Favourite Canadian radio station, past and present

[Yeziknoradio]

Some of you mentioned Kiss 92 FM Toronto. Really? I mean, they had great jocks, but they leaned wayyy too much on teen pop. I felt they werent up to par with Energy and Z-103.5 ( known as Hits 103.5 then).

I liked them for leaning on teen pop, and hated them when they went urban.

Using Pluto's song "The good bye girl" as an example here...the regular version got played on Kiss while Energy and Hits only played the "Pop goes the girl" version. (both versions are available on the same cd)

I like both versions of the song, but it just goes to show there were differences between stations.

Today, there's too much lean towards the dance feel on Z, and no one to give the rock feel without being a "new rock" station like Edge.

 

[Radio_bored-Op]

dance lean, or lean on dance?/..and why they are 'the best'(right now)

i think z,103 is perfect the way it is - could be a little more
dance, but, that is just me. they have a delicate balance
between the "best" of every thing, countdown's play
the MTV/top5,or the "same songs" for the MASSes...
but,
some thing like the drive at five, is why they are thee best:
during regular programming, they let a dj (the best in the bizz : )
express his art, thru the music, for a hour-set... tell me,
how cool is that ?

a station, in 2008, when the extended versions, are no longer
on-aire, and the radio edits, are chopped soo close,to get
that ONE extra commercial in there, here is a station...that
takes that, and says No thank You...and lets a dj SPIN ! (*Live)

*whether he is LIVE, or not? i dont know, but* he
appears to be there* anyways...

after the hour, the top 6,at 6pm, is the commercial/radio friendly hits...
but, up until then..it is 60 minutes, of SOME THING on the radio,
that should be on at the "partytimes" but is given a prime time spot...
and this isnt some Canada-farmland, no one is listening anyway, station
it is market: TORONTO : )

i admire ya, z103..(dot)5ive, saying the dot. before the internet boom!
and for being my fave, CURRENT Canadain station. as mentioned , others were

Energy 108. ( 1993/ish - til about early 1997).
AM 640, any time(from early, i mean EARLY 90s, til oct 10,1995).

 

[Yeziknoradio]

Re: dance lean, or lean on dance?/..and why they are 'the best'(right now)

i think z,103 is perfect the way it isa station, in 2008, when the extended versions, are no longer

and this isnt some Canada-farmland, no one is listening anyway, station
it is market: TORONTO : )

i admire ya, z103..(dot)5ive, saying the dot. before the internet boom!
and for being my fave, CURRENT Canadain station. as mentioned , others were

Z103?...Sorry but they pull too many strings to survive.
Look up CRTC licence for CIDC 103.5 FM

Duely note: They are/were a station licenced for ORANGEVILLE ONTARIO.
I'm sorry...what was that you were saying about farm land?

They BETTER be trying to give the rookies a new home in Shelborne Ontario, and not just trying to rebroadcast Z there!
Enough is enough...REALLY!

(request to broadcast *something* at 104.9 FM in Shelbourne Ontario has been made to the CRTC by the Evanov radio group)

 

[ChrisInMI]

Take CFCO off my list now that the station has flipped to Country. The audio quality is still good and the station still is doing a pretty good job of being a full service station for Chatham-Kent, but the music is now the same Carrie Underwood, Garth Brooks and Kenny Chesney songs I can already hear on at least five other stations where I live (though as country stations go, the playlist is decent). Plus they don't even mention the AM signal in their imaging anymore... it's now "Country 92-9 CFCO." The Classic Gold playlist was the one thing that made this station really special to me, and I don't listen anymore now it's gone, though I have to admit country is a sensible format from a business perspective since AM 630's signal reaches some areas that don't get a good signal from any other country station.

Speaking of country music, another one I'd like to mention is CJQM 104.3 in Sault Ste. Marie, which I listen to while vacationing in northern Michigan. Their big 100,000-watt signal makes it as far south as Gaylord, Petoskey and Alpena on a regular basis. The music is a decent mix of classic and new country as Q104, and I really get a kick out of hearing the daily "Cabin Call" announcements, which could involve anything as mundane as a message to relatives not to forget to turn the water off in the vacation cabin before they leave for home. Also, their local news coverage is quite good (the Canadian side of the Sault has no AM station save for a flea-powered TIS at AM 530).

