The deadliest word that any radio station can ever hear is rebranding.
This is essentially a death sentence on the airwaves, as it usually means a complete format change and wiping the deck clean of all on-air personalities.
Here in Calgary, FUEL 90.3 just suffered through a re-branding and now is called AMP 90.3 and now plays entirely too much Lady Gaga and Katy Perry (see the stats).
But is another station in danger of rebranding.
Energy 101.5 has been going through a LOT of changes lately. Firstly, as of today, they are known as 101.5 Energy FM, they fired popular morning show co-host Freeway Frank and they have a whole new website….(which prominently features possible the worst picture of Nickelback ever*-sigh.)
Now this doesn’t necessarily mean that Energy 10….sorry 101.5 Energy FM is rebranding, but doesn’t it seem like it’s maybe a last ditch effort for the Top 40 station that has struggled (currently sitting at #13 place) since it’s inception. Now with AMP trying to grab the lion’s share of the pop-radio audience, things are only going to harder for Energy.
There was a rumor floating around last week that Buzz Bishop was in line to take over co-hosting duties with Meg Tucker for the Energy 101.5 morning show. He would have been taking over the microphone from the recently let goFreeway Frank.
Well turns out those rumors are completely false and that Buzz is definitely not coming any where near Calgary. Worse yet, I’m hearing that Buzz started the rumors himself, which is bordering dangerously close to the Mike’s Bloggity Blog school of shameless self-promotion.
Energy 101.5 is still actively looking for a co-host, as witnessed by the job posting on the radio job website Milkman Unlimited. And yes, I am anxiously sitting by my phone waiting for it to ring….
I’m getting a ton of messages that Freeway Frank from The Freeway and Meg Morning has been let go!
The details are rough but apparently everyone is in shock.
The news can’t be that surprising, Energy 101.5 has struggled in the ratings since they debuted two years ago. So it was only a matter of time until things changed.
I’ve had lots of opportunities to work with Frank and he is one of the nicest most supportive guys out there. He has been a HUGE supporter of Mike’s Bloggity Blog and I have no doubt in my mind that he is one of the reasons that this blog is so successful. He’ll be missed by me and everyone that listens to Energy.
And yes, it is too soon to start consider the Meg and Mike Morning Show!
UPDATE #1: Yikes. All mention of Frank has been taken off Energy 101.5′s website.
UPDATE #2: I got ahold of the program director and got the standard : “we don’t comment on internal issues.” Lame.
UPDATE #3: Freeway Frank has just updated his facebook status to read: “now knows the feeling. 24 hours ago I was relieved of my morning duties at Energy 101-5 I can be reached at freewayfrank@gmail.com. Thanks to everyone who made my 2.5 years at Energy some of the best years of my life! Grazie and See you Soon!”
The battle is between three radio stations that claim they are the #1 Hit Music Station. For those of you who don’t know, “hit music station” means: “drive you batty with the same pop-songs over and over again.”
The three radio stations at battle are Vibe 98.5, Energy 101.5 and the new Amp 90.3, which has just been on the air for over a month and says annoying things like “Lady Gaga, exclusively on Amp Radio.“
Since calculating radio ratings is as sketchy taking public transportation anytime past 5pm, I decided to do a little investigating and see how much “hit” music they actually play. Or more appropriately, how much do they overplay “hit” music. I picked the four artists that annoy me the most and checked each radio station play list. Below is the chart of how often each artist was played over the last 24-hour period.
Looking at the resaults you can see that Katy Perry is by far the most annoying and most played artist in Calgary right now.
However, Amp and Energy share the title of most annoying music, by splitting the most played artists right down the line.
Shockingly, Vibe 98.5 isn’t the most annoying radio station. Unless you factor in their morning show, because they easily take the prize for ”Most Annoying Morning Radio Personalities.”
(side note: Why station manager Chad can’t see that Chelsea is the star of the station is still beyond me?! Stop sticking her to afternoon traffic and in bars where she has to pretend it’s busy on a Tuesday night! She is great, plain and simple.)
