Esau. Posted August 20, 2014 Report Share Posted August 20, 2014 Calgary's 90.3 Amp Radio Stops Cutting Songs In Half. huffingtonpost.ca/2014/08/19/calgary-amp-radio-stops-cutting-songs CALGARY - A radio station in Alberta has given up a format featuring shorter versions of songs which it said gave listeners "twice the music." The station, 90.3 Amp (CKMP) in Calgary, changed to the style called QuickHitz nearly three weeks ago. Owner Newcap Radio said it was a first for a radio station in Canada and perhaps the world to take up the format. But Steve Jones, vice-president of programming, says the station went back to its original format Tuesday. "It was greeted with a lot of curiosity and it was also greeted with numerous legal threats from a variety of different directions," Jones said from Halifax. "As we evaluated it, we made the decision that this week we would just go back to the old strategy because to do this successfully would involve far too many lawyers getting far too rich." Jones wouldn't identify which artists had raised the spectre of legal action except to say they were mostly Canadian. "Nothing was ever launched, but there was sort of swashbuckling and discussions about that from various artists and other industry stakeholders," he said. "It just came to a point where we said it isn't worth risking the relationships with all of our content providers, the various artists that we play, at our radio station." Calgary singer Jann Arden vented on Twitter after the new format was introduced that the station was basically messing with art and, amid expletives, she called the people running it "morons.'' "Can anyone recommend half a good book I should read?'' she wrote. "The NHL is only having one period this season. Makes sense. Those games are just too long.'' Arden got word of the switch back to the old format earlier in the day and was looking for confirmation on Twitter. "Is it true? Amp radio full songs?" she asked. Jones said shorter songs were a good fit for the 18- to 34-year-old demographic the station was going after. He doesn't think the concept is entirely off the table. "Our plan is to go back to the drawing board, maybe work a bit closer with some of the various stakeholders in the industry and try and bring this back at a later date." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bouche Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 A radio station in Alberta has given up a format featuring shorter versions of songs which it said gave listeners "twice the music." I'm amazed that they tried to convince people that half of 2 apples = twice as many apples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey Boy 2.0 Posted August 21, 2014 Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 ah yes, the Stars on 45 business model...genius, really Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esau. Posted August 21, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2014 I'm amazed that they tried to convince people that half of 2 apples = twice as many apples. I've heard that pitch before. Something about creating one million jobs by firing one hundred thousand people. Seriously though, this line has me the most confused. Is there really a demographic, and can it really be that large? Jones said shorter songs were a good fit for the 18- to 34-year-old demographic the station was going after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamilton Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Anyone who wants to listen to a station that would do what this one was doing isn't really interested in listening to music anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freak By Night Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 FM radio is still a thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boiler Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 We all know how people love the guy at the party who kills a song right in the middle to put on something he likes to hear, without fade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davey Boy 2.0 Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 ....like hitting fast forard in the middle of a Playin in the Band jam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Low Roller Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 Doesn't Much already do that?When they do their top 10 countdowns they try to fit all 10 songs into a specific timeslot, and if they are in an overrun situation it's not the commercial time that gets cut, but rather the videos that get the crop to meet the specific format. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esau. Posted August 22, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 FM radio is still a thing? Ha. I haven't actively ( or intentionally) listened to mainstream radio in a few years, and yesterday I was reminded of one of many reasons why. While in a taxi heading home from getting groceries whatever station the driver had on, the DJ made this assertion: "Next up, an artist as integral to the Canadian identity as Stompin' Tom Connors, singer-songwriter, Carly Rae Jepsen". /facepalm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freak By Night Posted August 22, 2014 Report Share Posted August 22, 2014 The latest article I read about this indicated the station had abandoned this scheme, but may re-examine it at a later date. "The station, 90.3 AMP (CKMP) announced Tuesday that it was abandoning its "QuickHitz" format switch, which involved truncating tunes in order to give listeners "twice the music." http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/jann-arden-admits-to-low-shots-in-fight-with-radio-station-1.2743939 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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