Andrea Collins moves to Virgin morning shift: Bergman back on the air

There are some changes at Virgin Radio.  Brand Director Mark Bergman is returning to the drive home show as host. Andrea Collins goes back to her original 9 a.m. to Noon shift and Nikki shifts to weekend afternoons.

Collins, seen her speaking at a recent high school Career Day.

I just interviewed Collins two weeks ago and was about to blog about how amazing she is when the news of her time change broke. You will see in the video how much she adored the drive home show.  But as a team player I know she will rise to the occasion, following Freeway Frank and Natasha.

Collins is beautiful, personable and good camera presence. With Virgin likely to become part of Bell Media in the not too distant future, I definitely see  CTV Montreal finding a role for her.

See the Fagstein blog for the total scoop on why Bergman is going back on air.

Here is my video interview with Collins:

Virgin Radio seeking replacement for Lisa Player

The trevolving door at Montreal's Virgin Radio continues. In the past year, no less than three prime time program hosts have left the station: Cat Spencer, Heather B and Nat Lauzon. Now you can add Lisa Player to the list. The co-host of the popular morning show with Freeway Frank announced today (December 16) that she and her husband are moving to Northern Ontario at the end of the month and she plans on leaving the radio business altogether.

Lisa Player

So what does Brand Director Mark Bergman do now? He had the magic touch in bringing in Freeway to succeed Spencer, Nikki to replace Heather and Andrea Collins in relief of Lauzon,

Chantal Desjardins would be a fine fit. The current co-host of sister station CHOM FM's morning show, her future there is up in the air. Terry DiMonte returns to the airwaves at Montreal's rock station on January 9 and he told me that no decision on other team members has been made.

Andrea Collins

Moving Collins or Nikki to the morning slot with Freeway are options. Then there is  Natasha Gargiulo, the stylish Entertainment Tonight Canada Montreal correspondent who is also part of Virgin's drive home show with Cousin Vinny. It would be nice to see Kelly Alexander (Kelly "A") get a permanent gig. She has been a devoted Virgin swing member for years, handling weather, hosting and remotes. Bergman might even surprise us with a name we are not familiar with or someone from another station. Sabrina Marandola, the former Suburban Newspaper reporter who is just delightful on CBC Radio One, would make a wise choice. How about Donna Saker from 92.5 FM The Beat, whose current on air shift is from 9 am to 5 pm (she does get a break for lunch)? Would Bergman try to lure The Beat's Sarah Bartok over?

Freeway told listeners that there will be another announcement next Thursday, so perhaps Player's successor has already been chosen.

UPDATE: Natasha Gargiulo got the nod.  See the Fagstein blog for all of the details.

92.5 The Beat and TSN Radio 990 show gains in ratings

Well it looks like the new 92.5 The Beat FM format  is working out quite nicely. In its first Bureau of Broadcast Measurement (BBM) ratings period via the  Personal People Meters (PPM) method since reinventing itself from The Q 92.5 FM to the Beat, the Cogeco station showed comfortable gains from  the last survey. TSN Radio 990 (formerly  TEAM 990 and soon to be TSN Radio 690) also showed improvements.

The survey was taken between August 29 and November 27.

In terms of the weekly reach of listeners in the anglo market, Virgin Radio (516,000) remained in the lead followed by The Beat (483,000 compared to 475,000 previously), CHOM (342,000), CJAD (304,000), TSN Radio (131,000 compared to 83,000) and CBC Radio One (121,000).

In the all important  aged 25 to 54 demographic, Virgin Radio’s morning show, hosted by Freeway Frank and Lisa Player, leads the pack between 9 am and 10 am (Andrea Collins does the final hour) with a 28.9 percent share. CJAD's Andrew Carter (22.3),  Cat Spencer and Sarah Bartok at The Beat (21.4 up from 17.5), Rob Kemp and Chantal Desjardins on CHOM (20.5) and Elliott Price and Shaun Starr on  TSN Radio (6.8 up from 5.0) follow.

"The Montreal radio landscape had more competition than ever this fall, which made things fun for everyone!" said Virgin Radio brand director Mark Bergman. "As the leader our plan was not to react, rather continue providing our loyal listenership with the biggest hits in Montreal, a fun personality filled line up, all wrapped up in a premium radio brand. We're thrilled with our results! Over two million listeners and number one again with adults aged 18 to 54."

