Posted by Peter the K on November 2, 2009, 7:32 pm
69.165.129.182

I'm listening to Newstalk 1010 right now and they're running the best of John Moore in the morning. Now, the web page still lists Ryan Doyle but these days, it's easy to jump to conclusions, isn't it. --Peter

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Posted by ITGeek on November 2, 2009, 7:37 pm, in reply to "Oh Dear, has Astral wielded the axe again?"
65.95.236.93 | Message modified by user ITGeek November 2, 2009, 7:41 pm

Ryan was filling in with Tarek Fatah for the 4 pm to 7 pm John Tory "Live Drive" today (you didn't tune in quite early enough, I guess ) - Tory had mentioned previously he had the day off due to another commitment. Although, promos over the weekend had Tory saying Bob Mackowitz would fill in. Guess that didn't happen last-minute for some reason. This reroll in "prime time" radio is a bit much for me, though. I can take the rerolls from 10 pm to 5 am. They couldn't get Kevin Jack or weekends' Ben Mercer - both whom have done capable duty in this shift - in at the last minute? It's also a sloppy reroll - right now I'm hearing the same segment rerun that was just a few minutes earlier. What a mess! CKTB and CJAD, which usually simulcast the Ryan Doyle show, are doing their own things in this slot. I just checked them out via their streaming feeds.

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Posted by Peter the K on November 2, 2009, 10:47 pm, in reply to "Re: Oh Dear, has Astral wielded the axe again?"
69.165.129.182

The truth is, I hardly ever listen to 1010/CFRB/Newstalk 1010 (whatever you want to call it) anymore. Even during the day at work, I mostly listen to Stafford at 10:00, Bill Carroll at Noon, then Stafford at 1:00 and then music from the computer for the rest of the day. I generally listen to Ryan Doyle when I'm out running errands in the car, like I was tonight. Pity that any station has to stoop to re-rolls during early evening hours. Once upon a time, you could always find someone to at least be able to handle things for a bit until a fill-in person could make it in. Then again, once upon a time, there were enough staff around so this sort of thing wouldn't happen. Sad, really. --Peter

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Posted by RadioActive on November 3, 2009, 1:16 am, in reply to "Re: Oh Dear, has Astral wielded the axe again?"
65.95.156.7 | Message modified by user RadioActive November 3, 2009, 1:19 am

My sentiments exactly. I have noticed recently how bizarre it is that both CFRB and AM640 seem to leave themselves so thin when it comes to replacements. When Oakley goes on vacation, Stafford fills his slot. Then John Downs takes over for Stafford. What happens to Downs' 7pm show? It's inevitably a re-roll, unless there's hockey to disguise the lack of bodies. I can't say what happened to Mackowyz, but I find it almost impossible to believe they couldn't find someone to take the slot instead of resorting to reruns. Spider Jones normally fills in whenever there's a gap. He's not my taste, but at least there's a real live human being on the frequency, who's not giving this morning's time checks at 7 o'clock at night. What about Lynne Russell or Ben Mercer - or even in an extreme pinch, Mr. Donabie? This wouldn't be so bad on a rock station, where voice tracking could be put together in less than an hour or recorded liners could at least be used. But it's unforgivable and untenable on a talk station in the biggest market in Canada, and one day it's going to bite them both on the ass. What happens if one personality is on vacation out of town and another comes down with H1N1 and there's no one to fill in any of the time slots? Perhaps the janitorial staff will get their big on-air break. The cheapskate bean counting owners of these outlets may yet live to regret firing everyone who could take the place of an absent colleague. Not that those in charge appear to care. Hey, maybe next time they'll just put on the best of Wally Crouter. At least that would have some historic interest.

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Posted by Jonathan on November 3, 2009, 9:11 am, in reply to "Re: Oh Dear, has Astral wielded the axe again?"
99.229.244.144

And they have to have newscasters, and sibling-station DJs down the hall, who'd like to try something different.

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Posted by Mike Cleaver on November 3, 2009, 2:56 pm, in reply to "Re: Oh Dear, has Astral wielded the axe again?"
76.10.184.126

Back when radio stations actually had live bodies to cover all hours of the day, when the morning person was sick or on holidays, the afternoon drive person moved into mornings, the mid morning person moved into afternoon drive and the evening person moved to mid mornings. The overnight person was given a shot at evenings and the swing shift people took over the all night show. That was also how many air personalities and newspeople had a chance to "move up the ladder." If you did a good job, you might get to hold on to the better shift or at least have the inside track if the incumbent left the station.

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Posted by snapdragon on November 4, 2009, 8:40 pm, in reply to "Re: Oh Dear, has Astral wielded the axe again?"
74.12.25.104

I heard from a rather reliable source that there has been another staff let go at Newstalk 1010 last evening/this morning, but no one here has mentioned it. Has anyone else heard rumblings of more firings/layoffs?

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Posted by David Lennick on November 4, 2009, 10:57 pm, in reply to "Re: Oh Dear, has Astral wielded the axe again?"
76.69.33.247

I keep getting job postings from Astral, 1 or 2 a day! Most of them are in Quebec.

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