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| CORUS DROWNING IN MEDIOCRE TALENT This thread currently has 6,204 views. |
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 NBeaconIsBack |
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I have mixed feelings about Corus radio in Edmonton. On one hand, the recent depletion of and lack of talent makes me sick every time I flip through one of their channels. On the other hand, I give Corus full credit for being able to make money with their mediocre product.
In surfing the radio the other day, I heard nothing but bumbling, mumbling, poor diction and a new degree of illiteracy not to mention butchery of the English language on iNews880. Skipping onto 630CHED I heard a senile Bryan Hall trying to convince himself outloud that "despite not having any medals, Canada is REALLY doing well at the Olympics. Sad that Kris Burkholder is no longer his sidekick, but without Gord Whitehead, CHED would be freakin' terrible (they'd better hope winter comes soon so that the Oilers broadcasts will bring back some listeners). Heard Rhubarb on JoeFM trying to carry the morning show, but it was awful. Only channel I didn't make it to was CISN, but I suspect the same quality of resources.
I limit my listening time of free-radio now to weather and traffic reports only.
Sad thing what's happened to radio talent in this town. |
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| newsjunkie |
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With all that has been going on in Edmonton...CISN has remained good quality |
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| fox_hunter_15 |
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Big Member |
wow... way to champion the industry... makes me wanna put the ipod away in no time flat.. how about pointing out somehting positive? here's hoping ppl with strive to be seen as something to be talked about... I think Pepper and Dylan have one of THE best morning shows in canada. How about Layne Mitchell's sense humor just has something about it, the subtleties make me come back every day. Scott Mccord is fantasticly random. And my day just doesn't go right if i don't catch yukon's big yap at some point. Mike D on k97 is real and i can really relate to him. chris sheetz is a staple and always will be. anyone wanna do calgary? ...van? ...(jeff 'neil kills me  ) ...any other city in canada? |
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| thatotherguy |
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Pepper and Dylan? Really?
I'm going to have to tune in and give them another shot. Last time I was through they were doing some outdoor stunt that they were not pulling off on-air at all. But that was the one and only time I'd heard them. |
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| phoneradio |
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I don't think that pointing out bad talent is wrong - in fact it might have the opposite effect and help these people step up their game. No doubt they've been hearing it from family and friends that they are the best at what they do and deserve to be where they are, when the reality of it is - they are cheep. Step up. |
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| Flamethrower |
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| thatotherguy |
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McCord is no Fearless, but he's got some chops. |
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| fox_hunter_15 |
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Pepper and Dylan? Really?
To each one's own... I'm just trying to point out the positive rather than always dwelling on the negative. whats your fav morning show? why not say who you like rather than who you think sucks? I'm a jock. and if someone (a peer especially) ever took time to say something nice about me that would make me want to work harder than if some random bitter on an anonymous message board bashed me...and as people in the biz why not champion the good rather than the bad??? shouldnt that be a given? who works for good year and says "hover cars is where its at"? |
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| TRENT |
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Medium Member  Location: Edmonton, Alberta
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With all that has been going on in Edmonton...CISN has remained good quality
I still don't understand why they have real live announcers in the middle of the night. I was listening to them because I was tuning my audio processor and was using CISN as a reference (and seeing how far I could push my FM transmitter before it would start overmodulating) and I was just kind of wishing that he would stop talking about random things and move along with the music. None of the Newcap stations running hot country do this. (CFCW does, but they're not hot country.) Also, advertisements. Way more than CKGY and definitely more than the small town stations. (I need to stop complaining about this.) |
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| binzer |
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Don't you think that it's terrific that a station actually has a live all night person, who might actually use that gig as a stepping stone once they've honed some skills?
I say cheers to CISN! Some Corus country stations don't even have a live evening person. |
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| krazycanuck85 |
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Some Corus country stations don't even have a live evening person.
CISN doesn't either. it's Casey Clark, just like most country stations in this country now. |
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 sasklight |
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For my money, CISN and CFCW are Edmonton's two best radio stations. They're both country, they have talented and intelligent people, and they know their audience. I prefer CFCW's morning show, CISN at other times during the day, CFCW at nights when I'm listening to local radio. |
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| Poppa |
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CISN doesn't either. it's Casey Clark, just like most country stations in this country now.
