| advertise add site services publishers database health videos | ![]() | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
What is FM - The History of FM | Phonak - life is on phonak-us.com | FM - What is FM | Phonak - life is on phonak.co.uk | FM - FM Accessories | Phonak - life is on phonak.com |
CFNY-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 102.1 FM. While the station's official city of license is Brampton, Ontario,[1] it targets the entire Greater Toronto Area, with studios located at 228 Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, and its transmitter in the CN Tower. As of December 2007, the station holds a 3.8% share[2] of its market area.[3] For some time in the 1980s, the station was free-format.[citation needed] This rarely translated into profits, however, and after being sold and re-sold several times to larger and larger media companies, the station now plays a conventional modern rock format with the branding 102.1 The Edge. The radio station is currently owned by Corus Entertainment. The station's current program director is Ross Winters, who succeeded Alan Cross in September 2008 after Cross transferred to Corus' interactive media division, Splice Media.
[edit] HistoryCFNY originally started operating in 1961, as an FM rebroadcast of an AM station, CHIC. When two brothers named Leslie and Harry Allen Jr bought the station in the 1970s, they started playing album rock music in the evenings, while simulcasting the AM programming during the day. The nearby Humber College provided a steady stream of young employees, who were encouraged to play their own selections. Eventually, the owners decided to give the station a brand of its own, creating CFNY in 1977. Prior to CFNY, the call letters were CHIC-FM, with a transmitter power of 857 watts ERP mono, just enough to just cover the town of Brampton. Up to around 1975, the CHIC AM control room operator spun LPs from the third turntable in AM master control. Nonstop full play of each side of the LP was the norm - with just a break by the AM operator for ID and to flip the LP over. The music was picked by the AM operator prior to their shift. Any type of music was picked from the library randomly. This was the beginning of CFNY. Listeners loved it and at times requested more of the same, which was obliged. Sometimes missed by the operator, the LP would finish and listeners would call in to complain of the dead air. In 1976, a new FM studio was built just up the road from the old studio in Brampton on a very limited budget. Engineers Mike Hargrave Pawson and Steve Martak built the new studio and a new transmitter site in Georgetown to increase the coverage from 857 watts to 100 kW ERP. In July 1977, CHIC-FM officially became CFNY-FM. The phrases "Canada's First New Youth" and "Canada Fucks New York" have been cited as backronyms for the call sign. Anyone working there at the time was fired, and a whole new team was brought in. David Pritchard, CFNY's first program director, previously a late night DJ at CHUM-FM, gave the station a little more structure and hosted specialty programs of reggae and blues music, and a nationally syndicated (and popular) Beatles show. Unfortunately, conflicts between Pritchard and the Allens led them to fire him for refusing to, as he put it, turn the station into a conduit for "shallow hit-oriented Pablum". David Marsden, who had started as an announcer, became program director of CFNY in 1978. [edit] The Spirit of RadioThings started to change when David Marsden became program director. The station started to sound like a "slick" version of a college radio station. At the time, alternative was still very new, but it was also in 1978 that New Wave and punk rock took off and soon the station became known as one of the few commercial stations which played alternative music. Canadian punk act Forgotten Rebels paid homage to CFNY in the liner notes of their 1979 album In Love with the System. Fans started referring to it as the Spirit of Radio, which was used as their catchphrase for some time and also inspired the Rush song "The Spirit of Radio".[4] Unable to mention CFNY directly on the Permanent Waves album containing the track for fear of alienating airplay on other stations, the band instead ensured the catalog number of the album was 1021 - a nod to the station's 102.1 FM frequency. Fans were loyal but few and with a measly 857 watts of power, broadcast from a house in Brampton - a suburban city northwest of Toronto - the problems of attracting new listeners were many. With only a small broadcast range, the station used unconventional promotional strategies, sending out its DJs to host regular new wave dance parties both to build a community among its fans and to supplement the station's limited advertising revenue through admission fees.[5] In 1979, the original owners were involved in an unrelated court action and forced to sell the station. The new owners started the process of moving the antennae to the CN Tower in 1983. With the Canadian economy in recession and interest rates high, the new owners sold the station to media conglomerate Selkirk Communications. At first, Selkirk did not change the format and completed the move to the CN Tower. By 1985, the station had reached new heights of popularity, capturing over 5.4% of the Toronto area listeners and becoming internationally famous for its music mix. By this time, the station's dance party tradition had evolved into a large video dance party, hosted by Martin Streek, which regularly toured throughout Southern Ontario and expanded the station's influence well beyond its actual broadcast range.