[alebowgm]

Figured this should be its own thread. The rumor is that 640 Toronto will announce at the start of next week when TSN Radio launches that they will be shutting down its sports division and subleasing the final year of its deal with MLSE for radio rights to the highest bidder. The question is, where will it land. If it goes to Fan 590, it may displace the Raptors. If it goes to TSN Radio 1050 it gives them a major building block.

Thoughts?

Also, per TSM

Second, and perhaps more importantly, the rumored desire of 640 Toronto to rid itself of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey games.

Think the last year has been busy? If half of what I am told comes to fruition between now and the 13th your heads will be spinning. Now this, everyone is talking as if the only thing that has kept the Leafs on Jonas’s station is the run the Leafs have been on. Now that the run is over, and TSN Radio is coming…. LOOKOUT!

By April 13th I am fully expecting to hear that the Leafs radio rights have been moved. I’m not a betting man but I’m liking 590 in the race. What happens as a result, let’s just the talk is BIG and far reaching.

http://torontosportsmedia.com/sports-and-toronto/norm-rumack/10379

 

[alebowgm]

Let me try to rephrase it for people who haven't been keeping up on this...

Bell Media (formerly CHUM Radio) is relaunching CHUM-AM (1050 CHUM) as all sports starting April 13 (no more CP24 simulcast), which is direct head-to-head competition to CJCL (Fan 590 Toronto). The ongoing changes/tinkering with Fan 590's lineup as a result of TSN Radio 1050 being launched is being discussed at

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=135102
and
http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=126246

As a result of TSN Radio launching, the word/rumor/train of thought is CFMJ (AM 640 Toronto) is going to drop it's sports programming (they already dropped Leafs lunch and the weekend Leafs show they were running, Marek left and went to CBC, Brady went to CJCL). That means The Bill Watters show will be gone, as well as the Leafs radio rights. Also lots of speculation that Bryan Hayes may be in play to jump ship to either CJCL or CHUM. So instead of trying to provide partial competition against two full time sports stations, they are just going to fully shift to a news/talk format and compete with CFRB 1010.

Now CFMJ's contract for MLSE for the the Leafs radio rights runs through the 2011/2012 season so it's rumored that they are looking to CJCL and CHUM and saying, who want's to pony up the most and buy/sub-lease the last year of the deal from us. Note that after the '11/'12 season, MLSE will have the lay of the land to choose who they want to partner up with, so even if CJCL or CHUM pony up for one year, they will need to negotiate with MLSE for subsequent years (although wisdom suggests they will probably have a window of exclusive negotiations). This is relevant since MLSE's majority interest being for sale from the Pension Fund and both Bell and Rogers are considered to be potential bidders.

Many are speculating that Rogers is going to make a big play to get the Leafs radio rights for CJCL, which they haven't had for more than a decade. BUT, they also control the Raptors and Jays radio rights, plus TFC, Bills, etc. So it will cause a logjam for sure unless they give up the Raptors.

The Star and The Globe have had articles penned in the last few months briefly discussing the matter, as has TSM. But looks like it is about to come to the forefront.

 

[alebowgm]

To answer user reidw question...

CFMJ is the Maple Leafs radio rights holder and is in the third year of a seven-year deal paying MLSE $1.5-2M per year

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/...SE-Pulls-Ads-Of-Controversial-Radio-Host.aspx

Ignore the dates since the article is very old, but looks as if the rights must be valuable.

 

[alebowgm]

And so it begins...

Bryan Hayes is moving over to TSN radio to host a show from 10-1pm.

http://torontosportsmedia.com/sports-and-toronto/bryan-hayes-jim-tatti-land-tsn-radio/10397

 

[alebowgm]

And it's offical... Hayes is gone per TSN...

TSN Radio 1050 continues to ramp up its radio lineup with the addition of Bryan Hayes, new host of a weekday sports talk show from 10am to Noon ET.

The first edition of his show airs Wednesday, April 13, the launch date of TSN Radio 1050.

Hayes joins TSN Radio 1050 from AM640, where he hosted two sports talk shows, interviewing major sports personalities from the NHL, CFL, NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS, UFC, and NCAA.

http://tsn.ca/other_sports/story/?id=361377

 

[alebowgm]

Bryan Hayes makes the move from AM 640 as it prepares to jettison its experiment with the Maple Leafs rights. Hayes is getting 10-noon after Mike Richards.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...erry-the-latest-media-darling/article1976782/

 

[alebowgm]

For years AM640 Toronto was plagued with an identity crisis. Having just one sports show in the middle of some unrelated news talk shows made little sense.

