CFNY-FM

CFNY-FM
CFNY-FM
CFNY-FM.png
City of license Brampton, Ontario
Broadcast area Greater Toronto Area
Branding "102.1 The Edge"
Slogan Toronto's New Rock
Frequency 102.1 MHz (FM)
First air date August 8, 1960
Format Modern rock
ERP 35 kW
Owner Corus Entertainment
Sister stations CFMJ, CILQ-FM
Website 102.1 The Edge

CFNY-FM, promoted under the branding 102.1 The Edge, is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 102.1 FM. The station rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s due to its freestyle DJing format and unique (at that point) choice to play alternative music. Following a number of years hallmarked by internal problems and a listener rebellion as a result of management decisions, the station eventually evolved into its current format of conventional modern rock. The radio station is currently owned by Corus Entertainment.

From 2004-2008, the station's Program Director was longtime on-air personality and notable Canadian radio personality Alan Cross. During this period, Cross was named Canadian Program Director of the Year on three occasions, in 2005, 2006, and 2008. In 2008, Cross left the station for a position at Corus Entertainment's Splice Media interactive department. The station's current Program Director is Ross Winters, who took over the position when Cross departed.


Contents

History

From CHIC to CFNY

The station commenced operations on August 8, 1960, as an FM rebroadcast of an AM station, CHIC. When two brothers, Leslie and Harry Allen Jr., bought the station in the 1970s, they began 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. Noted Canadian radio and television personality Vicki Gabereau was one of such employees. At this point in the station's existence, it operated under the call letters CHIC-FM, with a transmitter power of 857 watts ERP mono. This was just enough to just service the town of Brampton.

Until approximately 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. Some of those on air people were Dave Gordon, Mike Lynch, Steve Martek, Rich Elwood, Ted Woloshyn, Scott Cameron; any genre of music was open to airtime.

The style of the station was well-received by listeners. Occasionally, the end of an LP was missed by the operator, prompting listeners to call in to complain of the dead air.[citation needed] 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.

CHIC & CFNY billed side by side

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. Staff employed to that point were fired in favour of hiring a new team and David Pritchard joined the station as CFNY's first program director. He had previously been a DJ at CHUM-FM, and under his guidance the station became more structured. It also began hosting specialty programs of reggae and blues music, and a popular, nationally syndicated Beatles show. Eventually, conflicts between Pritchard and the Allens led them to fire him from the station for refusing to, in his words, turn the station into a conduit for "shallow, hit-oriented Pablum."[citation needed]

David Marsden, who had started as an announcer at the station, was selected as Pritchard's successor in 1978.

The Spirit of Radio

During Marsden's tenure as Program Director, the style of the station evolved into a sound which is perhaps best described as a more professional-sounding version of a college radio station. At the time, alternative music was new and had not yet received wide exposure, but it was also in 1978 that New Wave and punk rock emerged as dominant forms of popular music. The station became known as one of the few commercial stations at the time which played alternative music.

The Spirit of Radio

During this period, the station began using The Spirit of Radio, inspired by the Rush song "The Spirit of Radio", as a promotional catchphrase. In turn, listeners of the station began to refer to CFNY as The Spirit of Radio. Appreciative of the reference, but unable to mention CFNY directly for fear of alienating airplay on other stations, the band instead ensured the catalog number for their album Permanent Waves was 1021 - a nod to the station's 102.1 FM frequency.[1]

While the fan base was loyal, the station struggled to grow its audience due to its small studio and low broadcasting power. With only a small broadcast range, the station used unconventional promotional strategies in an attempt to grow the brand. CFNY would send DJs to host regular new wave dance parties, both to build a community amongst its fans and to supplement the station's limited advertising revenue through admission fees.[2]

Turbulence and expansion

In 1979, the station's original owners were involved in court action unrelated to CFNY and forced to sell the station. In spite of its problems, CFNY garnered praise from its listeners and other broadcasters alike. Referring to its free-form format, the station was called "one of the last truly alternative radio stations in North America". When the new owners went bankrupt in 1979, the station received 6200 letters and tens of thousands of names on a petition lobbying the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to "save real radio."[3]

With the Canadian economy in recession and interest rates high, the station's owners sold the station to media conglomerate Selkirk Communications. Selkirk moved the station's transmitter to the CN Tower in Toronto, thereby greatly increasing the broadcasting power and range of the station.[4] 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, who joined the station as a DJ and on-air personality in 1984. This event regularly toured throughout southern Ontario and expanded the station's influence well beyond its actual broadcast range.[2] For a brief period, it was also available on satellite across North America, although this also led to the introduction of more "popular" music.

