where has the flow gone?

The Star had a nice article about The Flow loosing its way. Have they gone less urban in favor for contemporary hit radio?

First off, I've never been a fan of the Flow. Ever since its early days as Toronto's first urban radio outlet, the station sounded like a community radio station ran by confused students who didn't know how to program it properly. Over the years, the shows and the programming got better. It sounded better but as it started to sound better it also started to sway away from it's focus - being the only black radio station in the local area. The promised spoken word shows were gone. The gospel and calypso shows were moved to Sundays. What moved in was more Maroon 5, Britney and Christina.


I wrote about this years ago and I still stand by the point that I made back then. Flow could be as huge as New York's WBLK with the right backing and the right touches - and still be urban. Stay heavy on the old school RnB and Hip Hop hits during the morning run with a nice mix of current hits. During the day have topical talk shows, while on the drive home head back to music. The nighttime brings a live DJ show (much like The Real Frequency which is currently one of the station's top rated shows). Have an ad campaign focusing hard on local urban artists and why they listen to the station and how long they've waited for an ubran radio station to call their own. Give away trips to Motorcity, New York, all the while promising the winners dinner with their favorite artists from that area and tickets to see them live in an interactive and intimate setting.

That is a recipe for a top rated station - no matter the format.

I think Flow got tired of trying to be `real' while not really trying. They saw how much easier it would be to get the advertisers dough by going Top40 and forgetting their initial vision.

Flow has gained a few share points since they came on air seven years back not even breaking a 4 share however those gains would've meant more if they kept on their initial game plan and not steered north for the easier buck.