AM940 could find it tough to make a living off the oldies
MIKE BOONE The Gazette Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Now that Montreal has an all-hits AM radio station, what's next?
Let's climb aboard the streetcar for a ride back to the future. There's a sale on toe rubbers at Morgan's.
AM940 - Montreal's Greatest Hits is running a contest asking listeners to pick the first golden oldie we'll hear when the station officially launches at 9:40 a.m. on Canada Day.
The former all-news station will be playing the "hits that you love from the unforgettable '60s, '70s and '80s." This aces me out of contention because my choice is from the '90s.
The Mozart Requiem was composed in 1791. But it's sombre, funereal tones would be perfect for a radio format that will be DOA.
Vintage hits on the AM band? Been there, done that - most recently at CKGM in 1998.
It was the second go-round for AM oldies, which CKGM had tried from 1991 to 1996. The format followed Top 40 and preceded Talk Radio with Attitude.
It didn't work at 990 on your AM dial, and it won't work at 940.
Music doesn't work on AM radio. Hit records in monaural sound were great when we listened to them in a 1958 Chevy at the Julep.
Wolfman Jack died in 1995. At that point, the style of radio that made him famous had been dead for 20 years.
The AM940 website promises "artists you never hear enough of": the Beatles, Eagles, Madonna, Boston, the Beach Boys, Tina Turner, James Taylor, Rod Stewart, Tears for Fears, the Rolling Stones.
Although the official launch isn't until July 1, the hits began rolling Monday morning. I tuned in during breakfast yesterday and heard When a Man Loves a Woman.
Percy Sledge is an artist I've heard enough of. The station is promoting "tunes that lift your spirits with the first note and make you want to sing along," but these mouldy oldies depress you with the first note and make you want to roll down the window and listen to the comparatively soothing sounds of road repairs.
Okay, maybe that's a tad harsh. While I'm firmly convinced nostalgia isn't what it used to be, there probably are some Montrealers who have checked into the Hotel California and can never leave.
But even for those who can't get enough Satisfaction, AM radio is an unsatisfactory medium for transmitting songs that don't share The Who's wish to die before they get old.
Here's a comprehensive list of what sounds good on the AM band: Talk.
Ideally, good talk - like Mitch Melnick offers on the Team 990, which is what CKGM became after trying all those other dumb ideas. During his weekday afternoon
drive show, Melnick plays some music - invariably the tastiest tunes to be found anywhere on the dial - but the songs serve as segues or commentary, often ironic, on the day's sports news.
There's other good talk on the AM dial. CKAC, which went to an all-sports format this year, has an excellent morning show. CJAD has never been my cup of Metamucil, but everyone's mother - including mine - tunes Montreal's self-styled "news talk leader" religiously.
There were never enough heretics to make 940 News viable. From the time the former CIQC (which had been CFCF) launched all-news in December 1999, until the format was dropped last week, 940 failed to gain any traction.
Despite some big-name announcers - Pulse alumnus Robert Vairo on Day 1, Joe Cannon and, latterly, Dennis Trudeau - 940 never achieved the kind of ratings that would generate enough advertising revenue to support a labour-intensive news/talk format.
The station is part of Corus Entertainment, a broadcasting empire that includes 53 radio stations across Canada (among them Info 690, which remains French all-news; CKAC, CKOI, Q92 and FM talker 98.5 in Montreal). Corus boasts that 8.4 million Canadians listen to its radio stations, but only 80,000 Montrealers were tuning 940 News.
I doubt whether All-Hits 940 will get more listeners.
It's certain, however, that Jim Croce works cheaper than Jim Duff.
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