Through the early and mid-1980s, CFNY was well-respected for introducing new performers that other stations wouldn't play due to not being well-known names. Some examples of these include Canadian artists such as Martha and the Muffins, Rough Trade, Blue Rodeo, Jane Siberry, Singing Fools, 54-40, Skinny Puppy and Spoons.

CFNY also created Canada's first independent music awards, the U-Knows, the name of which was 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". It was in this same year that Alan Cross joined the station as an on-air personality.

In 1987, after nine years in the position, saw David Marsden step down as Program Director. He was succeeded in the role by on-air personality Don Berns.[5]

One notable broadcast was their worldwide period of silence for John Lennon, followed by "Remember" for the recently slain singer. More than 500 radio stations, including one in each Canadian province and American state, plus one in Sydney, Australia played this Dream Network tribute broadcast.[6]

Format change and listener rebellion

Late in 1988, management at CFNY ordered a change in format. After nearly 30 years of success and popular acclaim as a freestyle rock and alternative radio station, CFNY switched to a primarily Top 40 format. Alternative, which had supported the station for most of its history to that point, was relegated to weekends and late night programming.[2]

This dramatic shift in format would not be without consequences. Most significantly, the change sparked a rebellion in its fan base. The station's mid-day phone-in request show was inundated with requests for alternative songs. In support of their new policies and format, station management quickly attempted to put a stop to this by ordering that DJs were to refuse all such calls and fulfill only those requests which were for Top 40 music. Not just unpopular with the station's fan base, the new format also resulted in the dismissal or resignation of much of the on-air staff. Perhaps the most notable of these was the resignation of Program Director Don Berns after only two years in the role, in protest of station management's decisions.[7]

In response, the more devoted of the station's listeners and fans began signing petitions, even going so far as to file an intervention with the CRTC to oppose the station's 1989 licence renewal. Certain radio analyst reports suggested that as many as 100,000 new listeners had been gained by the change, but this masked the fact that the market share dropped considerably, to 4.3%.[8]

Revival, evolution, and beginning of the Edge

In 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 same year, "Humble" Howard Glassman and Fred Patterson launched the station's new morning show, Humble & Fred, which would go on to receive wide acclaim.

Transition to modern rock

In the early 1990s, the station again became an important outlet for new Canadian music, with bands such as Barenaked Ladies, The Lowest of the Low, Rheostatics, and Sloan counting CFNY as their first major radio supporter. Unfortunately for the station's influence, alternative rock became the decade's dominant genre and so CFNY did not sound as distinctive compared to other radio stations as once had.

Unfortunately it would also be some time before the changes were effective in resolving the staff morale problems born during the station's recent turbulent years. The most public manifestation of the station's morale issues issues came in 1992, when DJ Dani Elwell resigned from the station by reading her résumé live over the air.[9]

But the 1990s were also a period of revival and sowing seeds of growth for the station. In addition to the growth of the Humble & Fred morning show, Jason Barr also joined the station at this time[10] and would go on to become a significant contributor to CFNY.

On-air personality Alan Cross launched a new feature on the station in 1993, The Ongoing History of New Music. The program, created, hosted, and personally managed by Cross, chronicled all manner of history and trivia about the roots of rock music in a quasi-documentary style. Over time the feature would come to be one of the most recognizable and long-running pieces on the station, being owned by the station until 2008 and continuing to air new segments up until May 2011.

