Seeing as a good number of people have been coming here lately looking for info and a couple have even asked me about it, I thought I’d pass on the news I just got about the end of classic hits CKOC and the beginning of TSN Radio 1150 Hamilton.
As I figured but never confirmed, the switch will be made this Labour Day weekend, which tends to be a popular time for radio station format changes. They’re building the launch around the Ticats Argos game, which is smart. Also smart is announcing a couple of daily local programs out of the gate like I said they should when the news first broke. I’m not sure what they have in mind for mornings and middays, but given that we’re this close and they’re only mentioning an afternoon drive show and a Ticats lunch program, my guess is nothing, at least not right away.
TSN announced today that TSN Radio 1150 in Hamilton will officially debut on Labour Day (Monday, Sept. 7), making it the city’s first all-sports radio station. TSN 1150 also unveiled two brand new locally-focused shows: TICATS AT NOON with host Jim Tatti, and MARSH & MILTON, the station’s daily drive home show featuring veteran Hamilton Spectator sports columnist Steve Milton and former McMaster Marauders quarterback Marshall Ferguson.
The station makes its debut on Labour Day (Monday, Sept. 7), live from Tim Hortons Field in downtown Hamilton, Ont., beginning with a live broadcast of MARK’S LABOUR DAY WEEKEND featuring the Hamilton Tiger-Cats taking on the Toronto Argonauts, as the longtime rivals battle for first place in the CFL’s East Division.
The station’s slate of daily programming including TICATS AT NOON and MARSH & MILTON begins the following day, Tuesday, Sept. 8.
TSN 1150 listeners can expect extensive live sports talk with a focus on Hamilton’s teams, including the Ticats and McMaster Marauders, as well as the Toronto and Buffalo sports scenes. Fans can listen to the station live on AM 1150 in the greater Hamilton area, online at TSN.ca, and via the TSN GO app.
So I’m hearing that 1150s time as a mostly useless sports station has come to an end thanks to Bell’s latest round of shitty budget cuts. It either is or is about to become BNN Bloomberg Radio. What that means I don’t exactly know, but I have a feeling it’s going to involve simulcasting Bell’s business news television station, because that worked so well when 1050 Toronto was nothing but a simulcast of CP24 with the lowest of low rent advertisements and ratings so small they hardly registered. Not that Bell cares, mind you. They’re only interested in doing everything as cheaply as possible. Bell gives not a shit about people or quality or anything that anyone stuck consuming their garbage offerings might find important. Bell is the worst.