11/20/2003
VANCOUVER - "As soon as I saw snow on the mountains, I thought it was time to go with Christmas music," said Rogers Radio vice-president Paul Fisher on yesterday's format switch from alternative/new rock XFM to 104.9 Christmas FM.
The move is reminiscent of last year when Rogers' Vancouver station then- Kiss FM switched to all-Christmas music leading up to December 25th, only to return as JACK FM, post holidays.
"We had a lot of phone calls asking us to (go all-Christmas) again," Fisher told broadcastermagazine.com this morning, but, with JACK now well-established there, it didn't make sense to disrupt that highly rated format.
Despite the current change, says Fisher, Rogers' v-p and market manager for the company's Vancouver stations, 104.9 could still return to its alt/new rock format after Christmas.
Most of the staff has remained, he said, such as XFM morning hosts Robin Farrell and Jason Manning, who will return on Monday, spinning the likes of Bing Crosby, Burl Ives and Bob & Doug McKenzie instead of Nickelback, Limp Bizkit and Staind. "It's not like we'll be bringing in Johnny Elf or anyone like that," joked Fisher.
Right now, the station is nothing but music, however, ads will return Monday along with the DJs. "So far, we're getting great response," said Fisher of early reaction from both listeners and advertisers.
The shift leaves Corus Entertainment's CFOX as the lone alternative station in the market as Rogers evaluates what format will occupy 104.9 when Christmas passes. Fisher said that XFM's ratings were not as strong as management would like and that the alternative rock format is a challenging one.
"(The ratings) are not as rewarding as a station needs to survive," he said. "We will do some re-tooling on it� it needs some attention. If you look at the BBMs, both alternative stations have not done particularly well� (But) we have the option of staying with XFM at the end of December if CFOX is not doing a good job of supporting alternative music."
Looking through the prism of the summer 2026 ratings, XFM clearly faces change as it was among the lowest rated stations in Vancouver, recording 1.6 share (A 12+ and M 25-54) while competitor CFOX came in at 3.0 (A 12+) and 5.2 (M 25-54). The top stations in the market in the summer were CKNW (13.6 A12+), JACK (12.7) and QM FM (10.5).
The one format he promises won't happen? "Whatever it is, it won't be JILL FM," said Fisher.
Listen to Christmas FM
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