The mid-1990s were another era of transition for CFNY as station owner Maclean-Hunter was acquired by Rogers Communications in 1994. CFNY was sold to competing telecommunications conglomerate Shaw Communications as a result of the acquisition. During this period, the station dropped its old branding and became 102.1 The Edge. For several years toward the end of the 1990s it was also referred to as Edge 102 before this was dropped in favour of the current usage. On May 1, 1996, the station finally moved from its old studio in Brampton to a new facility at 228 Yonge Street in downtown Toronto.[11]

After only four years of ownership, Shaw Communications chose to spin off its radio holdings to Corus Entertainment in 1999. Corus remains CFNY's owner today.

A Corus Entertainment station

After 13 years as CFNY's morning show hosts, Howard Glassman and Fred Patterson departed CFNY for Mojo 640 in 2001. Taking their place were newcomers Dean Blundell and Todd Shapiro, as well as station regular and Humble & Fred contributor Jason Barr.[12] The new morning show was launched as The Dean Blundell Show. This remains the station's morning show today, broadcasting from 6 a.m. till 10 a.m., and is a significant driving force behind many of the station's contests and events.

Josie Dye joined the station in 2002 as its new mid-day host, on air from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.,[13] and remains a popular fixture at the station. 2002 also saw Derek Welsman join the station as a commercial producer, though he would go on to much greater significance.[14]

Alan Cross (left), March 2009

Alan Cross, host and creator of The Ongoing History of New Music, as well as on-air personality since 1986, departed the station in 2001 to pursue an opportunity as program director at Burlington-based radio station Y108 for several years. However, in 2004 he returned to the Edge as program director. His tenure as Program Director for the Edge garnered acclaim for both him and the station, as he was awarded Canadian Program Director of the Year three times - in 2005, 2006, and 2008.

For a number of years in the 2000s, it became rare that the station would announce its call letters. To most, it was simply 102.1 The Edge. Perhaps due to CRTC regulations requiring radio stations to announce their call letters, the station began in August 2005 to identify itself as both CFNY and the Edge during identification breaks. In 2006, however, the station fell afoul of the CRTC. The regulating body opted to give CFNY only a four-year license renewal, rather than the customary seven.[15] The regulator's concerns reportedly involved the station failing once to meet its mandated Canadian content targets.[15]

Martin Streek, August 2008

Further staff shakeups and alterations came with the close of the 2000s. Program director Alan Cross departed the station once more in 2008 to take a position at Corus Entertainment's interactive division, Splice Media. His replacement is current program director Ross Winters. In May 2009, host Barry Taylor, as well as longtime personality and current afternoon drive host Martin Streek were fired for undisclosed reasons.[16] Tragedy struck the Edge staff just a few months later, when Martin Streek took his own life on July 9.[17]

With the departure of Taylor and Streek, host Dave "Bookie" Bookman briefly took over the afternoon drive slot until the Edge hired Fearless Fred - a host at Edmonton-based 100.3 The Bear - to take over the position. Fred joined the Edge as afternoon drive host in August 2009, while Bookie moved to the weekday evenings timeslot.[18]

Just a year later, in August 2010, Dean Blundell Show co-host Jason Barr was released from his contract and left the station to pursue other opportunities.[19] Derek Welsman, former commercial producer and show guest, returned to The Dean Blundell Show after a three year stint at Astral Media as permanent co-host in November of that year.

On September 13, 2010, the Edge left its longtime home studio at 228 Yonge Street for a new studio near Corus headquarters, at 25 Dockside Drive.[20] The new location is casually referred to by staff as Sugar Beach, and is located across the street from the Kool Haus concert venue.

Availability and International Reach

102.1 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. CFNY is also receivable in areas east of Erie, Pennsylvania; however, interference from classic rocker WQHZ at 102.3 MHz prevents CFNY from being received in much of the city of Erie. 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.

Edge TV

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.[21]

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.

