invest in that format. And if you believe the market's ready for it, if it's a new station, you definitely do it on FM. It's not about sound quality, it's about urban signal quality and having your audience, expecially the young end,  actually find you.

Urban signal quality? How does AM have no Urban signal quality? I really don't get it when people complain of having bad signal reception in areas with large concentrations of buildings...are they using crystal radios or something? Or cheap $30 ones?

CFFR AM has excellent coverage right through Edmonton (provided that you're not using one of the aforementioned devices) and it is especially useful for letting people on highways know about traffic issues.

It's an indoor problem really - mostly building penetration that's the main urban problem for AM - couple that with interferance from computers and other office equipment and AM's a no-go at most offices.

At home, it's either cheap clock radios that buzz and crackle in urban areas, or stereo tuners that have never had their AM antennas connected and are too close to other AV stuff anyway.

(And while few would bother, ever tried listening to AM while on public transit? You've got to hold your radio to the window - if it even has an AM tuner at all)

wouldnt people in offices have access to streaming audio at their desks?

besides, wouldnt it be smarter to launch hot ac in edmonton?? thoughts?

Quoted from TRENT

Urban signal quality? How does AM have no Urban signal quality? I really don't get it when people complain of having bad signal reception in areas with large concentrations of buildings...are they using crystal radios or something? Or cheap $30 ones?

CFFR AM has excellent coverage right through Edmonton (provided that you're not using one of the aforementioned devices) and it is especially useful for letting people on highways know about traffic issues.

I wouldn't call CFFR's signal fading in and out in a) parts of downtown & north Edmonton, b) tunnels & underpasses, c) on transit excellent coverage. Heck I've been listening to CBC Radio One more and more simply because it's on FM instead of AM. And to add to Aaron's argument, some radios don't even come with AM band ie) cell phone radios.

Besides... I think it would be forward thinking for Rogers to have all-news radio on FM for those who are stuck in traffic in the proposed Gateway Blvd. tunnel

Quoted from fox_hunter_15

besides, wouldnt it be smarter to launch hot ac in edmonton?? thoughts?

Yes. More cost effective, and Joe's getting away with murder. There are multiple applications though....

Quoted from ED1

I wouldn't call CFFR's signal fading in and out in a) parts of downtown & north Edmonton, b) tunnels & underpasses, c) on transit excellent coverage. Heck I've been listening to CBC Radio One more and more simply because it's on FM instead of AM. And to add to Aaron's argument, some radios don't even come with AM band ie) cell phone radios.

Besides... I think it would be forward thinking for Rogers to have all-news radio on FM for those who are stuck in traffic in the proposed Gateway Blvd. tunnel

OK, you have a correct point about less-than-optimal reception conditions. However, those issues do not affect more local AM stations - for example the ones which are serving Edmonton through Beaumont. I would think that they wouldn't be trying to serve Edmonton from Okotoks, right?

I can't say much about transit because I have only taken any forms of it 5 times in all of the 15 years of my life (and I have every single transfer slip, ever to prove it)

However, for certain other locations (like greater Vancouver) I would not recommend AM because of the terrain. But here in Edmonton, it's just fine.

How about a compromise for office people, just like CBX. 3kW in downtown and then an AM for everyone else. (Just please don't pick a FM freq after 106.1MHz, because then by RSS-210 compliancy I'll have to move.)

And I guess that's another problem - the AM band is really crowded, and I wouldn't want to see it reduce power / change antenna patterns at night.

Quoted from TRENT

I can't say much about transit because I have only taken any forms of it 5 times in all of the 15 years of my life (and I have every single transfer slip, ever to prove it)

Even the local AM stations in the city are affected by intermittent buzzing from the bus for some reason. FM is fine.

Regarding CBX, at first the signal was really weak and you can tell it was just an AM simulcast on FM. But recently they made some changes that improved the signal quality. I doubt they're still broadcasting CBX-2 at 3 kW anymore...

Quoted from Aaron

Yes. More cost effective, and Joe's getting away with murder. There are multiple applications though....

Joe isnt really a Hot AC anyways, no? Though to be honest I havent really listened to Joe edm in about 18 months.

You're right, I certainly wouldn't call them a Hot AC, but they're certainly getting a good chunk of the potetntial Hot AC audience with their female friendly approach and fair share of Hot AC currents.