Next Call with Sol: return of Boxenbaum

There are still a lot of Montreal radio listeners who miss hearing Sol Boxenbaum on the air. His early morning talkshow known as Last Call with Sol  on CJAD did have a loyal following.  The  show was cancelled and replaced with a syndicated program. Sol tried his hand on a new internet radio station, but the outfit was not very successful. Now we hear that he is back online, meaning anyone with access to the world wide web can tune in.

Sol Boxenbaum

Sol's new show is on www.thepulseradio.com weeknights from midnight to 2 a.m. You can listen in while you burn the midnight oil. Last Call With Sol Internet edition features music, mostly from the 60's and talk. "I imagine in the beginning there will be more music than talk, but eventually I hope to hear from some of my former listeners," he says. " The station is in the United Kingdom and all the intellectual property of my program belongs to me."

Once Sol works out some technical specifications, he will begin transferring files  to  www.lastcallwithsol.com so listeners can hear older shows whenever they wish.

TSN Radio 990 on life support - what a terrible shame!

A few weeks ago I had lunch with TSN Radio 990 General Manager Wayne Bews and Canadiens play by play man John Bartlett. I shared with Wayne some information a good source had shared with me: that Bell Media, the parent owners of TSN Radio 990, was seriously considering a switch in formats from English to French in terms of its local all-sports property in order to comply with CRTC regulations.

Bews claimed this was the first he had heard of such a thing and pretty much dismissed such speculation. I decided not to run with it, certainly hoping that such a thing could never come true. From the time the station first went on the air over 11 years ago as THE TEAM 990 and then switched to TSN Radio 990 last summer - to go along with their acquisition of Montreal Canadiens broadcast rights - I have been an avid listener of the  station. And why not? This was any sports fan's dream - jock talk 24/7.

This was a vintage year for the station, which is on the verge of becoming TSN Radio 690 in order to to get a better signal out there. While the Habs had a lousy season on the ice, it was certainly not without a lot of controversy and that made for great radio. The station's coverage of the Habs was outstanding.

When Bell Media announced a few months ago that it was purchasing all of Astral Radio, a problem surfaced in Montreal. The dreaded CRTC does not permit any one company to operate four stations of the same language in the same market. They do allow exceptions on occasion and this seemed to be a good  candidate for that. But no, the CRTC delivered a slap to the face of all anglos when it declined the request. Suddenly Bell Media had a choice to make. It could not keep TSN Radio 990, CJAD, CHOM and Virgin Radio. I would have thought that CHOM would have been put up for sale, but in a shocking decision Bell Media announced that it has applied to the CRTC to convert TSN Radio 990 in Montreal to a francophone station, RDS 990 - soon to be RDS 690.

So now we sit and wait. TSN Radio 990 is like a dying patient on life support. We have no idea how long it will survive. Unless the CRTC shows some spine and turns down this application(remember, Bell Media asked for the switch to 690 to improve its reach to anglo Quebec), TSN Radio could depart us in early 2013. What an absolute shame! Throughout the day I have been bombarded with phone calls and emails from irate listeners. The Bureau of Broadcast Measurement (BBM) ratings may not fully show this, but TSN Radio has a cult following among avid sports fans in this city - English and French.

Tony Marinaro

The morning show just added Ted Bird to the team of Elliott Price and Shaun Starr. This program is hilarious and full of information. What can one say about Tony Marinaro? He is, in my opinion, the star sports talk show host in the city. Provocative and knowledgeable, hockey fans hang on his every word during the season. He is consistently breaking stories and never backs off from telling the story like it is. CTV's Randy Tieman always loved radio and it shows. His Intermission hour with Marinaro is full of pep and his afternoon program always features great guests. Mitch Melnick is already a legend in this town. His four hour drive home show is not  just about sports, but life in this city. He has got a style that cannot be replicated by anyone. A diversified array of talent, from Dave Kaufman to Matthew Ross and Noel Butler dot the evening and weekend schedules.

So what happens to all of these people? The next six months will no doubt be audition time, with CJAD/CHOM/Virgin GM Martin Spalding playing the role of casting director.

Rick Moffat: Return to Habs?

You can pretty well bet on Bird being reunited with Terry DiMonte on the CHOM morning show--- but please make them a trio with the wonderful Heather B.  Melnick has had two previous incarnations with CJAD and I cannot imagine them not finding a spot for him. Marinaro is perfectly bilingual. If CJAD does not grab him, he could more than hold his own on RDS Radio 690. Does Rick Moffat resume play by play duties when the Habs return to CJAD or can he and Bartlett partner on the broadcasts? Adding Noel Butler to the Impact broadcasts also should be automatic.

Elliott Price is also a former CJAD man. Starr has developed into a "star. Tieman adds experience and likability.