Which, while slightly better than "Lia" from the US, still makes me physically ill. I have no doubts that Casey is a nice guy, but he's taking jobs away from actual people, and his "I'm a dork so I'm cool" gimmick got old at least 5 years ago. It's bad enough that it clogs up CMT, but now it's taking over radio stations too. When our station got the email about picking it up, we literally laughed out loud and hit delete immediately.  |
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| NBeaconIsBack |
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Great discussion folks.
My original point was that Corus, one of the bigs in Edmonton, has been able to keep its operation running and make money despite the lack of depth in talent. I'm a believer that there comes a point when you can have too little talent and it WILL begin to affect your bottom line.
For now though, it's interesting to watch them sell, sell, sell while offering very little quality. |
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| Poppa |
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It's basically my never ending nightmare, that radio stations will no longer require any kind of talent at any positions because they'll find a way to make every station a 24/7 Infomercial, where commercials are the only thing that matters.
Interestingly, GWB has been working toward this goal for a long time, and is getting closer. It's truly a frightening prospect for all jocks/newsies out there. I long to have worked in the glory days of the 90s.........and earlier, of course.... |
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| different |
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how about pointing out somehting positive?
Agreed. Edmonton in my opinion is in great shape right now, especially in all areas rock. Since K97's flip I'm listening to that station a lot more. Altough Loch was a tough loss Phil and Gruff were great additions. I think Sonic is the most solid modern rock station in Canada, Garner is unreal. The most relatable host for his target I've ever listened to. I podcast his show on a daily basis. Fearless is a magician with his microphone. The fact he can totally dismantle someone on the phone and still make them feel good is nearly impossible, but it's a staple in his show, and I can't wait for him to turn on the mic. Danaye on the bear is clutch too, sounds to me like she really loves being there which makes it easy to love listening. Yukon's big yap is poetic/tight/controversial/consistent, couldn't ask for more. I look forward to trips to Edmonton cause every time slot I end up there, there's someone on that I learn something from. Slow clap. |
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| hockeypuck |
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On one hand, the recent depletion of and lack of talent makes me sick every time I flip through one of their channels.
Do you do anything BUT hate on Corus? I don't think I've ever read you say anything but (paraphrasing) "Corus sucks." Maybe you should broaden your horizons. Get a hobby, take up a sport, join a club...do something with your life! |
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| thatotherguy |
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There's some great talent in Edmonton. In a lot of Canadian markets. They're just not all on the same station like the "good ol' days" where there were 1, 2, 3 games in town. There's something like 20 in Edmonton these days. Much like a sports league that expands too big too fast, it takes time and a good farm system to develop the next round of stars. Sadly for Radio the expansion happened right around the technological revolution that digitized the medium and brought in voicetracking while consolidation to shareholder driven companies meant cuts across the board, rather than investment and foresight to seek out and develop their next round of stars. Capital snagged Rob and Audie, great move. Corus runs some overnight programming, once again, great move provided there is guidance and airchecks given to them. A syndicated evening show I feel is a great waste of a prime development slot, but if you're going to raze Corus from running Casey Clarke, you should be crucifying Astral from parachuting Seacrest into Vibe Calgary's midday show, or running John Tesh on EZ Rock evenings.
Edmonton is moving into being more and more of a 24 hour economy. I'm waiting for the day that somebody decides it's not worth the cash to sink money into a morning show to compete for a crowded daypart, concedes it, and drops solid cash into a drive or evening shift and properly builds and sells the station around that concept. |
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| TRENT |
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Medium Member Location: Edmonton, Alberta
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I have no doubts that Casey is a nice guy, but he's taking jobs away from actual people,
Are you implying that he is not an actual person? Anyway, the implementation is different on the Corus and Newcap stations. Corus, at least CISN-FM, plays ads during the advertisement slots during the Casey Clarke show, while the Newcap stations play more music during those. I usually couldn't care less about CISN, but with the Newcap stations switching to FM and basically reducing their coverage area that way, I kinda have to figure out what my options are. I don't just hate on-air talent, I just hate it when it's kind of irrelevant. The CKGY 'Afternoon Drive' people are pretty good. However, with CISN and their late nights, there isn't much to talk about, and if said announcer isn't going to give info on upcoming songs or recent played songs, then it's just random. As opposed to a syndicated show, I don't see much difference at this point - you're not getting any more local focus from it anyway. |
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| TRENT |
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Medium Member Location: Edmonton, Alberta
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For my money, CISN and CFCW are Edmonton's two best radio stations. They're both country, they have talented and intelligent people, and they know their audience. I prefer CFCW's morning show, CISN at other times during the day, CFCW at nights when I'm listening to local radio.