[5] For a brief period, it was also available on satellite across North America, although this also led to the introduction of more "popular" music. The station was particularly well respected for introducing new acts which other stations wouldn't play because they were too 'small' in the early 1980s; Canadian artists such as Martha and the Muffins, Rough Trade, Blue Rodeo, Jane Siberry, Singing Fools, 54-40, Skinny Puppy and Spoons were among the acts championed by CFNY. CFNY also created Canada's first independent music awards, the U-Knows (a pun on Canada's mainstream Juno Awards). In 1986, the station held a listener contest to rename the awards, which were re-dubbed the CASBY Awards, for "Canadian Artists Selected By You". [edit] Format change and listener rebellionIn 1988, the station turned its first profit. However, this was not enough for Selkirk, which sought higher ratings. Late that year, the station switched to a mostly top 40 format, leaving its alternative format for weekends and late night.[5] At first, there was a listener rebellion. Their phone-in show at noon was an all-request hour and invariably the requests were for alternative songs. However, the management soon put a stop to this, telling DJs to refuse such calls and only select requests from the top 40. Soon, most of the staff resigned or were fired. Loyal listeners soon began signing petitions and filed an intervention with the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) opposing the station's 1989 licence renewal. Radio analyst reports suggested that 100,000 new listeners had been gained by the change. However, this hid the fact that the market share dropped considerably, to 4.3%. [edit] Evolution to modern rockIn 1989, Selkirk was acquired by Maclean-Hunter, which was committed to returning the station to an alternative format. Instead of reviving the old free-form programming, however, Maclean-Hunter tweaked the station's programming to create a more conventional modern rock station. In the early 1990s, the station again became an important outlet for new Canadian music, with acts such as Barenaked Ladies, The Lowest of the Low, Rheostatics, and Sloan counting CFNY as their first major radio supporter. However, with alternative rock being the decade's dominant genre, CFNY did not sound as distinctive compared to other radio stations as it had in the 1980s, so it never fully regained its former level of influence and respect. The change also masked, rather than solving, morale problems at the station — in 1992, DJ Dani Elwell resigned from the station by reading her résumé over the air.[6] When Maclean-Hunter was purchased by Rogers Communications in 1994, CFNY was one of the stations sold off by Rogers to Shaw Communications, which in turn spun its radio holdings off to Corus Entertainment, CFNY's current owner, in 1999. In the mid-1990s, the station dropped its old branding, becoming 102.1 The Edge. Later it became Edge 102 before reverting to 102.1 The Edge. "The Edge" was a common brand name for alternative and modern rock radio stations during the 1990s, and was created by a U.S. consulting firm named Jacobs Media. Although CFNY remained the station's official call sign, it was not mentioned on-air for many years. In August 2005, however, the station began airing some new identification breaks which used both the CFNY calls and the Edge branding. (Canadian radio stations are officially required to mention their call letters once an hour, although this rule has not been heavily enforced by the CRTC in recent years.) CFNY is available nationwide in Canada on the Bell TV satellite TV system, channel 955; Shaw Direct channel 866; and via Rogers Digital Cable on channel 929 in the GTA and 954 in other areas of Ontario. In 2001, a spin-off television channel was created and modelled after 102.1 The Edge. Edge TV was a digital cable specialty channel own by The Edge's parent company Corus Entertainment. The channel was taken off the air in 2003 due to insufficient distribution. [edit] International reach102.1 The Edge has long been an international station, as its signal is strong enough that, like many other Toronto radio stations, it is widely available in two of the top fifty media markets in North America. Its signal from Toronto beams from the CN Tower throughout the Buffalo-Niagara Falls NY market, in addition to Toronto. CFNY pulls a share of between 0.6% and 1.1% in the Arbitron radio rating in Buffalo.[citation needed] In addition, the station broadcasts streaming audio over the Internet. The Edge is also available on Bell TV as part of the music channel package. The station also appears in the music mix of a number of cable distributions systems around the country. This gives the station not only a regional coverage, but a number of listeners over all of Canada. As a result of these factors, CFNY frequently promotes itself as one of the most listened-to radio stations in the world — the station did, in fact, rank tenth in a 2002 Arbitron survey of the world's most listened-to Internet radio streams.[7] [edit] The Dean Blundell Show
The Dean Blundell Show is a morning radio show consisting of hosts Dean Blundell, Jason Barr and Todd Shapiro discussing ongoing news and events in a cynical fashion. [edit] ControversiesJackass co-stars Steve-O and Chris Pontius were guests on the show on March 26, 2004, in order to promote their "Don't Try This at Home" tour, leading to the "suspension" of Blundell, Barr and Shapiro for the following day. During the interview, Pontius and Steve-O used multiple expletives on the air. Steve-O also proceeded to urinate on the floor and perform a stunt called "Unwrapping the Mummy", all in front of a live studio audience.[8] [edit] Recurring guests
