Star journalist Patrick Lagacé will succeed Paul Arcand at the helm of the morning show at 98.5 FM. A choice that seemed appropriate, but which nevertheless remains risky. The current host of the comeback show Quebec now will have big shoes to fill, especially since the imminent departure of the “king of the airwaves” risks transforming the radio market in Montreal.
Patrick Lagacé will take up his post in the fall of 2024. The announcement was made on Wednesday morning during the program Since you have to get upconfirming the persistent rumors of the last few weeks.
Paul Arcand, 62, had already announced last June that he was not going to renew his contract, which ends in June 2024. He has been at the top of the radio ratings in the greater Montreal area for a little more than 20 years, first at CKAC, on the AM band, then at 98.5 FM since 2004.
To succeed him, Patrick Lagacé appeared to be the natural choice, he who joined in 2019 at 98.5 FM, where he has been hosting since Quebec now at the time of returning home. He will remain at the helm of this show until its passage in the prestigious morning time slot.
Patrick Lagacé also intends to continue writing in the pages of The Press, but less regularly. His column will also take a break there from August 2024 to January 2025, during his first months at the helm of the morning show at 98.5 FM. “Thanks to François Cardinal, my editor-in-chief at The Press. François supported me enthusiastically when I told him what 98.5 FM had in mind for me. He didn’t force me to choose. […] This link that I developed with the readers of The Press since 2007 is too strong not to continue to cultivate it”, underlined the former Franc-Tireur on his Facebook page.
It remains to be seen now what will become of the talk show two golden men, which he has co-hosted since 2013 on Télé-Québec. It is also unknown who will inherit the show from the return of 98.5 FM.
A natural choice
If Cogeco’s decision does not surprise many people, many are surprised that the announcement takes place now, a year and a half before the entry into office of Paul Arcand’s replacement. Instead, listeners are used to being presented with a fait accompli when a host leaves the airwaves.
But there again, Patrick White is of the opinion that the strategy adopted is the right one. “Patrick Lagacé is still very controversial for the positions he has taken in the past, especially during the pandemic. I see a lot of people on social media criticizing his nomination. By announcing it so early, Cogeco is extending an olive branch to these listeners. We give them time to get used to the idea,” says the journalism professor at UQAM.
Columnist for some twenty years now, first at the Montreal Journalthen to The PressPatrick Lagacé has attracted more enemies in recent years than Paul Arcand, who, despite his frank and direct style, has never taken pleasure in controversy.
According to Claude Thibodeau, who owned radio stations in Quebec City for a long time, Patrick Lagacé is nonetheless in the pure tradition of private Montreal talk radio, which he describes as “controversial, but light ».
“The media have always been very consensual in Montreal. But at some point, the bosses saw what was being done in the United States and especially on the other side of the 20, in Quebec. They realized that making radio a bit slobbery, irreverent, could pay off. As it were, a model has developed which is specific to Montreal, but which is less controversial than that of Quebec, with André Arthur and Jeff Fillion. The animators can pump up milk, express their opinion, but they will never cross the line to the point of facing lawsuits or seeing sponsors withdraw,” underlines Mr. Thibodeau.
New conjuncture
Claude Thibodeau, who does not hide being cold with Patrick Lagacé for several years, however wishes him the best of luck. “It won’t be easy succeeding a radio legend like Paul Arcand. For a lot of people who went after big names, it didn’t go well, ”he does not fail to recall.
One thing is certain, the departure of Paul Arcand risks reshuffling the cards in the middle of the radio in Montreal, which has been quite frozen for several years. According to Professor White, this upheaval could free up market space for a third French-language talk radio station in Montreal, between ICI Première and 98.5 FM.
The CEO of Quebecor, Pierre Karl Péladeau, recently reiterated his interest in having a traditional radio antenna. The law currently prevents him from doing so, because his company already owns a daily newspaper and a TV station in the same market. “Mr. Péladeau let it be known a few weeks ago that he himself could buy The Journal of Montreal. He also hinted for the first time that he wasn’t sure the paper editions of his newspapers would last. So, yes, there is a door opening for a new radio. But in the end, it’s the CRTC that will decide,” analyzes Patrick White.