CISN and CFCW are different types of country though, and have different audiences. Also, CFCW has issues with narrowly limiting their audio bandwidth for some reason, but that is not at all a suggestion to switch to FM. Just make use of all the AM bandwidth. I thought it was supposed to be C-QUAM anyway. |
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| Poppa |
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Are you implying that he is not an actual person?
Well, I've never met him...I suppose there's a chance that he's some sort of cyborg.
Quoted Text
...The CKGY 'Afternoon Drive' people are pretty good...
Really? See, now, Tim's a good guy and all, but I've listened to that show a few times and I was half-asleep about 3 breaks in. That man has ZERO emotion in his voice and even less energy. Again, he's a great guy, but he does not sound like he enjoys his job one iota. |
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| mr_toad80 |
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Baby Member Gender:  Male
Location: Alberta
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I don't just hate on-air talent, I just hate it when it's kind of irrelevant. The CKGY 'Afternoon Drive' people are pretty good. However, with CISN and their late nights, there isn't much to talk about, and if said announcer isn't going to give info on upcoming songs or recent played songs, then it's just random. As opposed to a syndicated show, I don't see much difference at this point - you're not getting any more local focus from it anyway.
Are you expecting radio magic at 3 am? A lot of people have used that overnight CISN slot as a starting point or stepping stone in thier careers...myself included. Being able to cut your teeth or hone your skills at the same time as being able to put "Major Market Experience" on your resume is invaluable. We're always hearing about how voicetracking is killing the training ground shifts for radio's future...I think we should be celebrating stations who keep live announcers in low-revenue generating dayparts. |
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| NBeaconIsBack |
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Quoted Text
Do you do anything BUT hate on Corus? I don't think I've ever read you say anything but (paraphrasing) "Corus sucks." Maybe you should broaden your horizons. Get a hobby, take up a sport, join a club...do something with your life!
Last time I checked, we weren't in frikkin' Communist Russia. We all are entitled to opinions on this board and mine is that Corus seems to either be losing or not acquiring any good calibre talent. Until that happens I will continue to hold that opinion. Unless you would rather us hold hands and sing kumbaya and try to fool ourselves into believing they have real major market talent in Edmonton. |
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| CaptainAphid |
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Two Words.
Todd James.
Four Words.
He is really good.
Other words. (that are related to the previous words)
I listen during the day a lot and Todd "the God" James is always putting on a clinic. He's tighter than other things that are very tight, such as a budget at Corus. (ha ha funny joke) Plus his content is always relevant. In the sense it's relevant to his listeners. Not to his life. I hear people talk about being a "real" person on air.
Real to who?
Us as radio people? Or the guy/girl driving his truck/car to the job site/office/university/daycare/(exotic)massage parlour?
Even from an inside radio standpoint he's a formatics machine. Everything we always learned was important is there. Time, temp, weather in general, local content, artist info, station events, it's all there, it's all quick and it all works. I'm telling ya, Todd is the best day-time jock in the city. If you disagree I will fight you in the street with a kitten as my only weapon!
Still though there's loads of names missing on this list of fave city jocks.
Matt an Jake . . . hello?
But it really is refreshing to hear some positive talk on here. |
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| TRENT |
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Medium Member Location: Edmonton, Alberta
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Are you expecting radio magic at 3 am? A lot of people have used that overnight CISN slot as a starting point or stepping stone in thier careers...myself included. Being able to cut your teeth or hone your skills at the same time as being able to put "Major Market Experience" on your resume is invaluable. We're always hearing about how voicetracking is killing the training ground shifts for radio's future...I think we should be celebrating stations who keep live announcers in low-revenue generating dayparts.
Nope, I'm not, and I'm not saying that Corus needs to change anything - I'm making a comparison to what Newcap does, and stating my opinion that I like their small-town small(er)-market stations better. Either there is no one there and the computer is running everything, or they do have someone there, but the announcer breaks in every 7 or so songs, instead of every 2. (Append comment about advertising from earlier.) I understand how the lack of real announcers and the replacement of people with automation is bad for people in the industry (which includes many people here) but at the same time, many (not all) people on the listener end either prefer computer automation (because it keeps musical content moving along with minimal interruption) or simply couldn't care less. (On the other hand, all-news stations should have live staff all the time, even at night.) |
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| fox_hunter_15 |
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Todd is the best day-time jock in the city. If you disagree I will fight you in the street with a kitten as my only weapon!
a laser kitten? coincidentally I have just found myself in the possession of a laser puppy... alas I have no drive to disagree with you... if only.. it may have become one of the best pieces of SNL plagourism ever. |
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| LagerTape |
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Even with all the NewCap flips, I'll still take Edmonton's talent over Calgary's any day.
