Here’s why Leafs Lunch was cancelled

Well, that was unfortunate. Bruce Dowbiggin gets a little scoop, which was nice, but then he drops the ball by confusing the facts.

   Yes, AM640 Toronto’s Leafs Lunch will be cancelled, as Bruce breathlessly reports in today’s Globe and Mail. But it will be Mike Stafford taking over the noon hour slot, not Charles Adler.

   Here’s a clearer report, I think. (I was given the information yesterday, but incorrectly assumed Bruce would be doing Part 2 of his series on NBC hockey playoff audiences, so didn’t think there was any urgency.)

   The Leafs Lunch show with Darren Dreger and Bill Watters will be shuttered in early July. Stafford’s mid-morning show will be extended to 1 p.m., when Adler will take over, followed by the Bill Watters afternoon drive at 4 p.m. Previously, Stafford took a break from noon to 1 p.m. , when Leafs Lunch was on the air, and then came back for another hour from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

  Why was Leafs Lunch cancelled? Mostly because of ratings.

  The show, in the early years, had good numbers, but over the past year they declined.  Stafford’s mid-morning show (10 a.m.-noon) has been producing an audience share of 5.7 per cent in the male 25 to 54 demographic. But for the hour between noon and 1 p.m. (Leafs Lunch), the share had dropped to 2.9 per cent. When Stafford came back for the final hour of his show from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., the share climbed back to about 5.9 per cent. Over at the Fan590, its noon to 2 p.m. show, Hockey Central, has been up close to a 6 per cent share.

   So, those are the numbers and they help explain why Leafs Lunch was dropped, and Stafford and Adler will handle AM 640’s daytime programming. In his internal memo, program director Gord Harris stated that Leafs Lunch will resume in an abridged form in September.

   He said opting for news talk throughout the day will provide consistency, and he gave thumbs up to Stafford and Adler.

 “Both Mike and Charles have been solid performers,” he wrote, “providing listeners with a solid block of talk programming, not interrupted by a sports show in the  middle of the day, should extend our ratings success from Oakley through Alder (5:30am to 4pm), reduce confusion over what we are (a talk station or a sports station?) and reinforce the fact we are a Talk Radio station that is The Home of the Leafs, with a strong sports-oriented drive show (a time period where there is a greater demand for sports-related talk than in other day-parts).”

   Harris praised the Leafs Lunch staff. “Darren Dreger has brought top-notch credibility to the program and to the radio station . . . .  Bryan Hayes has also done a wonderful job in the short time he has been producing the program . . . we appreciate the extra effort Bill Watters has gone to in giving us so much of his time for on-air performance, maintaining his Leafs Lunch commitment in addition to his key role on Leafs Breakfast and, of course, The Bill Watters Show.”