The Team (radio network)
| Type | Radio Network |
|---|---|
| Country | Canada |
| Availability | Various major Canadian cities (AM radio) |
| Owner | CHUM Limited |
|
Launch date
|
May 2001 |
| Dissolved | August 2002 |
| Affiliates |
CHUM as the flagship station among many other affiliates, see list below |
The Team (corporately styled as The TEAM) was a Canadian sports radio network, which broadcast from 2001 to 2002. It was owned and operated by CHUM Limited, based on the existing format of their Ottawa station The Team 1200, and incorporated virtually all of the company's AM radio stations across Canada. It was dissolved as a national network in 2002 amid poor ratings, although a few of its former stations retained the sports format and Team branding as standalone entities.
The network was launched on May 7, 2001, but struggled to build an audience in many cities. In Toronto, for example, the network had to compete against Telemedia's The Fan 590, and found that much of its potential audience had already built a strong sense of loyalty to the more established station. The switch of 1050 CHUM, the network's flagship station, away from its popular former oldies format was also controversial.
The network aired both original programming — its marquee Canadian sportscaster was Jim Van Horne, while other programs were hosted by Paul Romanuk, Mike Richards and Gene Valaitis — and syndicated sports programming from the United States, such as The Jim Rome Show.
In August 2002, after just over a year on the air, CHUM pulled the plug and most of the network's stations reverted to their old pre-Team formats. However, the sports format and the Team branding were retained in Ottawa, where it had already been the station's established format before the network was launched, and in Montreal and Vancouver, where it was also successful in the ratings. Most of these stations, and one in Edmonton which had licensed the brand name but which at the time was owned by a different company, continued to use the Team branding as of early 2011, but were no longer considered a network.
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