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The sports radio slugfest in Toronto has yet to produce a winner. And based on yesterday's survey results, a decision is still several rounds away.
The Bill Watters Show, launched in August on AM640 Toronto to compete against Bob McCown's Prime Time Sports afternoon drive-time sports show on The Fan 590, has yet to inflict any damage.
McCown's market share (percentage of the Toronto audience listening) for the September-October survey period was 8.0, up from 7.5 a year ago (all figures for males, 25 to 54).
Still, the Watters show, which is targeting a male audience, did pretty well for its first survey. It produced a share of 3.1, up from 2.0 a year ago.
In the noon-hour time slot, the Fan made gains with its Hockey Central show. It went to a 4.2 market share from 3.8 a year ago.
That increase appears to be at expense of AM640's Leafs Lunch, which dropped to a 5.3 market share from a 6.2 a year ago. (During the survey period, Leafs Lunch lost co-host Jeff Marek to Hockey Night in Canada Radio. As well, Watters's presence was reduced.)
Despite the decline, Leafs Lunch remains the leading noon-hour show in the male 25-to-54 demographic on AM radio.
AM640's share in the evenings, when the station airs Toronto Maple Leafs broadcasts, jumped to 5.7 from 2.9 a year ago. That was tops for AM stations in the male 25-to-54 demographic.
The Fan's audience share in the evening increased to 5.1 from 4.3, as a result of major-league baseball postseason and NFL broadcasts.
The Fan's midmorning Bullpen was flat at 4.5. Subsequent to the survey, Sportsnet's Mike Toth joined Mike Hogan as co-host of the show.
Additional Fan 590 numbers: The morning show's share was up to 5.4 from 4.1; the midafternoon Chuck Swirsky Show increased its share to 5.2 from 4.2.
Nelson Millman, general manager of the Fan 590, seemed pleased with the results. "It was business as usual," he said.
Sports radio numbers
The radio survey showed increases at the all-sports radio stations in Vancouver, Edmonton and Ottawa, but declines in Montreal and Calgary.
In Vancouver, Team 1040's audience share increased for the morning show, 7.7 from 6.2; the afternoon drive, 10.9 from 8.6; and in the evenings, 9.9 from 8.6.
Ottawa's Team 1200 also showed gains. The morning show went to 8.0, from 6.5. The afternoon drive was up, to 8.4 from 7.4. Evenings were up, to 6.9 from 4.3.
In Edmonton, the Team 1260 made huge growth. The morning show went to a 5.3 from a 1.7 and the afternoon drive to a 7.3 from a 3.3. "It's a great jump for us," Bryn Griffiths, the station's sports director, said.
In Calgary, the Fan 960 could not produce a specific breakdown of audience shares, but overall, the share was down to 4.5 from 5.1.
Program director Kelly Kirsh estimated the share for the morning show to be flat. He said the afternoon drive share was perhaps down slightly.
Kirsh had no real explanation for the decline, although he noted that three new stations have entered the market in the past year.
At Montreal's Team 990, the market share for the morning show dropped to 4.7 from a 5.9. The afternoon drive went from a 9.6 a year ago to an 8.8.
Aside from inconsistencies in the survey system, Team 990 general manager Wayne Bews could not explain the decline.
Glitches
The Rogers Sportsnet dinner-hour sportscast experienced plenty of technical problems last Friday.
Louis Jean, who Sportsnet flew to Pebble Beach, Calif., to cover the NHL board of governors meeting, was set to file his report, along with Sportsnet contributor Pierre LeBrun of The Canadian Press, but there was no audio.
Then, back in Toronto, anchor Evanka Osmak lost her audio.
Sportsnet went to a commercial break, which lasted seven minutes. When the telecast returned, it went back to Jean and LeBrun. But midway through their report, the screen went blank. Osmak moved on.
If there was an apology for the technical problems, we didn't hear it.
- Fan 590 hockey reporter Howard Berger yesterday retracted and apologized on the air for a report that stated New York Rangers forward Sean Avery alluded to Maple Leafs forward Jason Blake's fight with cancer (chronic leukemia) during a trash-talking session at the Air Canada Centre on Nov. 10.
- TSN's telecast of the Green Bay Packers-Dallas Cowboys game last Thursday produced the network's largest NFL audience ever: 630,000 viewers.