Mitch Melnick

Between 10 and 4 pm, Virgin Radio (36.7) is in the lead followed by CHOM (24.6), The Beat (23.1 from 19.7), CJAD (8.8) and TSN Radio (6.9 up from 4.5). During the drive home, from 4 pm to  7 pm, Cousin Vinny at Virgin Radio  is way out front (37.7) followed by AJ Reynolds at The Beat 20.2 (up from 19.0), Pirate” Pete Marier  at CHOM (19.3), Mitch Melnick at TSN Radio (14.8 up from 9.0) and CJAD’s Aaron Rand (13.9 up from 12.9).

“We are pleased with The Beat's first book,” commented Mark Dickie, general manager and mastermind behind the new station. “We did very with females aged 35 to 54, which is the demo we need to own for our goal to own  females aged 25 to 54. Virgin is the choice for 18 to 34 year olds and The Beat is quickly becoming the choice for adults. We aren't able to publish November's results, but the three-month trend is very impressive. It is nice to see them get rewards so early in the game.

In the overall standings, which takes into account every singer listener regardless of age, the presentation is a bit different. It shows CJAD in the lead (24.4), followed by Virgin Radio (18.3), The Beat (16.3), CHOM  (12.3), CBC Radio One 88.5 FM (8.4) and TSN Radio (4.0). These are not the numbers, though, that advertisers take a particularly close look at.

“We know that Montrealers are embracing The Beat. Our mission every day is to make sure more and more people tune us in and sample our great radio station. We are hearing that once someone has sampled The Beat they are almost immediately making the station their preferred choice to listen to. We get feedback through our street team, Facebook postings, listener calls and emails.”

For Wayne Bews, general manager of TSN Radio 990 he had one word to sum up his reaction. "Proud," he responded. "We knew getting the rights to the Montreal Canadiens would help us. But keep in mind that when this survey was taken, the Canadiens were only playing during six of  the 13 weeks."


Bews says the most telling statistic is how the station performed with the male aged 25 to 54 demographic, where they were previously in fifth place with a 3.7 share. From  7 pm to 11 pm Monday through Saturday evenings, they are now number one with a 19.8 share ahead of Virgin Radio (17.3). "All of our staff worked really hard from the time we got the rights last June," he says. "This is really an excellent start."

The Beat spent a lot of money to promote the new station, via newspaper ads, billboards and bus stop posters. “Advertising does work,” says Dickie. “It creates the awareness for sampling - then it is up to our on-air team, programming, music and promotions to deliver.”

Nat Lauzon jumps to The Q 92.5 FM; Ken Connors shifting to weekends

The Q92.5 FM continues to raid the refrigerator at Virgin Radio. First it was morning man Cat Spencer, who agreed to terms in the spring to replace Aaron Rand. Because of a non-compete clause in his contract, the Cat cannot begin with the Q until late August. Today, Q General Manager Mark Dickie confirmed to me that popular Virgin mid-day host Nat Lauzon (left) is jumping shift. She will slip into the weekend (Noon to 5 p.m.) slot on the Q in October. Because of contractual arrangements she remains part of Virgin until then.

Why go from a full-time five day a week job to simply weekends'? "I think it is a lifestyle change for Nat," reasons Dickie. "For us, it is part of creating a blockbuster weekend format at the Q."
Blockbuster? Well yes, because besides Nat Lauzon weekday drive mainstay Ken Connors (right) will also switch over in August and become the host of a weekend 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. program. On Sundays he will even stick around longer, from 10 a.m. to Noon, with a separate all-request show. The Q already has a smoking hot mid-morning Saturday show (10 a.m. to Noon) with the exceptionally talented, beautiful and incredibly bilingual Anne-Marie Witenshaw.

"We are going to treat weekends just like weekdays," said Dickie.

Donna Saker will have an expanded shift, going from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays. Look for more announcements soon.

As for Virgin, well now that they have to fill yet another spot. Freeway Frank took over from Spencer and then Heather B left for a job in Cleveland, replaced by Nikki. Who should replace Nat? It is time to give the multi-talented Kelly A (A for Alexander) a full-time gig. She is great on weekends, fill-in and special assignment and homegrown.