[edit] Past recurring guests
[edit] ContestsMore so than any other of the regular shows on the station, the Dean Blundell Show regularly runs a variety of contests, which often lead to much larger prizes than the other shows' contests. Contests have included:
The show also has a number of recurring games, with smaller prizes. These include:
[edit] Other on-air personalities[edit] Alan CrossMain article: Alan Cross Alan Cross started at CFNY in October 1986 doing the overnight show. He held the position of program director for the station from 2004 to 2008. He continues to host the The Ongoing History of New Music, which runs Sundays at 9:00 a.m. and is rebroadcast Mondays at 11:00 PM. Cross is also now the host of a daily half hour show, ExploreMusic, which broadcasts at 7:00 p.m. The show is as the title suggest and attempts to bring a diverse selection of music to listeners. Since the shows are only half hour segments there is a large online portion where fans can listen and explore more of what they hear on air. As well, he creates a daily, minute-long segment of the Ongoing History, that is played sporadically during the day's commercial breaks (as well as via a podcast); upwards of 5,000 segments have been produced.[9] [edit] Dave "Bookie" BookmanDave Bookman currently works the evening timeslot, from 7:00 p.m until 11:00 p.m, though he joined the radio station in 1991 (and is one of only two on-air personalities from that time that are still at the radio station), as a street reporter for their no longer existent Live in Toronto show. Bookman often talks about his love of sports, soap operas and independent music, and also often has interviews with various artists, sports commentators and movie reviewers. As well, he is often given brand new music to premiere, or concerts to announce on his show. Bookman currently runs two regular contests:
Bookman also hosts Bookie's Free Nu Music Nite, Tuesday nights at the Horseshoe Tavern, and the Indy Hour program, an hour dedicated to independent music programming, Sunday nights at 8:00 p.m. Bookman is himself a former musician, who formed the band The Bookmen with Tim Mech in the early 1990s. [edit] Josie DyeMain article: Joscelyne "Josie" Dye Josie Dye generally is on-air from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Her show consists mostly of music, interspersed with stories that Dye either finds in the news or relates from her own personal experience. "The Nooner", an hour-long All Request period between noon and 1:00 p.m., also takes place during Dye's show, to which she often assigns an arbitrary theme (previous themes have included gay music to correspond with Toronto's Pride Week, cover songs, and live sessions, which she has stated is her favourite theme). She also runs a small survey every day in order to pick the last song played on The Nooner, which is generally between two choices, and relate to the theme, if there is one for that day. In early 2009, The Nooner segment changed to The 90's Nooner, in which all songs played and requested must have been released during the 1990s. Josie plays several games with the listening audience during The 90's Nooner (including 90's Trivia). Dye runs two regular contests:
Josie Dye also hosts the live-to-air broadcast from Republik nightclub, Friday nights from 2:00 a.m. until 5:00 a.m. [edit] Darryl SpringDarryl Spring started at CFNY in June 2005 and hosts some overnight shows along with Saturday Evenings (Countdown to Club 102 at the Phoenix). Darryl also has some interactive contests like the Edge Artist Showdown and the Album Title Challenge. On occasion he'll fill in for club DJ Craig G. Spring, along with Edge DJ Shawarma used to host a live-to-air show Saturday Nights around 2am. [edit] Darrin PfeifferDarrin Pfeiffer, the drummer for the American pop punk band Goldfinger, joined CFNY in 2005 after moving to Toronto with his Canadian-born wife Vicky Anderson, however they are currently separated. He currently hosts the overnight slot on Sundays. Darrin was born in the suburbs of nearby Buffalo, NY (in Akron), where CFNY broadcasts very clearly and enjoys a small but cult following among alt-rock fans of the WNY region. [edit] Adwoa Nsiah-YeboahAdwoa Nsiah-Yeboah, winner of the "Edge Moderately Paid Employee" contest in February 2005, reports on traffic during the morning and drive home time slots. [edit] Adam RicardAdam Ricard hosts overnight and weekend shifts at 102.1 the edge. [edit] George StroumboulopoulosGeorge Stroumboulopoulos originally started at CFNY as a street reporter for the now defunct Live in Toronto radio show. After the demise of the show, George left CFNY for the national exposure of MuchMusic, and eventually ended up at CBC hosting The Hour. He subsequently returned to CFNY to host the nationally syndicated The Strombo Show from 5pm to 8pm on Sundays. The Strombo Show was a combination of music, celebrity guests, and calls from listeners.[10] Stromboulopoulos left the station again in summer 2009, taking The Strombo Show to CBC Radio 2. [edit] LoriAnn VillaniLoriAnn Villani currently hosts the overnight show from 12am-5:30am Tuesday through Thursday. She can also be seen and heard at the Phoenix every Saturday night and the Velvet Underground on Sunday, taking over after Martin Streek was let go. [edit] Fearless FredFearless Fred hosts the afternoon drive on from 2-7. Fred started working at the station in August 2009. He replaced Bookie in the afternoon drive slot, Bookie now hosts the evening time slot from 7-11 p.m. [edit] Past personalities and staff
[edit] References
[edit] See also[edit] External links
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |