Bell Media flipped its two Windsor ON stations to their national brands this afternoon. Alternative “89X” 88.7 CIMX flipped to Country as “Pure Country 89”, while AAA “93.9 The River” CIDR became CHR “93.9 Virgin Radio“.
“89X” signed off with the first song it played in 1991, “Stop” by Jane’s Addiction before segueing into Florida Georgia Line’s “Cruise”. CIMX now becomes the 16th “Pure Country” branded station since its launch in May 2019. The stations in general feature a national midday show and Bobby Bones in evenings with local or regional shows in mornings and afternoons. It joins a crowded Country marketplace including Blackburn Radio’s “Country 92.7/95.9” CJWF and the two in Detroit: Cumulus Media’s “New Country 93.1” WDRQ and Entercom’s 99.5 WYCD.
“93.9 The River” signed off with Keane “Somewhere Only We Know” into Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Stop Now”. It becomes the only Windsor targeted CHR, but still competing for ears with iHeartMedia’s “Channel 95.5” WKQI. CIDR Becomes Bell’s thirteenth “Virgin Radio” branded CHR in Canada.
Mere minutes after Bell Media flipped these two stations, Entercom quickly moved to fill the Alternative hole in Detroit by launching “Alt 98.7” on the former Soft AC “98.7 The Breeze” WDZH.
iHeartRadio Canada announced today the rebrand of 89X to PURE COUNTRY 89 and 93.9 THE RIVER to 93.9 VIRGIN RADIO in Windsor. Both stations, which began broadcasting today, bring together the energy of two of Canada’s most successful radio brands with the local spirit of Windsor.
Starting today, PURE COUNTRY 89 will play 10,000 songs in a row from today’s biggest country music artists and give local listeners a chance to take home $10,000. To qualify, listeners enter a daily keyword online at iHeartRadio.ca/PureCountry/Windsor for a chance to win $10,000.
Featured programming on PURE COUNTRY includes BOBBY BONES COUNTRY TOP 30 COUNTDOWN, IHEARTRADIO PURE COUNTRY COUNTDOWN, hosted by Sophie Moroz and Jeff Hopper, NOTHIN’ BUT THE 90S WITH JASON MCCOY, and SATURDAY NIGHT HOUSE PARTY. Additional programming details to be announced in the coming weeks.
Windsor’s New #1 Hit Music Station 93.9 VIRGIN RADIO kicks off with back-to-back sets of 93 minutes of non-stop hit music from the world’s hottest artists. Beginning Monday, Nov. 23, 93.9 VIRGIN RADIO Windsor listeners have the chance to win $10,000 with the “More Fun In 21” contest. To qualify, listeners enter a daily keyword online at iHeartRadio.ca/VirginRadio/Windsor for a chance to win.
Featured programming on 93.9 VIRGIN RADIO includes IHEARTRADIO NIGHTS, AT40 WITH RYAN SEACREST, IHEARTRADIO 20, and the SATURDAY NIGHT HIT MIX WITH DJ STARTING FROM SCRATCH.
Original Report 11/18: After thirty years in the Alternative format, Bell Media is teasing a format change at “89X” 88.7 CIMX and AAA “93.9 The River” CIDR Windsor/Detroit on Thursday, November 19 at noon.
A message on the CIMX website states,
From the Cutting Edge to New Rock 89X, it’s been one hell of a ride over the past thirty years. If you’ve ever listened, called the X-Lines for a request, won a contest, or partied with us at a Birthday Bash – THANK YOU. 89X was a unique station and we have some great memories.
Thirty years is a long time though and it’s time for a change. Soon there will be a very new and VERY different sound on 88.7FM and to be honest if you’re a New Rock fan you’re probably not going to like it.
When you’re looking for your New Rock fix you can always check out Rock Nation on the iHeartRadio Canada app, and if you want to find out what’s next for 88.7FM, listen Thursday, November 19th at noon.
Then AC “88.7 The Mix” began airing an evening Alternative show in the fall of 1990. The station went fully Alternative in April 1991 as “89X“. For much of its history it was the only Alternative outlet in the Detroit market. CIDR has been AAA “93.9 The River” since 2006.
Bell mostly stopped focusing the station on the United States side of the border in 2017 when it closed its Detroit sales office and tweaked CIMX’s music to an Alternative/Active Rock hybrid. Ratings expert Chris Huff notes that the station had a 2.3 share in the Spring 2020 Numeris ratings for Windsor. The station stopped subscribing to Nielsen for U.S. measurement in 2017. CIDR had a 4.9 share in the Spring.
dudefromva
Wow. An end of an era indeed!
Got a neat little story for this one. I was at my Grandparents outside Morgantown, WV in March of 1993 and it was COLD! Anyway, I was flipping through the stations and low-and-behold on 88.7 is rock music. 12-year-old me was intrigued. Never knew there was a station there before. Then I hear the DJ talking “Detroit”, “Windsor”, “Ontario”. WHA?! Remember, this is 1993, no internet yet. I had to DIG for that information at the library. Finally learned it was CIMX out of Windsor and their MONSTER signal and what I was hearing was an E-skip (though that part I didn’t learn until years later, with the internet). Always though 89X was a cool little station and Canada having commercial stations below 92.1 was a little different. 89X will be missed.