Faced with a crowded, competitive radio market, cjez-fm’s new owner went looking for a niche and found one among females aged 35 to 44, making it Toronto’s first station aimed at women.
The Telemedia-owned station’s new positioning line is ‘The Heartbeat of Toronto.’
Marc Paris, vice-president and general manager of cjez, says the reformating of the station to ‘soft’ adult contemporary from classic hits is based on the ‘lifestyle’ format Telemedia pioneered at some of its Quebec radio stations where it is known as Rock Detente.
In the top six Quebec markets, Paris says Telemedia’s Rock Detente stations are No. 1 with adults – and women, in particular.
cjez became E Z Rock 97.3 June 30, dropping its former Z97.3 Classic Hits nickname.
Telemedia acquired cjez from Redmond Broadcasting in February.
Paris says at some point in the not too distant future Telemedia’s station ciqm-fm, in London, Ont., will probably change to a format much like E Z Rock’s from adult contemporary.
He says cjez’s advertiser base will not change a lot, since national advertisers tend to skew towards women anyway.
He says some spots from a typical morning might be messages for Haagen-Dazs ice cream, Maple Leaf wieners and GO Transit, the government of Ontario’s Toronto-based commuter service.
At the June 28 gathering that introduced E Z Rock 97.3 to the media, Paris said the new format was one of the most researched projects in Telemedia’s history.
After deciding to seek largely female listeners, Telemedia found what Paris calls his ‘core audience’ of women aged 35 to 44 who want a more energetic sound than that usually found on adult contemporary radio.
Paris describes this core audience as ‘mostly well-educated, working mothers with busy lives who use radio as a background to their daily activities.’
As well as E Z Rock’s woman-friendly playlist – one-third ’60s classics from the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel and others, one-third ’80s and ’90s fare from the likes of Phil Collins, Celine Dion and Bonnie Raitt, and one-third newcomers such as Jann Arden, Jon Secada, Toni Braxton and Des’Ree – the station’s news, comment and features will also be directed at women’s interests.
Paris says once cjez is established among women 35 to 44, the station will cast its broadcast net a little wider to reach women outside the 35 to 44 segment.
He says the station’s longer term goal is to be Toronto’s No. 1 station among female listeners.
To promote E Z Rock’s format change, Paris says the station has embarked on a multimillion-dollar ad campaign, although he does not specify how much the station is spending.
cjez’s agency is Vickers & Benson Advertising, in Toronto.
Ron Bremner, v&b’s vice-president and account director, says the goal of the advertising is to build E Z Rock into a brand, with an image entirely in synch with the lifestyle of the station’s core audience.
cjez’s campaign broke over the July 1 holiday using 30-second tv spots, transit shelter posters and pixelboards to create awareness.
Telemedia will also use its other radio stations such as Toronto’s all-sports station ckey-am, known as The Fan, and full-page ads in all its English magazines such as Canadian Living, TV Guide, Canadian Living, Homemaker’s and Health Watch.
E Z Rock’s chief competitor in the tight Toronto market is chfi-fm, and Paris acknowledges he is taking aim at his cross-town rival.
Sandy Sanderson, general manager of chfi and its am sister station 680 News, says he has been keeping an eye on the changes at cjez.
Sanderson says since chfi has not been challenged in quite a while, the E Z Rock entry should force his station to do better.
Sanderson, who was not expecting the E Z Rock nickname for cjez, admits the newly formated station will cut into ad revenues, but here, too, he expects greater effort by chfi staff.
cjez had a 3.2% share of hours tuned by listeners aged 12+ in the spring ratings from the BBM Bureau of Measurement.
chfi’s share in the spring book was 11.1%.
Paris says one ratings point is worth $1.1 million in ad revenue.
