All-comedy radio station format a success, Astral says

The early success of Astral Media Inc.’s all-comedy AM radio station in London, Ont. will lead other radio broadcasters to consider all-comedy stations, industry insiders and analysts said in interviews. On Monday, Astral said the listening audience of its CKSL station in London grew by 850 per cent since it switched from an oldies station to an all-day comedy format in January, when it was rebranded Funny 1410. Astral said in a release the new format follows the format of 24/7 Comedy Radio produced by the U.S.-based Donkey Comedy Network and features the works of popular comedians such as Russell Peters, Jerry Seinfeld, Sarah Silverman, Lewis Black and Whitney Cummings, among others. Astral, whose shareholders voted last week to approve the company’s sale to BCE Inc. for $3.38 billion, said the station’s local market share increased in the key 18 to 44-year-old demographics for both men and women following the conversion, allowing CKSL to become the top station in London’s AM radio market. The station’s ratings have also pushed ahead of several local FM stations’ ratings, the company said. Lesley Soldat, vice-president and general manager for the Astral-owned radio syndication service Orbyt Media, told The Wire Report that CKSL increased its audience by as much as 1,000 per cent in some demographics. She said the station’s success will encourage other broadcasters to follow a comedy format. “This is the start for us because once you have one station that has a big success, you will get more stations coming in,” she said in an interview. Soldat said Orbyt has held the exclusive Canadian distribution rights to 24/7 Comedy Radio for about two years but so far has had difficulty finding stations willing to change their entire format. She said Astral’s Toronto newstalk station CFRB and Ottawa’ Boom 99.7 station CJOT-FM each run a few hours of comedy during their broadcast day but that CKSL is the first station to offer an all-comedy format. “There have been little comedy hours here and there but as far as format, it has never existed,” she said. David Bray, president of Bray and Partners Communications, said in an interview that the comedy format is a “more than viable” option for other broadcasters to adopt. “There’s no trend yet, it’s just a station, but as far as the future is concerned, I would expect to see it continue,” Bray told The Wire Report. “To say that it’s viable is an understatement.” Bray, whose consulting firm has several broadcasters as clients, said other companies were considering an all-comedy station before the London station’s audience numbers were released Monday. He declined to name any specific broadcasters considering the option, citing confidentiality concerns. “It’s not surprising that they’ve had this success and it’s not surprising that other people are looking at it,” he said. Bray said the all-comedy format can also offer broadcasters significant savings over other AM radio formats. He said content costs could become expensive for stations that choose to feature live or high-profile comedians but those costs will be “substantially cheaper” for stations running pre-recorded comedy. “Generally, it’s a lot more cost effective to run than it would be for a news talk station,” he said. Gregory Taylor, a broadcasting expert and post-doctoral fellow at Ryerson University, said in an interview that CKSL’s shift to comedy reflects radio operators’ need to branch out to attract new audience members. The new format “speaks to the sheer redundancy, or sameness, of radio right now,” he said. “I think there’s a real call for something a little bit different.” Bray said applications for licences to carry all-comedy radio stations would face “no problem whatsoever” with the CRTC because those stations would help add to the diversity of the radio market. He said the ideal radio market should have some talk content, sports, news and various music formats. “Diversity is the key as far as the CRTC is concerned,” he said. dgrenier@thewirereport.ca

All-comedy radio station format a success, Astral says

Broadcast | May 29, 2012

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All-comedy radio station format a success, Astral says

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