By Rick Pusiak
There have been yet more layoffs on the local radio scene. Three people, all from on-air programming, were let go at the Rogers Communications building, formerly Telemedia at 880 Lasalle Blvd.
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One announcer was let go from Q-92, another from Easy Rock 105 FM, and one from the combined news department.
Â?We are going to be introducing some other programming in those time periodsÂ?unfortunately their services were no longer required,Â? said general manager Jim Hamm.
No other layoffs are in the offing. He pointed out the stations recently did some hiring. Eight positions were added including one person in the creative (advertising copy) department.
A number of radio sales people, now called account managers, were brought on board as well as administration staff.
About 65 people work at 880 Lasalle.
Â?I think weÂ?re on the verge of some very exciting times for radio,Â? said Hamm. Â?Since weÂ?ve been purchased by Rogers our staffing levels have actually increased despite these three changes, (thereÂ?s been) a significant investment in capital on the part of Rogers in our operations in Ontario NorthÂ?close to $500,000.Â?
Hamm said radio is always going through a transition, and as technology changes new opportunities present themselves.
Â?Obviously to remain a profitable and viable business we have to react and respond to those changes and those opportunities when itÂ?s appropriate to do so,Â? he said.
Hamm added radio listeners wonÂ?t notice the changes and the sound of the stations wonÂ?t be altered.
The layoffs on Lasalle Boulevard come one month after nine employees were let go at CHNO-FM, the Top 40 station on Barrydowne Road commonly known as Z-103.
Those layoffs followed a decision by Z-103Â?s owners, Newcap Broadcasting, to enter into a business partnership with Rogers.
Newcap dismissed its Sudbury sales department and contracted out the job to Rogers while at the same time eliminating all news positions.
Â?The sales situation with Z-103 was simply a corporate decision between Newcap and Rogers,Â? said Hamm.
Â?We have nothing to do with their programming, and nor will we have anything to do with it. They simply contracted us to handle the sales activity of their radio station.Â?
Newcap has no intention of closing Z-103. The lights will also stay on at all the Rogers stations.
In addition to Q-92 and Easy Rock, Rogers owns country music station 790 CIGM, the last local radio station on the AM dial.
Q-92 is tops in local ratings in terms of market share for all listeners all week, Easy Rock is second, followed by Z-103 and CIGM.
Local radio has gone through some dramatic changes in the past 20 years.
Up until 1989 CIGM and CKSO (later to be renamed Q-92) were located in the old TV building under the green water tower atop Pine Street.
The stations had been locally owned by the Plaunt, Cooper and Miller families for decades before being sold to Quebec based Telemedia in 1986.
The operation moved to more visible quarters on Lasalle at the end of the '80s.
CHNO, CJMX and CHYC were locally owned for decades by Baxter Ricard.
He sold them in the 1980s and the operation, located in the old King George Public school in the West End, was eventually picked up by Pelmorex Inc. of Mississauga.
That company moved its operations to 493 Barrydowne Rd. in the summer of 1997, sold CJMX (Easy Rock) to Telemedia and sold CHNO and CHYC to Haliburton Broadcasting Inc. out of Bracebridge.
CHNO was later renamed Z-103 and sold to Maritime-based communications company Newfoundland Capital Corporation Limited (Newcap).