 

[cyberdad]

I'll miss the oldies on CFCO myself. But that said, the country format seems to be more in sync with the station's basically agricultural area surroundings. Plenty of other oldies stations on the dial between Toronto and Detroit.

 

[mimo]

They pulled a CHOK...since they did the same thing in the past year or so. Both stations cover a very similar territory. I guess Country is the new thing on Canadian AM's now in southern Ontario.

 

[cyberdad]

They pulled a CHOK...since they did the same thing in the past year or so. Both stations cover a very similar territory. I guess Country is the new thing on Canadian AM's now in southern Ontario.

Excellent point. I thought CFCO was the better station, however.

BTW, CHOK dominates the 1070 channel on some nights here in Northern Illinois. CFCO is usually in the background on 630 behind St. Louis. The other higher powered SW Ontario am stations, CBE and CKTY are usually absent.

 

[ChrisInMI]

Cyberdad, did you mean CKLW? CKTY-AM 1110 in Sarnia no longer exists, it was moved to the FM dial in 1999 as 106.3 CHKS (K106.3).

 

[cyberdad]

Cyberdad, did you mean CKLW? CKTY-AM 1110 in Sarnia no longer exists, it was moved to the FM dial in 1999 as 106.3 CHKS (K106.3).

No, I meant CKTY. Now I know why its been absent! ;D I have heard it in the past, however....as well as CBE, but its probably been fifteen or twenty years.

 

[David Owens]

Although I grew up in Saskatchewan, and I spent most of my time listening to CKOM in Saskatoon, which at the time was quite good for the size market, there was nothing like 630 CHED in Edmonton. I recently read that they had a 40% market share at their peak before 1978 when K97 and CKRA both came on the scene, as well as other FMs that eroded away their audience. By the way, from what I am aware of, no other station in a major market has ever had a 40% share, at least not in the last 50 years.

I was 300 miles away, but they had a great signal, and fun announcers, and lots to talk about with great promotions, etc.

 

[webhamster]

Growing up in Ottawa in the 80's it was 580 CFRA until they went Oldies in 1986 then I jumped to CFGO 1200 (later Energy 1200) basically following Mark Elliott who was quite popular at the time (had no idea how messed up he really was back then). Then as my tastes changed as I grew up I migrated over to 54 Rock most of the time and followed them to 106.9 in 1994. Then I kinda stopped listening to radio as my tastes skewed far too eclectic and when I did it was CFRA for news.

In between that were brief periods with CHEZ 106 and CHOM FM from Montreal which was available in Ottawa on Cable FM.

 

[mimo]

Although I grew up in Saskatchewan, and I spent most of my time listening to CKOM in Saskatoon, which at the time was quite good for the size market, there was nothing like 630 CHED in Edmonton. I recently read that they had a 40% market share at their peak before 1978 when K97 and CKRA both came on the scene, as well as other FMs that eroded away their audience. By the way, from what I am aware of, no other station in a major market has ever had a 40% share, at least not in the last 50 years.

I was 300 miles away, but they had a great signal, and fun announcers, and lots to talk about with great promotions, etc.

I used to listen to CKOM on trips through Saskatchewan, and although no station touched the quality of CHED, Saskatchewan's AM's were very go0d. After the mid 1980's frequency shuffle happened, 3 of them were all in a row, at 600 (CFQC) 620 (CKCK) and 650 (CKOM) If you loved top forty at the time you could just scan those 3 lo0king for your favourite song.

CHED

 

[Tincap]

I grew up with CHEZ 106, which was a fantastic station, from sign on in 1977, until being bought up by Rogers. Also I grew to love the original CFMO 93.9 with it's 'beautiful music' format, a format which I still enjoy today (although the station itself has replaced the call sign and gone through a couple of format changes since 1992).

Today, having returned to the Ottawa region, the Canadian station I find myself listening to most is 97.9 CHIN Ottawa...the ethnic station. However, the dial is set mostly on WCNY Classic FM's Watertown NY outlet, WJNY 90.9.

