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Shake Up at CJOB


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WINNIPEG — Corus Entertainment has dropped the axe in another round of layoffs, affecting mainly 680 CJOB.

Sources say sports host/producer Jim Toth was let go on Wednesday, along with several others. A producer, some of the station’s creative team and a number of sales people were also cut. National evening show host Jeff Woods is also no longer with the station.

JD Francis — former morning co-host of sister station 99.1 Fresh Radio — resigned last week. The new morning team consists of Clint James and Vicki Shae.

Sources say 680 CJOB will restructure its morning show to include Geoff Currier, who will co-host with Richard Cloutier. The status of current co-host Kathy Kennedy isn’t yet known.

Veteran host Charles Adler is said to be leaving the station on his own accord within the next two weeks.

A spokesperson for Toronto-based Corus didn’t return an e-mail and phone call seeking comment.

CJOB was knocked to second place in the spring radio ratings, sitting under CBC Radio One, who overtook the station as the city’s top talk choice.

Corus reported an $8.1 million net loss in its third quarter.

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Too bad about Toth. Occasionally I'd listen to his show on the internet. Corus here in Calgary isn't good either. Most of the hosts are in their 30's, left of centre & criticize Harper all the time. That seems to be the agenda here. What will allthis mean to Blue Bombers coverage?

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They used to be right of centre. I used to like Currier but he is such a fan of his own voice he's hard to listen to. And God forbid a caller disagree with him.

I like Cloutier. Going with Currier and Cloutier in the morning is a strong effort to get morning show ratings.

Honestly if they are smart they'd bring in someone like Marty Gold for drive home. His listenership was very strong when he had his show.

No issue with Bombers. Garth Buchko made sure of that by signing a multi year deal before he jumped from CJOB to the Bombers.

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Toth is no loss; he was personable enough, but rarely brought anything worthwhile to the table.

 

At least with the addition of Currier you have a fairly astute broadcaster. You won't have the clear division between the serious news guy and the fluff guy, as you'll no longer have to endure KKs obvious lake of depth on anything meaningful. I can actually envision the potential for mildly compelling dialogue between GC and RC (particularly at election time)...something KK could never do.

 

If she's still on the stick tomorrow, listen to the interplay between she and Dahlia (sp) when Kennedy introduces her show. It is the most inept example of a discussion between two wands of cotton candy attempting to be entertaining.

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Toth will find work in no time.

I think the radio industry in general has to re-think their business model. CJOB is still a ratings powerhouse (even though they slipped to second spot), and even they can barely keep their heads above water. I don't think radio will disappear any time soon but it can't be run the way it used to be.

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CJOB should go to all news.  To be honest, everyone I know who wants those interest type programs listen to CBC.  Also listen to CBC for news in the morning.

 

I don't think CJOB needs shows like Adler and Dahlia.  I think a station that read the news and gave traffic/weather in 5 minutes 5-6 times an hour 24-7-365 would do well in Winnipeg now.  I'm thinking like 680 News in Toronto.

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Honestly if they are smart they'd bring in someone like Marty Gold for drive home. His listenership was very strong when he had his show.

Only yourself and Nate would be tuning in.... that guy is a walking disaster

Completely false. His listenership on kick was tremendous. I couldn't believe the amount of diverse people who listened to him. One of the reasons the board moved to get rid of him was the board was made up of GM's from commercial stations and they didn't like getting whooped by a college station on the drive home

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CJOB should go to all news.  To be honest, everyone I know who wants those interest type programs listen to CBC.  Also listen to CBC for news in the morning.

 

I don't think CJOB needs shows like Adler and Dahlia.  I think a station that read the news and gave traffic/weather in 5 minutes 5-6 times an hour 24-7-365 would do well in Winnipeg now.  I'm thinking like 680 News in Toronto.

We have that here at 660 News. You can only listen to it for 10 minutes. I call it "Soul-less Radio".

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Hate to see anyone lose their job, but Jim Toth is terrible. His coverage of Bomber practices is brutal, he constantly makes factual errors on the air, and he always cuts callers off to give his useless banter/opinion. He comes across to me as a lazy media guy, tries to "wing it" and doesn't put in the work like guys like Hustler and Bauming.