Most people can fall behind "Oh, it's Alberta, everyone wants to go there" to compare Edmonton to any other market, but it's astounding how far ahead Edmonton radio is over their southern cousin.
Also, credit has to go to their scouting; being able to snag some of these gems from obscurity and develop the talent, Zimmerman especially, I'd have to say Edmonton has some cutting edge material for sure.
As for Sonic being the best modern rock in the country, Garner is king of mornings for sure, but in every other day part, Edge 102 still wins. Josie Dye can have my babies anytime... |
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| scudmonkey |
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Have I been away to long? Does Todd not work for The Bear, and Isn't Zim with Astral as well. The thread does say "corus"? |
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| Flamethrower |
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As for Sonic being the best modern rock in the country, Garner is king of mornings for sure, but in every other day part, Edge 102 still wins. Josie Dye can have my babies anytime...
Lagertape, I'll fight you with a kitten for that comment  Sonic jocks in all dayparts crush Canada's most over rated rocker, The Edge in Toronto. Seriously, cue up Sonic on teh internets and listen to The Edge, and it should be pretty clear that Sonic is the superior modern rocker. Josie is cute... so I'll concede you the baby making. |
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| Sportfishing Enthusiast |
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Big Member Location: alberta
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i believe radio (announcer) mediocrity is subjective... especially in a major market.
overnights are different, though. usually someone is there because no one else is in that time slot. they should be doing "more." they should risk things. they're probably not getting paid. they really want to be there and be more. i think maybe too often the person there is forgotten about and maybe not always reeled in and shown direction. in any case, i don't always like the person talking on the radio (any station) at 4 in the morning, but i do appreciate what and why they're doing it. |
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| Ray Dio |
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Edge has been going downhill for years. Musically a follower in every category. Mediocre air talent, including Josie Dye. Pretty? Maybe. Talented? Not particularly. |
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| Skittles |
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Last time I checked, we weren't in frikkin' Communist Russia.
We all are entitled to opinions on this board and mine is that Corus seems to either be losing or not acquiring any good calibre talent. Until that happens I will continue to hold that opinion. Unless you would rather us hold hands and sing kumbaya and try to fool ourselves into believing they have real major market talent in Edmonton.
Any particular reason you think that is?? And Sportfishing Enthusiast you wrote.. "i think maybe too often the person there is forgotten about and maybe not always reeled in and shown direction" As someone who has worked many an overnight, I couldn't agree with you more. |
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| Flamethrower |
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i don't always like the person talking on the radio (any station) at 4 in the morning, but i do appreciate what and why they're doing it.
another subjective point I guess. Before working in radio I did over nights at a hotel and listened to the radio. I liked the FMs that had a jock on. I would listen to Jenna Chow on CFOX. She might have been VT'd but I think she was live a few nights a week as I think I recall the odd contest or caller. Now, at night if I am up, I fire up satellite b/c I can get their "morning show" programming at 3AM. |
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| LagerTape |
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Just to wrap up the Sonic/Edge talk, Sonic definitely does deserve more kudos than they get, sure. And Dean Blundell gets on my nerves, not to mention that Garner's repore with his audience might be the best of any morning man.
I'd give Sonic the edge (snicker) on MD, but Josie & Bookie make my days happy.
Rick Lee though, is no slouch. No slouch whatsoever. If Edge paid a wee bit more attention to some emerging artists, this might not be as close a race. I can definitely respect the thought that Edge has gotten lazy over the past few years in certain aspects of their programming, so maybe some new blood in the PD department will change that.
Just a question, I lost sight of where Jason Manning went off to. Anyone know? |
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| 99tmm |
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Jason is programming the Rogers rock station in Medicine Hat |
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| LagerTape |
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Thanks, sir. I'll have to give it a listen. |
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| Flamethrower |
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Just to wrap up the Sonic/Edge talk, Sonic definitely does deserve more kudos than they get, sure. And Dean Blundell gets on my nerves, not to mention that Garner's repore with his audience might be the best of any morning man.
