A lot of my best memories of Canadian Music Week have always involved the Toronto radio I heard (and the Canadian broadcasters I saw). This year, we’re on the Road to Radiodays North America, CMW’s sister radio conference, to be held June 8-9, and I got an early start on some of my radio listening.
This is one of about three Fresh Listen compilations I could have done on Toronto radio. There’s a three- way CHR race and newly relaunched Urban CKFG (Flow 98.7). There’s the CIND (Indie 88) vs. CFNY battle in a country where Alternative remains robust (and slightly harder-rocking). These are the market’s top four music stations from the winter ratings, according to Numeris. Stingray’s CHBM (Boom 97.3) has been cited as a favorite Classic Hits station by readers; it’s joined by Rogers’ AC CHFI, Bell’s Hot AC CHUM, and Corus Classic Rock CILQ (Q107).
RDNA’s planning committee relied heavily on input from Canada’s group PDs. Stingray’s Steve Parsons and Steve Jones, Corus’ Ronnie Stanton, Bell’s Sarah Cummings, and Rogers’ Paul Kaye will all be represented at RDNA sessions. See the full agenda here.
Most of my listening took place the day after the Toronto Maple Leafs lost in the first game of their Stanley Cup playoff series, and two days after the death of Gordon Lightfoot. (As it happened, I also ended up listening on Wednesday to Heritage Rock CFJB (Rock 95) Barrie, Ontario, which gets points for best local-ad copy. A spot for a local landscaper declares, “They’re laying down the lawn.”)
I heard Boom 97.3 two days after Lightfoot’s death. Afternoon host K.J. was thanking the listeners who had called to share personal encounters with the iconic singer-songwriter the day before, which he said had been therapeutic. (There was one more left: the campers who saw Lightfoot row up in a canoe to ask to borrow peanut butter.) Boom’s Joe Cipriano-voiced imaging has a typically off-the-wall Adult Hits feel to it. One sweeper declares it “home of 10 songs in a row and Canada’s best churned butter.”
Here’s Boom under PD Troy McCallum and MD Wayne Webster at 3 p.m., May 3:
- Pat Benatar, “We Belong”
- U2, “Beautiful Day”
- Earth, Wind & Fire, “September”
- Tragically Hip, “Bobcaygeon” (Canadian—described by K.J. as “my happy place” because of his association of the Hip with summer-cottage season)
- DNA f/Suzanne Vega, “Tom’s Diner”
- Triumph, “Lay It on the Line” (Canadian)
- Soul Asylum, “Runaway Train”
- Salt-N-Pepa, “Push It”
- Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Down on the Corner”
- Bran Van 3000, “Drinking in LA” (Canadian)
- Bruce Springsteen, “Dancing in the Dark”
- Strange Advance, “Worlds Away” (Canadian)
Q107 was one of several Canadian stations to stop billing itself as “Classic Rock,” opting instead for “Toronto’s Rock Station.” It was early on the push into the ’90s and early ’00s, although much of the format has caught up with it.
Canadian radio is generally more personality-intensive, in part because of the impact of the “join the conversation” format. Q107 p.m. driver Fearless Fred was the highest-profile personality show I heard in my listening. Fred’s bits included:
- “Name that Sting” — to win Sting tickets, he had asked listeners to identify the sound of bees the day before. When listeners declared it the worst thing they’d ever heard (“mission accomplished,” he said), Fred switched to asking a listener to identify Sting in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels;
- Whether aliens’ first encounter with Earth transmissions will be your X-rated texts;
- The upcoming “Free Comic Book Day,” including his own series Dead Romans.
Here’s Q107 under PD Tammy Cole at 3 p.m. on May 3:
- Guess Who, “No Time” (Canadian)
- Killers, “Mr. Brightside”
- Rolling Stones, “Start Me Up”
- Chilliwack, “My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)” (Canadian)
- R.E.M., “Man on the Moon”
- Smashing Pumpkins, “1979”
- Sloan, “Money City Maniacs” (Canadian)
- Pink Floyd, “Mother”
- Nazareth, “This Flight Tonight” (Canadian — a Joni Mitchell cover that became a Cancon staple)
- Clash, “London Calling”
CHUM 104.5 became the FM successor to the market’s AM Top 40 powerhouse in the ’80s, giving it a more-than-65-year-history as a contemporary music station. In the early 2000s, it became one of the first Hot AC stations to lean rhythmic, rather than Modern AC, well ahead of most U.S. counterparts.
I heard middayer Richie Favalano in the middle of 60 minutes of “Toronto’s Hits and Favorite Throwbacks” (the latter was usually used only when there was a throwback). Favalano did something I haven’t heard a contemporary station do much lately. He identified Rema & Selena Gomez’s “Calm Down” as the No. 1 song in Toronto. CHUM’s major contest was the $50,000 Cash Code, which included $1,000 prizes and a $25,000 grand prize.
Here’s CHUM under PD Heidi Baden at 10 a.m. on May 2:
- Rema & Selena Gomez, “Calm Down”
- Virginia to Vegas, “No Excuses” (Canadian)
- Rihanna, “We Found Love”
- Jamie Fine, “If Anything’s Left” — my favorite Canadian current at the moment
- Fugees, “Killing Me Softly”
- Shawn Desman, “Night Like This” (Canadian)
- Ed Sheeran, “Shape of You”
- Lewis Capaldi, “Wish You the Best”
- Maroon 5, “Sugar”
- Pink, “Trustfall”
- Armin Van Buuren, R3hab f/Simon Ward, “Love We Lost” (Canadian)
- Backstreet Boys, “Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely”
- Delaney Jane, “Bad Habits” (Canadian)
- Major Lazer f/Justin Bieber & M0, “Cold Water”
- LuKala, “Pretty Girl Era” — my previous favorite Canadian current
I’ve written about Mainstream AC CHFI a few times during the holidays. Like WBEB (B101) Philadelphia a year ago, it has always been a particularly edgy AC musically, at least by American standards. As this monitor shows, it has mainstreamed a little under PD Troy Scott, but it gets hotter at night.
P.M. driver Darren Osborne was also doing a lot of bits for a Mainstream AC, including stopping the music for a Leafs recap. CHFI’s “Secret Voices” jackpot was up to $67,250, with two of five voices identified, but there was also a Jonas Brothers ticket giveaway taking place. CHFI also did a good job with listener names, businesses, authentic-sounding listeners on promos for the “no repeat workday,” etc. (Osborne’s shoutouts included welcoming two listeners to Canada.)
Here’s CHFI at 2 p.m., May 3:
- Mariah Carey, “I’ll Be There”
- The Weeknd, “Die for You” (Canadian)
- Culture Club, “Karma Chameleon”
- Shawn Desman, “Electric” (Canadian)
- Belinda Carlisle, “Heaven Is a Place on Earth”
- Tyler Shaw, “To the Man Who Let Her Go” (Canadian)
- Taylor Swift, “Blank Space”
- Stars on 54, “If You Could Read My Mind” (Canadian)
- Marshmello f/Jonas Brothers, “Leave Before You Love Me”
- Vanessa Carlton, “A Thousand Miles”
- Irene Cara, “Flashdance (What a Feeling)
- Armin Van Buuren, “This Is What It Feels Like” (Canadian — a CHR/AC staple featuring former Souldecision leader Trevor Guthrie)
- Cardigans, “Lovefool”