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Who replaced Toth on his nightly show?

 

Greg Maklin.  He won a CJOB competition (their attempt at a reality show) to become a radio host a few years ago and usually holds down the graveyard shift.  He also subs in when people are missing, so that might have been all he was doing last night.

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WinnipegSun.ca

 

The big boss with the hot sauce is leaving town.

 

Charles Adler, a longtime fixture at radio station CJOB, announced at the start of his Thursday morning show that he has given the Corus-owned station notice. Like his morning show predecessor Peter Warren, Adler said he is moving to B.C. to be closer to family.

 

His last show at CJOB will be on Aug. 7. Geoff Currier, the longtime nighttime host, will be taking over Adler’s show.

 

Adler has been at the station for 17 years, mostly as its mid-morning host, with a few years spent as a national afternoon host on Corus stations across the country. He also hosted a show for about two years on the now-defunct Sun News Network.

 

Adler’s announcement comes on the heels of more reported layoffs at the station, which for the first time in decades lost its hold on the top spot in Winnipeg’s radio ratings in the spring, to CBC Radio. Among the reported casualties is Jim Toth, who hosted an early-evening sports show.

 

CJOB general manager Scott Armstrong wouldn’t directly comment on the layoffs — first reported by ChrisD.ca — but seemingly acknowledged changes were afoot at the station when reached by the Sun early Wednesday night.

 

“Like all businesses, we make changes constantly to serve our audience and clients and to grow our company,” Armstrong wrote, in an email.

This story will be updated.

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If I had to guess, based on the moves made by other Corus properties in the chain, there's budget cuts being made all over, so each market is having to make cuts. Again, I could never handle the stress of major market media. You're one bad book away from getting the axe. I've found a way to carve out a pretty good living in a small market, with job security, and I'm hanging on to that for dear life...ha ha.

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Hey Noeller, I wonder who'll get the axe in Calgary at QR77 as it's owned by Corus? Right now, their programming is all over the map. Long time hosts fired or retired. Replacement hosts with totally different political philosophies from the hosts they replaced pissing off their audience, double shifting personalities during the day & rotating guest hosts for months at a time making it look like the radio station can't find anyone. They even replay portions of the Morning Show at 12:30 pm for half an hour weekdays during prime time radio which is unbelievable. They call it the "Best Of The Morning Show".. who are they trying to kid?

Then there's weekends where they do nothing but push products with infomercial after imfomercial. CHQR is just **** radio. I've virtually stopped listening since the end of June.

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Marty Gold was like the ringmasters of local wrestling...a walking disaster full or carnie like guests and I don't think his niche would work with normal radio listeners.

Regardless as the years go by I will be amazed if cjob even exists... I don't know anyone my age who tunes into radio anymore.

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Marty Gold was like the ringmasters of local wrestling...a walking disaster full or carnie like guests and I don't think his niche would work with normal radio listeners.

Regardless as the years go by I will be amazed if cjob even exists... I don't know anyone my age who tunes into radio anymore.

Thats an awful representation.  You might be sullied by years of inadequate local "journalism" but Martys show was the only local radio program that actually looked into current events and didnt just read press releases.  He had lots of great guests on from the obvious and mainstream to the less obvious.  There was a time when his show was the only one Mayor Sammy would appear on.  In fact, Sammy had seemingly blackballed CJOB but Marty interviewed him when he was guest hosting the Nighthawk

 

And I know for a fact CJOB had further discussions with him. 

 

It also gave the college students real work to do.  I was really surprised by how many people were avid listeners.  Just at my work, my 50+ year old boss, 25 year old co-workers and everyone in between.  Dont under-estimate how popular his show was.  There was a reason the commercial stations wanted to kill it.  It was the only think worth listening to between 4-6.

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Marty Gold was like the ringmasters of local wrestling...a walking disaster full or carnie like guests and I don't think his niche would work with normal radio listeners.

Regardless as the years go by I will be amazed if cjob even exists... I don't know anyone my age who tunes into radio anymore.

 

I know plenty of people that still listen to the radio, primarily in the car and at work.  And not talking about old people.... 20-30 age range.

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