Schedule

Weekday Mornings: The Dean Blundell Show

The Dean Blundell Show is a morning radio show, running from 5:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., hosted by Dean Blundell, Todd Shapiro, and Derek Welsman. On the show, they discuss ongoing news and events in a cynical fashion. The show regularly features Adrian the weatherman and traffic reporter Adwoa Nsiah-Yeboah. For the show's first 9 years on-air, the show was hosted by Blundell, Shapiro, and Jason Barr. Barr departed the station in August 2010, and was subsequently replaced by Derek Welsman in November 2010.[22] Since January 2011, Barr has been co-host of the morning show at St. Catharines-based radio station Hits FM.[23]

The show is casual in style, being hallmarked by a great deal of freestyle banter between the show's hosts. Frequent subjects of conversation include bathroom use, recollections of stories that happened to them, as well as commenting on current events. They frequently host guests from Toronto sports teams, as well as celebrities who are in Toronto for any reason.

Every day around 8 a.m., the show runs a call-in contest to win tickets to various events in and around Toronto. "Wha' Happen?" is run on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while "What's Wrong With You?" is on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The rules for the two contests are lax and largely interchangeable, frequently resulting in callers being allowed to tell their stories regardless of whether it would be more suited to one contest or the other. In each, listeners call into the station to try to impress the hosts with strange stories of the problems in their lives and/or with their loved ones. Blundell, Shapiro, and Welsman tend to prefer stories dealing with flatulence, sexual mishaps and the like. Frequently, Wednesdays are set aside as ladies-only days, in which only female callers are eligible to win the contest, but this restriction is at the whim of the hosts and may fall on other days as well.

Shortly after these contests conclude, generally around 8:30 a.m., Blundell runs a talk feature called the Edge Files. During this segment, he reads amusing or disturbing news stories which are discussed by the three hosts in an amusing fashion. The segment always ends with "those are your Edge Files for whatever the hell day it is in," followed by the current month and year.

A number of contests larger than the regular daily ones have also been run on The Dean Blundell Show. The station began a series of "Wheel" contests in 2003 with the Wheel of Greed.[24] It consisted for a series of challenges or stunts - oft-repeated ones involve stunts done in front of live tapings of Breakfast Television and getting onto other radio stations to promote the Edge and the contest - that contestants had to perform in order to earn a spot on the wheel. The contest ended with the hosts spinning the wheel, and the landed-on winner won a large prize consisting of concert tickets, cash, a trip, and a number of other prizes. Since 2003 the Wheel of Greed has been followed by others of the seven deadly sins, including Sloth, Envy, Gluttony, and most recently, Pride.

"The Edge Moderately Paid Employee Program" was held in February 2005.[citation needed] Its winner was Thornhill native Adwoa Nsiah-Yeboah, who remains the station's morning traffic reporter today.

In 2006, "The $50,000 Gong" contest - loosely inspired by The Gong Show - was run. It saw contestants visit the Edge studios to present their "talent," something sufficiently impressive or disgusting, to the on-air personalities. The hosts hit a gong if they didn't like it, meaning the contestant was disqualified whike the contestants who were not disqualified advanced to the final round. On October 27, the Edge announced that James McAndrew was the winner of the $50,000 grand prize, with his "fart on command" talent.[25]

The show--Dean in particular--is embroiled in two long-standing on-air feuds. The first is with 99-9 Virgin Radio's morning show host Jay "Mad Dog" Michaels, whom they despise as derivative/a copycat of radio bits, as well as unpleasant personally. The second feud is with incumbent Toronto mayor Rob Ford, who is frequently mocked and derided for his weight, the shrillness of his voice, and his governing policies.

In October 2011, the show was awarded the Top Radio Program (Morning Show) by Top Choice Awards.[26] Later that month, the show began running an 'unplugged' feature streamed from the Edge's website. As this is on the internet rather than on broadcast radio, the show is more free to engage in lewd discussions and use profanity.


