CALGARY – It wasn’t exactly a secret among western Canadian radio folks, but Rogers Radio made the format change official today by launching 660News in Calgary.
The station had been Oldies 66 CFR and pulled a 2.5 (A12+) in the fall 2005 ratings book but will now compete head on with Corus Radio’s news/talk CHQR 770, which boasted a 10.2 in the fall, fourth in the market.
"At Rogers Media we believe that our extensive experience with the ‘All News Radio’ format will allow us to deliver a quality product that listeners will return to throughout their busy day," said Kevin McKanna, executive vice-president, Alberta and Manitoba radio for Rogers Media.
Calgary audiences begin hearing Rogers’ clock-based news wheel with "traffic and weather together on the ones, sports at 15 and 45 past the hour and business at 26 and 56 past the hour," as the promos go.
Rogers offers similar formats in Toronto (680News) and Vancouver (News1130) – and in 2005 launched an FM news/talk network in New Brunswick (News 88.9 Saint John, News 91.9 Moncton) and Nova Scotia (News 95.7 Halifax/Dartmouth), which is more of a traditional talk format less of the news wheel.