Spalding will no doubt be huddling with his CJAD program director Chris Bury in the coming months.

For sports fans, the best compromise we can hope for is CJAD signifcantly boosting its sports content.  If it does not, AM 600 -the new anglo station owned by Paul Tietolman and friends - will be ready for start up possibly by next spring. They certainly would be in the market for many of the personalities being cut loose by TSN Radio 990.  Steve Kowch, the former program boss at CJAD, is moving back to Montreal this summer to oversee the operation. Tietolman already received CRTC approval to begin airing a French talk radio station at AM 940. As for AM 600, it is just a matter of time before it gets the final green light.

 

Provincial election rumoured for Rosh Hashanah

Is it conceivable that Premier Jean Charest will announce in mid-August that he will send Quebecers to the polls on Monday, September 17? That is what influential Quebecor Media columnist Michel Hébert suggested over the weekend.

Charest: election call?

The dilemma for Charest is that September 17 marks the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

According to Hébert, Liberal strategists do not wish for Charest to go a week later (September 24). While Rosh Hashanah does not impact upon the entire province, one man who would certainly be very inconvenienced by this is the de facto Quebec Minister of Jewish Affairs Lawrence Bergman. The veteran D'Arcy McGee MNA and chair of the government caucus is the former president of the Adath Israel Congregation. He could hardly be expected to campaign on such a day. And what kind of team could he muster up? "Driving" is not acceptable on a Jewish High Holy Day. Would Bergman be expected to run his entire campaign during the advance polls?

The riding of Outremont, held by Finance and Revenue Minister Raymond Bachand, has the verty influential Hassidic Jewish vote. Mount Royal, Westmount-Ville Marie, St. Laurent and West Island Robert Baldwin also have a number of Jewish voters.

Monday, September 24 is just two days before Yom Kippur, the Holiest day of the year on the Jewish calendar.

The Young Quebec Liberals will convene in Victoriaville on August 10. It is soon after that Charest is expected to call an election while he still has a chance to win.

Can you try for Monday, September 10 Jean?

Quebec Finance Minister Raymond Bachand is ready for the next election

Over the past year I have had the opportunity to meet with Quebec Minister of Finance and Revenue Raymond Bachand on a number of occasions. The  Member of the National Assembly for Outremont has thoroughly impressed me. In fact, if Premier Jean Charest were to step down from his post I believe Bachand could step in and lead the Liberals to a majority victory.

Last week I was invited to Bachand's Côte des  Neiges Road office to talk to him about why he decided to seek a four term. Whenever the next election occurs --and I would bet this fall - he will be front and centre.

“It was hard decision and a family decision,” the Harvard educated Bachand told me in an interview at his Côte des Neiges Road office. “The last two years is not what I signed up for in the sense of what democracy used to be and the acrimony of the debate has put politics at level we have not seen before. The level of disrespect starts in the National Assembly with what the  opposition throws at us.”

Bachand genuinely believes the Quebec Liberals will be re-elected and he has some personal pride at stake as well. “My pride,” he says, “is to have a fourth budget - the next one will be when we return to a balanced budget and that will be next spring. An election could be held after next spring or before. That is also one of the main reasons why I am running again.”

What does he think about the past several months of student unrest over the tuition issue? “I’ll tell you,” he says, “I do not like what I see in Quebec. We have to speak up and we have to stand
up.”

Bachand served as a special secretary in the Office of then PQ Premier René Lévesque from 1979 to1981 before embarking upon a successful business career. I asked him if  how he believes Lévesque would have reacted to his old party supporting the student cause and civil disobedience. “One thing René Lévesque got angry about was any sign of violence or intolerance,” Bachand said.  “He could not support that. You know he walked in the concentration camps with the US Army and it marked him all of his life. Tolerance is such a key value for me and it was for him. He would never accept any sign of silence and that is what I would reproach the PQ for. When students are beat up in the entrance of schools and stopped from entering and you have hundreds of students wearing black shirts and hooded going into the Université du Québec going into classes and putting plastic bags on people’s heads...that is why we passed Bill 78. Never again will students be denied access by violence and intimidation.”

Here is my video interview with Mr. Bachand. For more read the June 29th edition of The Suburban Magazine.

 

TSN Radio play by play man John Bartlett

As far rookie seasons in the broadcast booth go, John Bartlett did an outstanding job as the  play by play man for the Montreal Canadiens on TSN Radio 990 (soon to be TSN Radio 690).

The newest resident of Pointe Claire sat down with The Suburban last week over lunch at Chez Nick in Westmount to look back on his first year in Montreal.  TSN Radio 990 General Manager Wayne Bews  was there as well, sporting the same smile he had last August when he introduced Bartlett to us.