>For the past couple of weeks, I have unabashidly attacked Calgary radio station Vibe 98.5 for continuing to play Chris Brown, I have done so not once, but twice. In turn, I praised Energy 101.5 for not only taking off Brown off their rotation but announcing their bold in a press release. In a time where so many radio stations, media outlets and celebrities were cowardly straddling the fence on the issue, this radio station publicly declared their distaste towards Brown and his actions.
And while the fight between Brown and Rihanna is no longer in the major spotlight, many people don’t know that Chris is still in court fighting the charges against allegedly attacking Rihanna, even though there is quite the damaging police report.
So I was surprised last night when on the radio I heard Chris Brown Forever, not on Vibe 98.5 but instead on Energy 101.5. I was so surprised that I checked the radio dial just to be sure that I hadn’t end up on the wrong station. Unfortunately, I wasn’t mistaken. Now I’m hoping this is simply a mistake, because with the Brown case still open, I would hope that Energy didn’t back down and cave to pressure from record labels, etc. If Energy is really the radio station they say they are, they owe it to their listeners (who are mostly women) to stick to their initial policy about playing Chris Brown’s music. They should continue to let Vibe 98.5 make the poor examples of themselves, they do it way better.
I’ve emailed the program director of Energy to get a comment and will share it will you as soon as get it, (update below) but if my facebook page is any indication, many people are still not happy with Chris Brown’s music being played anywhere.
Here are some examples:
“Radio stations that play his music are supporting some who VIOLENTLY ATTACKED his significant other and to me that says that they are supporting him. I won’t be the one to put money into his pocket… will you? “-Lacey
“He deserves nothing then to be put 6ft under where no one can hear him sing but the devil rejects.”-Jared
And in case any of you forgot….
If you are a victim of abuse (man or woman) there are hundreds of amazing resources for you to get help. If it happened once, it will happen again. Here is a link for just some of them. UPDATE:“Our ban is still happening. No change. The Sat nite track was a mistake.” -Rob Mise, program director.
>Ahh another Friday, another day of one of Calgary’s most popular radio stations causing me rage only controllable by a stiff rye and coke before 8am in the morning.
May I present three reasons why I hate Vibe 98.5…this week.
$10,000 Charity Challenge.
While I think it’s great that the station is donating $10,000 to a charity of the DJ’s choice. It becomes slightly less great if it’s all you talk about. Yes, look how awesome you are, look at you helping out a charity! The charity’s life is never going to be the same again! Why don’t you put a little more focus on the charity instead of yourselves. You already have your own morning show, isn’t that enough attention? There is a reason there are anonymous donors, you should try it sometime. Same great feeling, less icky feeling.
Speaking of patting yourselves on the back….
Morning Show Theme song
Why the hell do you keep playing that annoying YMCA inspired song in the morning? Do you really need to hear a song about how great your own morning show is. Most people who are funny don’t really talk about how funny they are, let alone sing about it. To your credit, it’s definitely not the most annoying morning show song out there right now….
The Chris Brown Dilemma
Hey Vibe 98.5, do you know who is still playing Chris Brown music? Douches. Huge douches. Particularly appalling is the fact that you played the woman hitter during the family friendly 7am-8am hour. Totally not cool. I particularly enjoyed the irony of you playing Brown then talking about your totally wicked cool awesome charity challenge. I can only hope that one of your charity’s is a women’s shelter for women who have successfully gotten the chris brown’s out of their lives.
I say regrettably because out of the five morning shows, Vibe has by far the most annoying morning show crew, but sometimes I need me my pop music in the morning. But Danni, Fuzzy and new guy Mark continue to grate, especially when you are stuck in traffic. For the most part the only people that think they are funny are themselves. Sarcasm is a type of humor, it shouldn’t be the only you can make people laugh. Anywho, on my way to work, I was listening to their entertainment news and it was filled with two huge mistakes and now I’ve decided to make it my personal mission to correct them any time they make an obvious mistake, especially when it was made because they are just being lazy. Which means, this will probably become a regular feature.
