By Diana Mendes
Plans for a new independent rock radio station are hitting a sour note with Ottawa’s music industry.
The proposed station, to be named Capital FM, would be run by Mark Maheu, former general manager at CHUM Ottawa and former chief operating officer at Newcap Radio, a Nova Scotia-based company that owns two other stations in Ottawa. Maheu says Capital FM will play music that is not currently on Ottawa radio.
“If it were going to be the same as everyone else with one or two changes, we’d fail,” he says. “The way we’re going to be successful is to carve out our niche, be different from everything else out there.”
To Maheu, that niche will be playing “what people want to hear.”
The station will fuse alternative rock, hip-hop and rock with some popular music, but Maheu also wants a strong emphasis on local bands, and intends to create a website to which bands can submit their music.
If licensed, Capital would be Ottawa’s only commercial radio station not owned by a national chain, something Maheu is proud of.
He says another strength of the station will be its local focus.
“There’s no substitute for a station where the owner lives and works in the community,” he says. “That sets it apart. Not only in programming but advertising. Given the opportunity, people will support a business that is local.”
But critics and music industry insiders are not convinced the new endeavour will survive, or that Maheu has anything new to offer.
“Does Ottawa really need another rock station?” says Eugene Haslam, owner of Zaphod Beeblebrox, a bar and concert venue in the Byward Market.
Traditionally, Ottawa has been a difficult market to break into. It has the most radio stations per capita in the country.
The last attempt to start a new station, Xfm in 2000, failed after four years on the air.
But Maheu says his market research shows 80 per cent of Capital’s potential playlist isn’t on Ottawa stations.
“We’re going to be playing new and emerging music that just isn’t getting played,” he says. “Licensing Capital will bring a real diversity to the marketplace.”
But whether the market can support another player is another issue. Ottawa already has three rock stations — Live 88.5, a Newcap station, the Bear and CHEZ — covering everything from modern, alternative and classic rock, to oldies.
And these outlets aren’t pulling in many listeners. According to BBM, the industry’s ratings service, the most successful, the Bear and CHEZ, each had a 5.4 per cent share of Ottawa commercial radio listeners in the third quarter of this year.
That means listenership is down about three-and-a-half per cent at CHEZ and about two per cent at the Bear over the same quarter last year.
Matthew Pollesel is a concert promoter in Ottawa and runs iheartmusic.net, a music blog. He says he’s not sure how successful Capital will be, given its demographic.
“A station like Capital FM won’t make a lot of money because they’re targeting a young generation that doesn’t have the money to spend,” he says. “Advertisers aren’t going to advertise where there’s not going to be a huge target audience.”
According to BBM, in the last quarter, Live 88.5 — Capital’s closest demographic competitor — held a four per cent share of the Ottawa music market. Further splitting this among Capital and Live is not a recipe for success says Pollesel.
But Maheu is convinced there is a market for his station because of its local roots.
“I want a radio station that’s live and local, 24 hours a day,” he says. “We’re not using recorded content shipped from the U.S. Whenever you turn on Capital FM, you’ll get a real live experience from Ottawa.”
Haslam says a new station is the wrong way to go. In the digital age Internet radio would be a better alternative.
“It seems weird that someone would want to start another radio station,” he says. “It seems like they’re trying to build a Model T when cars are computerized.”
Haslam doubts Capital FM will offer anything new, given Maheu’s track record at CHUM and Newcap.
“If what he’s saying is true, then he should have been able to do it [at Newcap],” he says. “He was a VP, he wasn’t some lackey.”
As of now, Maheu is applying for a license from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and is soliciting community comment before a public meeting on Dec. 3, where Maheu’s proposal will be discussed. After that, the CRTC will deliberate for up to six months before reaching a decision.