Recurring guests

  • Adrian Abrantes, known simply by his first name on-air, first became a personality of note on The Dean Blundell Show in August 2008. In October 2009, he was let go from the station, before being invited back in January 2010. He remains a recurring member of the station's cast of characters.
  • Dave Curran is a hypnotist, who generally performs shows in theatres and casinos. Previously, he was a guest every Thursday, often hypnotizing guests on the station's shows and sometimes station staff. Curran's most recent appearance was on the final show of now-departed intern Meatus, in which he was hypnotized. Due to Curran's tour schedule he only comes in on occasion now.
  • Gay Hunter, called "Gunter" by Todd, who talks about his deadbeat father and experiences as a homosexual man. He also hates Adrian, whom he refers to as "Aids", and wants to fight him in a boxing match 'so he can be the first gay man to beat Aids.'
  • Lesbian Lu, real name Luisa Pariselli, visits every Thursday to talk about her experiences as a homosexual woman in Toronto.
  • Psychic Nikki is in on Friday mornings and discusses her psychic visions regarding celebrities, the show's hosts and callers. Dean and Todd often playfully joke about her predictions and age.
  • Shirley Phelps made an agreement with Dean Blundell that if she did not enter Canada or Arizona (at the funerals of the 2011 Tucson shooting victims) to protest than he would let her on the show to "spew whatever religious rhetoric" she likes. Shirley was previously featured on Dean's show before this as well. Dean and the show's other personalities have made it clear they do not support her agenda.
  • Qi Min Sheng is a comedian who appears on the show to give his over-the-top Chinese viewpoint on various topics.
  • Members of the Conservative Party of Canada are frequently interviewed.

Past recurring guests

  • Eduardo, a frequent caller who would demand free offerings and get extremely upset when Dean, Jason and Todd made it difficult for him to do so. Often resorting to hanging up on the morning show, the three would call him back many times, until full arguments would break out. Eduardo gave up on the Dean Blundell show and now often calls an easy listening station.
  • Gino Empry was a recurring guest until early 2006 when he got so upset that he used profanities on the air, forcing the morning show to end their on-air relationship with him. Empry often fought with Todd and then made up.
  • Mat Boisselle, known on-air as Meatus, was the show's intern and producer until September 2011. He appeared on the show frequently as a gag for the hosts' benefit--they would have him attempt to spell everyday words, but due to his poor spelling skills, he frequently failed. He left The Edge to take a position with MY96FM, a radio station in Medicine Hat, Alberta.
  • "Gay Jeff", a gay friend of Todd Shapiro, used to appear every Thursday morning (though occasionally on other days as well). Jeff and the hosts discussed topics related to the gay community; however, these discussions usually lead to the hosts questioning Jeff about his sexual exploits or opinions and perceptions as a gay man. "Gay Jeff" has since moved to Sherbrooke, Quebec, where he is working at the Sher-Wood hockey factory, making sticks. He calls in occasionally, and has entered a relationship with the "only other gay man in Sherbrooke."
  • "Spencer the Cripple" was generally on the show on Monday mornings to talk about his experiences in life. Usually, the segment led to the subjects of bowel movements, his diet and sexual dysfunction. He was fired in March 2009.
  • Josey Vogels - a "sexpert" who left the show to concentrate on publishing books in late 2008.
  • Derek Welsman, "The Blind Movie Reviewer", appeared most Thursday mornings. Legally blind (he has stated he can see about 10–12%). Welsman would talk about a movie he had "seen" recently, from the perspective of a blind person. Each movie reviewed was assigned a score between one and five "blurries", and each review ended with Welsman's catchphrase, "and that's the way I see it!" Welsman was also an commercial producer for the radio station, before moving on to Astral Radio Toronto in November 2007. His last review for the Edge was Thursday, November 8, 2007. On Monday, November 8, 2010 (exactly three years later) Derek rejoined The Dean Blundell Show as a permanent host, replacing the recently-departed Jason Barr.

Controversies

  • Jackass 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.[27]
  • Dean Blundell made a "controversial" decision when on January 13, 2011 he was talking with Shirley Phelps (who wanted to protest the funerals of the shooting victims of the 2011 Tucson shooting) and said "I'll let you say whatever you want to say. You can spew whatever religious rhetoric you like, you can talk about how terrific it is on our morning show ... if you agree not to protest the funeral". Some people agreed and disagreed on this decision, but Blundell stated "Our listeners will be able to see through her bullcrap".

