Hey! You! Get off of our radio!

CKNW launched the Charles Adler radio program today, slotting the 1-3pm portion of their broadcast day for the Winnipeg based broadcaster. NW has long been a Vancouver talk radio staple, the bare knucklers, the beauties and the brains, have all had their shot at radio stardom on the Giant 980 but all have been Vancouver based.

The addition to the dial of an out of towner has not gone un-noticed by the rabidly loyal NW audience. With a reworked noon hour package to debut today leading into Adler on line, it fell to veteran NW newscaster John Ashbridge to set the table for Mr. Adler. McComb held an open phones session for twenty minutes prior to the 1:05 launch and with Adler warming up his vocal cords in a nearby studio the welcome was anything but warm.

Caller after caller, phoned in to voice displeasure at someone with the "Vancouver viewpoint" taking to the fabled NW airwaves, Ashbridge frequently asked for the audience to at least give the guy a listen before passing judgment, but for the most part the callers would have none of it. One caller said he had no time for someone from Saskatobia, preferring his radio hosts to not wander any further than the Port Mann Bridge. The Vancouver radio markets history of talk radio legends is lengthy, Pat Burns, Jack Webster, Vicky Gaberau, Rafe Mair, Dave Barret and now Bill Good have all cut out their niche in the market and made talk radio their domain. All knew or know the intricacies of British Columbia radio as no out of province interloper could ever hope to achieve.

You can listen in to the pre game show at the NW Audio Vault from the 12 - 1 hour and then take in the debut of Adler on Line from 1 -3. This could be Adler's biggest challenge to date, winning over a hostile audience, steeped in British Columbia politics and talk radio.

As I first explored in Podunk a few weeks ago, It's a risky strategy that Corus and NW have launched, as many other stations have found out over the years BC listeners are quite insular, the outsiders rarely win them over. Whether NW is willing to take the gamble with their ratings will be something to watch and listen for.