Radio’s Changing Face

Today’s Toronto Star is largely devoted to immigration and the experience of emigrating to and settling in Toronto. For some, it takes the World Cup for them to wake up to the fact that many of this city’s ethnic communities are huge and growing. But I was not at all surprised to see that in The Star’s commissioned survey of ethnic groups, in nearly every case 680 News ranked at the top or in the top 5 as their choice for radio station.

Some listeners tell us they learn English by listening to our station. Perhaps some newer Canadians haven’t yet mastered the reading and writing part of the language but they can understand the spoken word. We do cover a broad range of topics and I can see where a new Canadian would find us useful for learning about the city and the country. I’d say 8 out of 10 times I get into a cab, 680 News is on the radio. You can call me biased about our influence, but ratings also bear me out. 680 has the most listeners of any station in Canada.

Radio station staffs have also evolved over the years to reflect the changing make-up of the population. Years ago, broadcasting didn’t appear to be a potential aspiration for kids who spoke with accents of almost any kind. That’s not the case anymore. Announcers with complicated surnames used to be encouraged, if not commanded, to change them to something simple. That narrow view has widened considerably as media recognizes not everyone’s a Smith or a Jones and how boring it would be if they were.

When I started in radio, I was often the only female on-air at my station and sometimes, the only one in the market. Over the years that changed as more and more young women saw broadcasting as an option. Now, women hold important managerial positions and they’re slowly and steadily getting into positions of power and decision-making. I see the same now happening more and more immigrants and children of immigrants. The wheels of change turn slowly but they are turning and in the right direction.