Around this town: 92.9 FM, food, and other stuff

You know what's around this town? FOOD! Winnipeg has always been a food hotspot, but now we're starting to see more mobile food vendors setting up on streets, giving downtown office workers more options. Melissa Martin wrote about it in the Free Press this past long weekend. It looks like this might be a trend!

There's El Torrito, the taco truck. (twitter, facebook)

Baon Bistro "Fil-Asian" fusion. You can imagine my confusion as I misread the name as Bacon Bistro. (Twitter, Facebook)

Beaujena's French Table French/Mediterranean sandwiches, etc.. (Twitter, Facebook). The pork cutlet sandwich sounds amazing. I am definitely going to give that a try soon. But according to their facebook page they're launching an even better sandwich this week: Toasted bun, slice of brie cheese, 6-7 oz. filet mignon, trufle butter, two slices of crisp bacon topped with sauteed wild mushrooms and onions. "After you eat it, you will have to kill yourself because nothing will ever be so good again".

Drool.

Pimp My Rice Filipino food. (Twitter)

Little Bones Wingery Gourmet breaded chicken wings, including POUTINE WINGS. (Facebook)

And finally, So-Cal Smoothies hit the streets of Winnipeg two weeks ago (Twitter, Facebook)

I'll see you on the streets!
________
UPDATE

A commenter pointed out Falafel Queen as another mobile vendor. FQ needs to expand their on-line presence. I could not find a web page or Twitter account, and their Facebook page is sparce.

Stuff-It Foods, by contrast, has a slick web page with a funked-out version of Wonder Wall playing while you browse the web site. (Twitter)

Sis & Me has typical summer food: burgers, smokies, etc.

J. T. Springrolls doesn't have much of a web presence either, although I found this picture ------------>

Lovey's BBQ also has a food truck .. or Kitchen On Wheels (KOW). (Twitter, Facebook)

*****

Speaking of mobile food, here is a picture of a slurpee in a shoe that I took a little while ago. An abandoned shoe and a slurpee ... what could be more Winnipeg than that?

*****

Another Winnipeg blog that you might not be aware of is The Daily Observer. It's author is Gabriel Hurley, the mastermind behind the Winnipeg Zoom forum, which has really taken off in it's half a year or so of existence. Gabriel's posts are not frequent, but you should keep an eye on it.

*****

Lastly, this is a major loss to Winnipeg radio:

THE FOLLOWING IS AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF CRE-COMM RADIO INC., OPERATOR OF 92.9 CKIC-FM:

As a result of recent changes to CRTC regulations regarding campus and community radio stations, and financial challenges, the Board of Cre-Comm Radio Inc. has decided to discontinue over the air broadcasting effective Wednesday, July 4, 2012 at 4:00pm, and will be returning the current broadcast licence to the CRTC.

I listen to 92.9 a great deal, simply because they play new and alternative music instead of the usual rock / classic rock / pop that you hear over and over again on most other stations. This is disappointing.

Hat tip to Marty Gold about that announcement.

*****

That's it for now. Next up: a new idea for leader of the Liberal Party!

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Winnipeg radio: FM station correlation

Have you ever experienced one of those times when it seemed like every radio station was playing Aerosmith?

Winnipeg FM radio is very predictable and lacking in diversity. If it seems like you're hearing the same stuff over and over again, it's because you are. I would estimate that we get exposed to 5-10% of the popular music spectrum, but there is a whole world of awesome music out there that we're missing. When was the last time you heard The Cribs on Winnipeg radio? Of Montreal? (seriously, have you heard a better bass line than that?) Gigi d'Agostino? Black Flag? Neko Case? The Rakes? Texas? Winnipeg's own Grand Analog?

Curve 94 showed some promise when it first came online, playing some things that you didn't heard elsewhere like Metric and MGMT. However Curve is now gone, opting instead for a sorry mix of classic light rock retreads. I don't for a second believe that 94's ratings went up after this change. The rating system is seriously flawed. Every comment I've heard about 94 echos my own sentiment: 94 is dead to me now.

But alas, there was hope on the FM horizon! A new station was coming! Evanov Radio Group bought that last remaining FM slot in town -- 106.1 FM. It was one last chance for something new. Something different. Would the heavy metal/hardcore hole be filled? Maybe it will be worldbeat? Would we finally get some interesting alternative radio here?

Nope ... the new format was released this month, and instead of breaking new ground and drawing in a new audience, the risk-adverse cowards at Evanov decided to fight over the exact same radio real estate that Hot 103 occupies with Energy 106. It's a lower risk approach, I suppose, but it's a loss for the Winnipeg radio audience because it brings no new choice in music.

(click to enlarge..)

The graphic above is based on a sample of the playlists only. In reality, there is probably much more overlap than I show here.

Now, to make matters worse, 99.1 Groove FM has decided that it can't make a go of it as a Jazz station and wants to change it's format to (buckle your seat belts...) "a variety of today’s pop and rock hits, mixed with songs from the 80’s and 90’s". (a tip of the hat to Kevin McDougald for noticing that.) If that goes through there will be still less choice on the radio dial, and one more station fighting for the exact same radio turf as all the others.

.. and one more station playing Aerosmith.