EDMONTON RADIO: The little station that couldn’t
So much for the Sound.
It’s called “Lite 95.7” now. Goodbye, cool rock songs. So long, Beck. Hasta la vista, Kings of Leon. Hello, “soft adult contemporary” music – rushing to fill the void left when EZ Rock turned into Virgin. Hello, Michael Buble, Elton John, Madonna, Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Katy Perry, Train and Bon Jovi. We know you well! Too well. Don’t 11 other Edmonton radio stations play these overplayed artists already?
Well, it’s a dirty job, but someone’s got to play the soft rock in this town. Right?
The depressing announcement was made today from the corporate overlords: Saskatchewan-based Harvard Broadcasting. This weekend the station formerly known as the Sound will play nothing but Christmas music. No joke. It’s designed to completely blow off the old listeners before the big change Monday morning. New listeners (if any) will be introduced to a brand new morning crew, the husband-and-wife team of Jamie O’Connell and Dan Hunt, last heard on Up! 99.3 before they were “let go.” Previous Sound morning man Ryann Bradley will do the afternoon drives. Many of the old Sound staff will keep their jobs, but sadly, some “don’t fit the new format.”
Only one question here: For the love of God, why?
Station manager Tamara Konrad says, “We did it because nobody else did it first. There’s a hole in this market for the soft AC format. It is a proven format. It’s a top performing radio format in Edmonton and all across Canada.”
Still, ’tis a pity. Those Harvard bozos never even gave it a chance. The Sound was only a few months old. Sure, they languished at the bottom of the ratings heap, yet were ironically the best commercial radio station in Edmonton. Meanwhile, Now! Radio 102.3 is the top-rated station – thanks to massive billboard campaigns – and it’s one of the WORST stations. Everything is ass-backwards in the wacky world of Edmonton radio.