Here is some of what he had to say. See The June 22 Suburban Magazine for a more detailed feature.

Yes the food at Yangtze is still mighty fine

When a fire destroyed the legendary Yangtze Chinese Restaurant on Van Horne Avenue in Côte des Neiges last December, owners Marco and Bobo Yau worked quickly to re-establish themselves at the former Tchang Kiang Chinese Restaurant at 6066 Sherbrooke Street West in NDG. At the time this was being looked at as a stop-gap measure until they could decide what to do with the original landmark

.

With the help of local business consultant Mel Leitman, the Yaus christened the  new establishment as Tchang Kiang by Yangtze, retained most of the staff from Van Horne and merged the menus of the two restaurants. Of all the topics I have written about on my Suburban blog since it debuted just over a year ago, this one has attracted the most feedback.  I visited with the brother and sister team of Marco and Bobo last week, enjoying some splendid egg rolls, pineapple chicken, rice and soup in the process, where they delivered the news. “We will not rebuild the Van Horne restaurant,”  Bobo declared. “We will stay here and continue to build up our product.”

According to Marco, business is 30 to 40 percent greater in NDG than on Van Horne, with half of the seating capacity. Home deliveries are booming. Leitman redid the menus for them, adding and deleting a few items and introducing symbols for   gluten-free diners, low carb requirements and finally which items are strictly vegetarian. Mitchell Kadanoff of Solly the Caterer has come aboard and is distributing about 30 dozen of the famous Yangtze egg rolls a week to a line of stores such as REAL Bagel on Côte St. Luc Road and Queen Mary, Nosherz on Mackle in CSL, Bagels on Greene  and the Metro supermarket in Westmount and Yagel Bagel in  Dollard.

So what will become of the Van Horne location, which housed Yangtze for 55 years? Word has it that a small pharmacy will be constructed.

I wanted to expand upon my column in this week’s paper because of the enormous responses I get on this blog to anything related to the Yangtze.  When people decide to comment on any of my entries, they have the option of leaving their name. My email address – mcohen@thesuburban.com – is also very public. Over the past six months so many people have issued comments on my blog about the restaurant, many complaining about the new version of Yangtze. They are mostly anonymous.

I was pleased last December when I ate there. Last week,  when  I stopped for lunch,  I tried some  of the staples.

The won ton soup was piping hot and tasty. Those famous egg rolls were fresh and crispy, just as delicious as I can remember from my days growing up and going for family dinners on Van Horne. Oh yes, the plum sauce was just fine thank you very much. Is it different from the original location? Probably.  But I had no complaints whatsoever.  The pineapple chicken was mouthwatering and the chicken fried rice just right. As for the spare ribs, Marco told me that they are in fact softer and tastier than the original. I’d have to agree.

In developing the new menus, some of the prices went up. Marco said this was necessary in order to even the scale with the popular Tchang Kiang selections. This new location is also brighter and prettier. It has a liquor license (Beer, wine, Sake, mixed drinks, etc), something the original Yangtze did not.

Marco and Bobo still have custody of the original Yangtze sign from Van Horne. I suggested that they put it up for auction and have legendary waiter Tiger come in to take the bids. Oh yes, there is an old cash register lying around somewhere as well.

Go to the restaurant’s new website at http://www.tkyangtze.com. They are open every day except Monday. You can call 514-487-7744.

Citytv and its plans for Montreal: an interview with Scott Moore

While then folks at Rogers Media await formal Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approval for their purchase of CJNT Metro14 TV in Montreal and transforming it into trendy Citytv, an  affiliation agreement officially kicked in on Monday. It is anticipated that the CRTC will rule on the overall deal within the next few months and when that happens we can look forward to some new local programming.

Scott Moore, the president of Rogers Broadcasting, was in Montreal last Thursday for a very slick presentation to advertising executives at the Corona Theatre. Moore and his team provided a comprehensive look ahead to Rogers programming on Citytv, FX, Omni, Sportsnet, G4, Bio and OLN. There was naturally a lot of hype for the Bachelor Canada, starring Hudson’s Brad Smith, which will air Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. beginning in the fall. Everyone leaving the Corona was presented with a red rose. Smith is currently filming in Western Canada and was unavailable to attend. But we did learn that one of his televised dates will occur here.

Moore, who was born in Montreal, plans to spend a lot of time here over the next few months to try and determine what local programming would be the best fit.  A morning news show, which would go up against Shaw Media’s plans for a Global TV wakeup program, is a possibility. So are shows focusing on music, sports and current affairs.

Here is my video interview with Moore. Please see The Suburban Magazine on Friday for a detailed look at the Citytv fall schedule and interviews with Moore, programming chief Malcolm Dunlop and Julie Lafontaine, the Pierrefonds mom who made it to the finals of Canada's Got Talent.