I'm on a Mexican radio

I haven't even been away from Kitchener for two weeks yet, and already all heck has broken loose on the radio dial.

It started with Oldies 1090 abandoning the slowly-edging-ever-closer-to-extinction AM dial, moving to 99.5 FM and rebranding itself as 'KFUN'. Now free from the CRTC regulations governing AM music stations (could only play music from up to a certain year), the playlist has been tweaked - the station is now more of a cross between oldies and classic rock (the difference being that 'oldies' were generally considered 'pop' in their heyday).

This infringed ever so slightly on the format of DAVE FM (107.5), which had been playing music from all time periods, generally with a rock-ish tinge - suddenly, there was another station competing for the classic rock listener, and older DAVE listeners were likely to head to KFUN. So DAVE rebranded itself as 'the Tri-Cities' best rock'...their signal doesn't make it out to Brantford, so I haven't heard the new format yet, but their online playlist suggests that the music itself hasn't really changed.

I consider this a good thing, as I would frequently discover new (well, old, but new to me) music on DAVE - be it an entire band, or just a song I'd never heard before by a band I knew. If this hasn't changed, DAVE will remain my favourite station. If it instead turns into something closer to Y108 in Hamilton or Q107 in Toronto, I'm not so sure I'll be listening.

The third player in this little drama is KOOL FM (105.3). KOOL has two big advantages over their competitors - they play new music (DAVE does as well, but a limited amount), and they pay attention to their listeners. KOOL listeners are invited to take part in the 'KOOL Music Advisory Council', which involves going online once per week, listening to the top 40 or so songs of the week, and giving your opinion on them (basically rating them from 1-5).

The problem with KOOL is that, possibly because of these surveys, my least favourite genre of pop/rock (the Hedley/Faber Drive/Hinder-type bands that sound virtually indistinguishable and nobody will remember five years from now, let alone fifty) is represented much more than I'd like - DAVE doesn't play any of this stuff, and that's why it's my first choice.

There are some other players on the local scene. CHYM (96.7) is generally the highest-rated station in the area, playing mostly what I'd describe as 'soft rock' - will people who don't like today's harder music start gravitating towards KFUN and leave CHYM needing to retool itself? Will KOOL, in an effort to set itself apart from DAVE and KFUN, start playing more hip-hop - and what would that do to the Beat (91.5)? Or will they start slanting less to rock and more to alternative - I know I'd listen in that case, but I don't know how big that market is - and distinguish themselves that way?

The changes aren't over yet.

--Ryan