~BG

 

[cyberdad]

I listened to CFMO on many a business trip trip to Ottawa "back in the day". But I recall it as being on 101.1. I presume what happened was that when 93.9 was going through format changes, the "beautiful music" and call leters simply moved to another signal.... actually COL Smiths Falls IIRC.

 

[Tincap]

I listened to CFMO on many a business trip trip to Ottawa "back in the day". But I recall it as being on 101.1. I presume what happened was that when 93.9 was going through format changes, the "beautiful music" and call leters simply moved to another signal.... actually COL Smiths Falls IIRC.

"Back in the day" must've been between '93 & '99.;D But ya, that's basically what happened. At that time (early '90s) the two Smiths Falls stations (CJET 630 AM and CHEQ Q101.1 FM) were locally owned by Ottawa's CHEZ people, who acquired the CFMO call sign from CHUM Limited and applied it, along with an 'easy listening' format to their Smiths Falls FM station. To be truthful, it wasn't as good as the original CFMO, however they did play a fair amount of East Coast regional and Celtic flavoured stuff, so it stood out as being quite unique on the FM band. However by 1999 Rogers bought up the CHEZ properties and 101.1 flipped to modern rock, before finally settling on its current young country format.

The Smiths Falls 101.1 signal has quite the reach. I've picked it up in North Bay ON and down to the outskirts of Montreal, but since it's now a country format, I don't park on that part of the dial much anymore.

~BG

 

[cyberdad]

The period when I was going to Ottawa every two or three months was indeed 93-'01. Thanks for confirming my memory/theory. Agree that the 101.1 signal was massive. I'd take highway 7 between Toronto and Ottawa, and pretty much had a fade-free signal all the way to where I turned onto/from highway 37 north of Tweed. It was a good listen then, so it must've been really good before it went to 101.1.

And yes, I also remember CJET and country music on 630. (Sometimes, just for a change of scenery, I'd take 15 instead of 7 and go via Smith's Falls.)

 

[mimo]

101.1's signal does seem to have a go0d reach, but it's po0r in centretown/downtown and Orleans. As an alternative rock fan I'm REALLY glad I was not in Ottawa during it's time as the x...as I would have torn my hair out from having to put up with such a po0r signal.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

101.1's signal does seem to have a go0d reach, but it's po0r in centretown/downtown and Orleans. As an alternative rock fan I'm REALLY glad I was not in Ottawa during it's time as the x...as I would have torn my hair out from having to put up with such a po0r signal.

Ratings for 101.1 XFM were very poor, but as you've already mentioned, so was the signal in places where they may have gained better ground.

 

[cyberdad]

101.1's signal does seem to have a go0d reach, but it's po0r in centretown/downtown and Orleans. As an alternative rock fan I'm REALLY glad I was not in Ottawa during it's time as the x...as I would have torn my hair out from having to put up with such a po0r signal.

That was a problem during the CFMO days. It was fairly decent out in Kanata where about two-thirds of my customers were, but certainly problematic downtown in the market area where I used to like to stay (and still do!)

 

[Tincap]

101.1's signal does seem to have a go0d reach, but it's po0r in centretown/downtown and Orleans. As an alternative rock fan I'm REALLY glad I was not in Ottawa during it's time as the x...as I would have torn my hair out from having to put up with such a po0r signal.

That was a problem during the CFMO days. It was fairly decent out in Kanata where about two-thirds of my customers were, but certainly problematic downtown in the market area where I used to like to stay (and still do!)

I believe there's a reason for that. Rogers could move the signal to the Camp Fortune site (for example), but then they'd run afoul with the CRTC over too many stations in Ottawa. They've already gotten a slap on the wrist for pushing the old xFM 101.1 as an Ottawa station, having the studio in Ottawa, even though the transmitter remained in Smiths Falls.

Back to the CFMO format, for a moment. How could I forget our favourite station from Halifax??? 105.9 CFEP 'Seaside FM', actually gets my vote as the best little station in Canada. They are an independent, plucky bunch (battling big corporate radio for frequency space). Cyberdad, if you liked CFMO, give this one a listen ~> http://english.aliant.net/asx/CFEP.asx

Cheers!

~BG