In 1988, when Billboard launched the “Modern Rock chart, CFNY Toronto was something special among Alternative stations in North America, a 5.4-share radio station. In America, the format was still mostly the province of suburban signals, mom-and-pop owners and, in many markets, college radio. In Toronto, it had been established for a decade as part of the mainstream, a talisman of what was to come for the format overall.
He had actually left the station a year earlier, but CFNY’s footprint had by then been established by PD David Marsden. The veteran programmer died Sept. 25 at age 85, several days after a serious fall. Marsden began in Top 40 radio in the early ‘60s. Like Scott Muni, B. Mitchell Reed, and other prominent American jocks of the era, his move to progressive FM radio, first at CHOM Montreal and CHUM-FM Toronto, was a talisman. In 1977, he joined CFNY, becoming PD two years later until 1997.
As new wave took shape, CFNY’s impact on not just Toronto but Canadian radio was comparable to MTV’s influence in America, but at least two years earlier. Acts like Squeeze and XTC who were college radio bands in the U.S. were Mainstream AOR and Top 40 acts in turn as CFNY’s support radiated through other formats and markets. Classic Hits CHBM (Boom 97.3) Toronto’s library still reflects CFNY’s influence.
In 2017, Marsden was one of four early rock radio DJs spotlighted in the documentary I Am What I Play. Earlier this year, the years-in-the-making documentary CFNY: The Spirit of Radio premiered–the title comes from the station slogan co-opted as Rush’s 1980 hit—and was reviewed here.
CFNY was influential in another way. As the documentary recalls. when the station spoke out against a 1981 police raid on a gay bathhouse, Marsden says it was his impetus to come out publicly, at a time when few other programmers had.
Marsden was also a pioneer in streaming radio, launching Canada’s Iceberg Media in 1999. Twelve years ago, he launched an online subscription radio station, NYTheSpirit.com, making him a predecessor of Australia’s Kyle Sandilands and a recently announced move by veteran morning show Bob & Sheri.
For many broadcasters, the subscription model was short-lived, and a cruel reminder of the importance of over-the-air availability. When I profiled NYTheSpirit.com in 2020, it was already six years old. It has remained active since then. CFNY veteran Ivar Hamilton is working on his 498th show for the channel, and says the station will “continue to broadcast in Marsden’s honor.”
NYTheSpirit drew upon Marsden’s entire rock radio history, from the progressive era to current music. With a 25,000 song library, Marsden’s programming, which could vary from hour to hour, had more of a thru line to the early days of AOR radio than existing Classic Rock stations or an increasingly gold-driven Alternative format.
Hamilton says details for a celebration of life are pending and will be announced “in the coming months.”
