Update 12/6: Sinclair’s 95.5 K238AF Santa Rosa, CA made the flip to Comedy as “Funny 95.5” today.
Update 11/24: Astral has announced that CKSL London will become “Funny 1410” on January 1.
Additionally they have registered domains that line up with many of their other AM music stations in Canada:
Funny650.com for Standards 650 CISL Vancouver, BC
Funny820.com for Country 820 CHAM Hamilton, ON
Funny1010.com for News/Talk 1010 CFRB Toronto, which already carries the programming overnight.
Funny1060.com for Classic Country 1060 CKMX Calgary, AB
Funny1150.com for Oldies 1150 CKOC Hamilton, ON
Funny1260.com for Sports “Team 1260” CFRN Edmonton, AB.
We don’t expect all of these stations to flip to the Comedy format. It appears Astral is merely protecting possible brand usages for down the road as they have acquired exclusive rights to distribute the 24/7 Comedy network in Canada via its Orbyt Media subsidiary.
Update 11/15: Add a third new affiliate for 24/7 Comedy. Townsquare Media flipped Regional Mexican “La Maquina 1410” WNWZ Grand Rapids, MI to Comedy yesterday as “Funny 1410“.
Original Report 11/13: Since the launch of “Funny 102.5” in Kansas City’s debut in February and its solid ratings performance, the Comedy format is slowly gaining a foothold after years of false starts.
The format has launched in recent months in Norfolk, Eugene and Austin with most of the stations relying on content from Donkey Comedy Network’s 24/7 Comedy programming service.
The launch of two more stations are imminent based on domain registrations this week.
Sinclair Communications, owners of the aforementioned Norfolk, VA affiliate, have registered Funny955.com for its K238AF Santa Rosa, CA. A Facebook page is already active. The translator is currently used to rebroadcast AAA “The Krush 95.9” KRSH.
Astral, with its registrations of 1410Funny.com and Funny1410.ca will soon launch the first full-time affiliate in Canada. Astral’s only 1410 is “Oldies 1410” CKSL in London, ON. 24/7 Comedy does already air overnights on Astral’s “NewsTalk 1010” CFRB Toronto.