I'd give Sonic the edge (snicker) on MD, but Josie & Bookie make my days happy.
Rick Lee though, is no slouch. No slouch whatsoever. If Edge paid a wee bit more attention to some emerging artists, this might not be as close a race. I can definitely respect the thought that Edge has gotten lazy over the past few years in certain aspects of their programming, so maybe some new blood in the PD department will change that.
Just a question, I lost sight of where Jason Manning went off to. Anyone know?
those are all pretty good points. I feel the only thing the Edge has going for it has nothing to do with programming and everything to do with geography. Because they are in Toronto, the have access to bands, concerts, and promo budgets that other stations only dream of. |
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| DJGaGaRadio |
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CISN-FM is a decent station. Not fond of the Casey Clarke Show. I think he's great for CMT...but for a evening radio show, where I'd like to know the weather/traffic and song titles...not a great idea. If I wanted to hear shows like that, I'd tune into Sirius. |
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| LagerTape |
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those are all pretty good points. I feel the only thing the Edge has going for it has nothing to do with programming and everything to do with geography. Because they are in Toronto, the have access to bands, concerts, and promo budgets that other stations only dream of.
Oh, could you imagine, getting one of the brightest minds today working with that kind of budget? </drool> |
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| CheezyPoofs |
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Wow, I wonder which forum member has been handed walking papers by Corus Edmonton management. *cough cough* NBeaconIsBack *cough cough* |
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| gwennmc |
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I have mixed feelings about Corus radio in Edmonton. On one hand, the recent depletion of and lack of talent makes me sick every time I flip through one of their channels. On the other hand, I give Corus full credit for being able to make money with their mediocre product..
I heard Jenny Adams on the radio this morning with Boyd. Gads, kill me now. That's how they respond to losing Audie??? A d-list celebrity with talent to match. I expected better from Joe.  I'm just hoping it's a temporary thing. |
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| hockeypuck |
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Baby Member |
Last time I checked, we weren't in frikkin' Communist Russia.
We all are entitled to opinions on this board and mine is that Corus seems to either be losing or not acquiring any good calibre talent. Until that happens I will continue to hold that opinion. Unless you would rather us hold hands and sing kumbaya and try to fool ourselves into believing they have real major market talent in Edmonton.
Wow, someone's a tad bit defensive. Anyways, what does me pointing out that ALL you do is bitch about Corus have to do with Russia, holding hands and singing kumbaya? All I was saying is that if someone were to read your posts on here, they would assume that every Edmonton news station was untouchable...except corus. |
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| justme10 |
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Minimum Member  |
How did Jenny and Boyd sound? Missed it this morning.
They've had a string of females thru the morning show over the past week or two... |
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| thatotherguy |
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Oh, could you imagine, getting one of the brightest minds today working with that kind of budget?
</drool>
to whom are you referring? |
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| NBeaconIsBack |
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Big Member |
No, not a Corus employee. Just a former industry person who calls it as he sees it. One does not have to have a hate-on for Corus to notice their brutalizing of the airwaves.
As for "exclusively" bashing Corus, why shouldn't their crap be pointed out? They are the biggest player in the market and have the most quickly dwindling stable of talent. I suppose I could bash Newcap too, but they've been bad for so long it's just a given. |
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| krazycanuck85 |
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I heard Jenny Adams on the radio this morning with Boyd. Gads, kill me now. That's how they respond to losing Audie??? A d-list celebrity with talent to match. I expected better from Joe. I'm just hoping it's a temporary thing.
who the hell is Jenny Adams? |
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| freqfreak2 |
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| krazycanuck85 |
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Thank you! She isn't bad looking that's for sure, too bad you can't see faces or cleavage on the radio. I've never heard of her before in my life though, is she well known around Edmonton? Or am I just out to lunch? |
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| freqfreak2 |
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is she well known around Edmonton? Or am I just out to lunch?
Yes. She is/was part of Access TV, which recently got downsized and moved in the Sunwapta building on Stony Plain Road. Access is known for such educational fare as re-runs of "You Want To be A Millionaire." |
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| NBeaconIsBack |
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Big Member |
Jenny's claim to fame was that she was a contestant on The Bachelor |
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| krazycanuck85 |
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Jenny's claim to fame was that she was a contestant on The Bachelor
I think that puts her in the C-list among local celebrities, just in front of the lady who was on the price is right and never made it out of contestants row, and just behind the Canadian cannonball champion. |
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| LagerTape |
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