First off:
George Clooney is on ER tonight. Every single media source is reporting it but you geniuses think they are all wrong. I hope some ER fans don’t watch tonight because you told them not to and then they call you all pissed off tomorrow morning.
Second of all: The judges didn’t leave during the Kanye West performance, it was pre-recorded before the show even went to air. Again, it would take one single google search to figure this out. That is why the Idols weren’t on the stage.
Among all the charges and allegations he also now has Jay-Z who is pretty much out to get him. Which makes me wonder: Who is scarier? Jay-Z or Beyonce?
Anyway, while many radio stations across north america have quietly stopped playing Brown’s tracks, my favorite little radio station Energy 101.5 has outwardly declared that they are done with Brown’s hits like Run It, No Air and Forever until this whole mess is cleared up.
Dang this is serious. I guess you don’t want to mess with program director Rob Mise. He is almost as scary as Beyonce.
While this is not good news for Brown’s camp, it’s actually a plus for Calgary. Mostly because anyone that listens to energy knows that they freaking loved playing his music. Over and over and over and over and over. If I never have to hear Forever again, it will be too soon.
So while it’s not yet cool to make let of this situation, at least Calgary can rejoice in never having to hear Run It again!
Wait, does this mean we’ll be hearing even more Rihanna?!? Damn you Chris Brown, damn you.
And for all those wondering, Energy 101.5 still has not invited me to Barbados to see Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry. Just saying….Again, it’s not like they have to. Just stating facts. Other facts include that I am bald, today is a day that ends with a”y” and the sky is blue. That is all.
>WWE wrestler Chris Jericho is in a lot of trouble today after getting into an altercation with fans in Victoria, BC. Chris was swarmed a group of losers fans who began to taunt and scream at Jericho like it was recess on a playground.
You can watch the video below, but I’m warning you, it’s not easy to watch.
I’ve actually had the opportunity to get to know Chris Jericho over the past couple of years and I’ve always found him to a really great person, which is why this video is especially hard to watch.
Jericho’s actions are awful, there is no denying that. What he did was wrong and he will have to deal with his actions. But the video is also another demonstration of how ridiculous fans can become.
I think the real losers in this video are these people who took time out of their day to yell and torment someone for something that everyone knows and acknowledges is fake. To be a fan of wrestling is one thing, there is nothing wrong with that. But to allow yourself to actually be angry and scream and taunt someone is just plain stupid. Imagine if these people took their energy and put it to something productive, a lot of things for a lot of people would be different now.
One of my fav radio stations, Energy 101.5, is bringing back one of their most luxurious contests, Breakfast in Barbados!
Now last week Freeway Frank (co-host of the morning show) got mad at me for saying that I tuned off my radio during the announcement of the contest because I was jealous. He said he didn’t realize that it would be something that people would be jealous of and not want to listen to!
Um excuse me Frank, who wouldn’t be jealous of a week vacation in Barbados with beach front seats to concerts with Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry and Simple Plan (hey two out of three ain’t bad)!
They are obviously not going to send me along (once was probably enough), so yeah, I was and continue to be a little jealous. But if you are one of those 8 people that win the grand prize, congrats! That trip sounds AWESOME.
And in case people are wondering, yes, I am free the week of April 20th. I’m stating this for no other reason but to tell people that this is the week of the trip and that I am free. No plans, lots of vacation time. Free, free and free. Wide Open. I already have a passport. So I’m free. Is that clear? I’m free.
Oh in case you don’t live in Calgary, other stations from all over Canada are running it to. They include Victoria’s KOOL FM, QM FM Vancouver, Edmonton’s The Bounce, Winnipeg’s Curve 94.3, CHUM FM in Toronto, Ottawa’s MAjic 100FM and C100 in Halifax. Plus Etalk is also running the promotion. The problem with that one is that you then run the risk of seeing Ben Mulroney with no shirt!