So Bryan Hayes tells the bosses at 640 that he is leaving the station. No this isn’t a joke, but it has a punch line never the less. What do they do? Ask or tell him that he needs to go on the air for the last 2 days of the week. Not that Bill Watters can do a show solo, but did it really matter that Watters is away? I mean, they couldn’t have found anyone else to host those two shows this week and let Hayes go? Watters, I am told, isn’t going to be back this week either. Who’s going to host next week? Won’t happen, but would love to see Jolly Jonas host.

http://torontosportsmedia.com/sports-and-toronto/wild-week-for-tsn-radio-fan-590-more/10405

 

[alebowgm]

I am told that Jim Ralph will be hosting the Bill Watters Show tomorrow. No offense to Ralph, but WOW does that ever tell you what 640 thinks about the drive home show. Ralph does colour on Leafs games. He’s not a radio show host. If ever there was a clear sign of the white flag being waved this has to be it.

http://torontosportsmedia.com/sports-and-toronto/dont-mondays/10416

 

[alebowgm]

Is opening another front in the Rogers-Bell war something TSN will ultimately regret?

There wasn’t room 10 years ago when the Team 1050 sank in 15 months trying to launch a Toronto-based national sports radio network. AM640 has had a tough time trying to be a quasi-sports station and there are rumblings that it’s getting out of the sports business.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/tvradio/article/973029--tsn-launches-its-attack-on-sports-radio

 

[alebowgm]

Jim Ralph will fill in some gaps left at AM640 with Bryan Hayes leaving. Ralph will host the Bill Waters Show.

http://www.milkmanunlimited.com/tunedin.htm

 

[alebowgm]

That's because AM 1050 gets interference from WEPN 1050 in New York, although both are at the max 50kW. There is also WYBG for those in the northeast, but they reduce power in the evenings to reduce interference with CHUM and WEPN.

 

[alebowgm]

Up the dial, Jim Ralph, who it sounds may be the voice of the Watters show until the Fall

http://torontosportsmedia.com/sports-and-toronto/twas-night-christmas-2/10432

 

[alebowgm]

He has been on vacation for a week or two, although he called in the other day.

 

[alebowgm]

As reported last week, newcomer TSN Radio 1050 has lured 27-year-old Bryan Hayes from AM640 to host its 10-to-noon show starting today. In a field where promising young sports voices are rare these days in Canada, Hayes has shot to the top in a short time. He comes naturally by his radio chops.

BTW: Jim Ralph grabs Hayes’s old spot opposite Watters on AM640.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/bruce-dowbiggin/pressure-is-on-cherry/article1983382/page2/

 

[alebowgm]

The wild card in the growth of TSN might be the fate of AM640, which has one more year left as the Maple Leafs broadcaster. While 640 insists it will fulfill the deal, sources suggest both TSN Radio 1050 and the Fan 590 could acquire the NHL team’s rights by start of the season next fall. Should the Fan 590 add the Leafs to the Raptors and Blue Jays, it could force TSN into some difficult program decisions.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...war/article2053883/singlepage/#articlecontent

 

[alebowgm]

Per TSM, looks as if Watters is out at CFMJ

I have been told by reliable sources that the very end is near for the Watters show. In fact, multiple sources are telling me that Friday will be the last of the Bill Watters show with Arlene Bynon taking over on Monday, moving from her current mid-day slot.

Does this mean the end of Wilbur? No. Watters will be used as he should have been for, oh, I don’t know, the last couple of years anyways, as the Leafs voice on other shows across the Corus radio network. Look for him to appear on Oakley and other shows when there is Leafs news.

http://torontosportsmedia.com/sports-and-toronto/bill-watters-show/10949

 

[alebowgm]

And its official

As I told you I was hearing long ago, Friday was the swan song for Bill Watters daily radio show. This had NOTHING to do with his homophobic slur (he spills slurs all the time). Wilbur will be on leaf pre-game shows on 640 (Assuming 640 keeps leafs rights)

http://torontosportsmedia.com/sports-and-toronto/its-official-watters-show-yanked/10934

 

[alebowgm]

and it looks like we know who will be taking his place

Talk Radio AM640 is pleased to announce that award-winning Canadian journalist Arlene Bynon is the new afternoon drive host starting today. The Arlene Bynon Show can be heard weekdays from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and will provide listeners with an interactive forum for debate and discussion on topics that matter, feature exclusive interviews with today’s newsmakers and deliver a daily recap of current affairs.

http://www.640toronto.com/HostsandShows/ArleneBynon/PressRelease.aspx

 

[alebowgm]

Jonas Siegel has left AM 640 to be the Leafs beat guy for TSN Radio. We believe that he will start at TSN on August 1st.

http://torontosportsmedia.com/sports-and-toronto/breaking-jonas-siegel-bolt-640/10986

 

[alebowgm]

One of the worst-kept secrets in sports radio finally came true this week with the cancellation of The Bill Watters Show on AM640 in Toronto. Watters’s three-hour afternoon slot is going to be filed by talk-show host Arlene Bynon, as AM 640 fully adopts the news talk format.

“The Leafs, however, are still a key part of our programming, and we'll be discussing Leaf-related issues, and breaking Leaf-related stories as they happen on all shows - as warranted.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/spor...tm_source=Bruce Dowbiggin&utm_content=2103582