TSN Radio

TSN Radio

Type	Radio network
Country	Canada
Availability	Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton
Slogan	The Evolution of Sports Radio (City Name) Destination for Sports
Owner	Bell Media Programmed by TSN (Bell Media – 80% / ESPN – 20%) Distributed by Bell Media Radio (Bell Media – 100%)
Key people	Rob Gray Program Director, TSN Radio[1] Stewart Johnston President of TSN[2] Chris Gordon President of Bell Media Radio[2][3]
Launch date	October 5, 2011[2] (TSN Radio 1050 launched on April 13, 2011)[4]
Official website	TSN Radio

TSN Radio is a semi-national sports radio brand and part-time network in Canada carried on AM radio stations owned by Bell Media Radio.^[4][5][6] The TSN Radio brand, and some of the stations' content, is shared with Bell Media's television sports channel, The Sports Network. With the American sports network ESPN being a minority shareholder in TSN, most of the stations also air some ESPN Radio programming, usually on weekends and/or overnight.

TSN Radio currently operates stations in Toronto (CHUM 1050), Montreal (CKGM 690), Ottawa (CFGO 1200), Winnipeg (CFRW 1290) and Edmonton (CFRN 1260). Bell Media also operates sports radio stations under the "Team" brand in Vancouver, which shares some programming with the TSN-branded stations. However, each station produces the vast majority of its programming locally, apart from some live event broadcasts as well as U.S.-produced syndicated programming. Unlike sports radio networks in the United States, there is no all-day 'network' feed, and very few Canadian-produced programs are simulcast nationally (though some of the Toronto station's programming is simulcast on the national TSN2 TV channel).

Overview

It was announced on February 17, 2011, that its Toronto station CHUM (1050 AM) would discontinue its audio simulcast of CP24's television programming as "CP24 Radio 1050" and switch to an all-sports radio format as "TSN Radio 1050" effective April 13, 2011, becoming the flagship station of the network.^[4][7] The company further announced plans on October 3, 2011, to convert its two radio stations in Winnipeg and Montreal under the TSN Radio banner (becoming TSN Radio 1290 and TSN Radio 990 respectively) on October 5, 2011.^[2]

The network in some respects represent a revival of the defunct The Team network, which formerly aired on many of the same stations in the early 2000s when they were owned by CHUM Limited. Bell Canada gained 100% control of CTVglobemedia's assets on April 1, 2011, thus renaming the company's name to Bell Media and likewise renamed the radio division, CHUM Radio to Bell Media Radio.

It was reported on January 19, 2011 that Rob Gray, who was the program director for CKST and CFTE, had been hired to be program director for both CHUM and the new TSN Radio network.^[1]

Stations

History

TSN entered radio broadcasting with CHUM (1050 AM) in Toronto, which became the first station under the TSN Radio moniker, as TSN Radio 1050, on April 13, 2011. The station serves as the flagship of the network.

Bell Media further announced on October 3, 2011 that its radio stations CKGM in Montreal and CFRW in Winnipeg would join the TSN Radio network (becoming TSN Radio 990 and TSN Radio 1290 respectively) on October 5, 2011. CFRW had been long anticipated as a member of the network, having abandoned its oldies format for sports in fall 2010 (and using a TSN-inspired logo in the interim) and acquired the rights to the revived Winnipeg Jets in summer 2011.^[2]

There were conflicting reports initially as to whether or not CFGO in Ottawa and CKST and CFTE in Vancouver will re-brand.^[8][9] TSN has said that the aforementioned stations 'shall work closely' with the TSN Radio stations,^[2] and that for the time being "...our focus is on successful launches of TSN Radio in Montreal and Winnipeg.”^[3] Bell has since also acquired a sports radio station in Edmonton, CFRN, through its 2013 takeover of Astral Media.

In July 2012, Bell Media submitted an application to the CRTC, requesting permission to convert Montreal's TSN Radio station, CKGM, into a French radio station that would be known as RDS Radio 990—co-branding with TSN's French-language sister network Réseau des sports in a similar manner to TSN Radio. While Bell specified that this move was primarily intended to take advantage of CKAC's recent flip from sports radio in French to traffic radio, it was also intended to help satisfy ownership caps as a part of Bell's proposed acquisition of Astral Media, since Astral already owned the maximum number of English-language stations it could own in Montreal (owning two on FM, and the AM station CJAD). CJAD would have been given CKGM's English-language rights to the Montreal Canadiens after the flip, if approved.^[10][11] The CRTC ultimately rejected both proposals.^[12] In its later successful attempt to buy Astral a few months later, Bell requested (and received) an exemption to the radio ownership limits to allow it to retain CKGM, provided it remains an English-language sports station.

On September 30, 2013, CFRN in Edmonton and CFGO in Ottawa re-branded as TSN Radio stations.^[13]

Programming

TSN Radio's secondary studios are also located at Bell Media's 9 Channel Nine Court, where TSN and CFTO-DT are based

It is not expected that TSN Radio will seek to create a full-day national programming schedule along the lines of the 24-hour ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio services in the United States, with local programming intertwined.^[2] Several weeks before confirming plans for TSN Radio, TSN president Stewart Johnston argued that "local is key" for the success of sports radio in Canada, as demonstrated by the earlier failure of The Team's attempt to produce most of its programming for national distribution out of Toronto.^[14] Indeed, the TSN stations rarely if ever carry another station's local programming. Although there are some common programs, this is mostly limited to a handful of specialty weekend shows, and to U.S. syndicated programming such as The Dan Patrick Show and ESPN Radio (and even these programs are not carried on all stations).

Mike Richards signed on to host the Toronto station's morning show, Mike Richards in the Morning. The show airs from 5:30am-9am (ET),^[15] and was expected to be simulcast on TSN2 beginning in September 2011.^[6] However, due to delays in the studio being built at 9 Channel Nine Court, the premiere of the show was delayed to February 18, 2013.^[3] CHUM's new drive time show, TSN Drive with Dave Naylor, also premiered in simulcast the same day.^[16]

TSN Radio's main studios are also located at Bell Media's 250 Richmond Street West which is connected to the 299 Queen Street West building

Additionally, TSN has radio broadcasting rights for golf's The Open Championship, The U.S. Open, UEFA Euro 2012 and 2016, the NBA Playoffs, and NFL on Dial Global Sports. As part of TSN's television contract extension with the Canadian Football League, TSN Radio also owns the radio broadcast rights to the Grey Cup from 2013 to 2018.

References

External links

• TSN Radio