Weekday Mid-days: Josie Dye

Josie Dye 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 90s 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:

  • "Guess This Edge Artist", in which she gives a series of three or four bizarre clues pointing towards a musician or group, whose music is played on the radio station. In order to win, players must call in (other forms of entry, such as email, are not accepted) with the correct answer.
  • "90s Trivia", a contest that takes place daily during the Nooner. A wheel is spun and lands on a particular category (some include TV, music, etc.) and the answer for that category keeps with the "1990s" theme (e.g., if it is movies, then the answer has to do with a move from the 1990s). Two callers are on the line, and one is given first crack at guessing the answer she alludes to through the clue that she provides, if unsuccessful, the other gets a chance. If neither of the two are successful, she gives successive clues at which point if someone knows the answer they must say their name to "buzz in" and give what they think is the correct answer.

Weekday Afternoon Drive: Fearless Fred

Fearless Fred, whose real name is Fred Kennedy, joined the Edge in August 2009. He took over the afternoon drive slot (2 p.m. to 7 p.m.) from Bookie, who moved to the weekday evenings timeslot. "Fearless Fred" is meant as a mock-superhero name. In an advertisement frequently played during Fred's show, a boy exclaims, "It's a bird... it's a plane... it's... FEARLESS FRED!" The boy's mother replies, "Uh, that's a plane. Fred's right there."

Fred is known for his 'geek' interests, frequently discussing superheroes, comics, science fiction, and real-world space news on-air. He attends comic conventions and is a self-proclaimed fan of Battlestar Galactica, going so far as to get a flight suit custom-made. Fred loves tattoos, and has several of his own.

One of Fred's daily features is the Fearless 5 @ 5. Throughout the day, people can vote for songs at the Edge website, and the top five voted are played as the Fearless 5, at 5 p.m. He is also friends with Edge on-air personality Raina, who joins him daily at the end of his show to discuss (and frequently mock) celebrity gossip. On Fridays near the end of his show, Fred is joined in the studio by Chris Schryer of the Toronto Beer Blog for beer-tasting of less well-known beers.

Weekday Evenings: Bookie

Dave "Bookie" Bookman

Dave "Bookie" Bookman currently works the evening timeslot, from 7:00 p.m until 11:00 p.m. He joined the radio station in 1991 (and is the only on-air personality from that time that is 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. In addition, he is often given new music to premiere, or concerts to announce on his show.

Bookman regularly runs his "Bookie's College of Musical Knowledge" contest, a trivia game involving three categories (generally about or related to music, but occasionally about other subject matters, most notably The Simpsons), three answers and three contestants. The first contestant picks the category, and gets a question and three multiple choice answers to choose from. If answered incorrectly, the question is posed to the second, and then the third, contestant. Before getting answers, Bookman always inquires as to where the contestant is calling from, and recommends a nearby place to visit, if he knows of one.

On Thursday nights, Bookman hosts the station's Thursday 30, in which the top 30 songs of the week are played. In addition to this, he hosts Dave Bookman's Nu Music Nite, currently on Tuesday nights, at the Horseshoe Tavern, which has been running since 1993.[28]. He also hosts the Indie 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.

Weekday Nights: Loveline

Sunday through Thursday nights from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., The Edge simulcasts Loveline with hosts Dr. Drew Pinsky and Psycho Mike.

Weekday Overnights & Weekend Mornings: Melani

Melani Mariani moved to The Edge from a radio station in Fort St. John, British Columbia.[29] She currently hosts overnights, as well as the weekend mornings timeslot.

Weekend Afternoons: Raina

Raina Douris, a child of parents whom she describes as hippies,[30] currently hosts the weekend afternoons timeslot. In addition to her regular timeslot, Raina can also be heard daily as a guest near the end of Fearless Fred's show.

On October 26, 2011, Raina released the first installment of her Edge web series, Rain's World, in which she conducted an informal interview with Tokyo Police Club.

Swing Announcers

Adam

Adam Ricard works as a swing announcer hosting shows on the weekends and in the overnights in addition to covering shifts when other members of the air staff are on vacation.

Leake

Jeff Leake, known on-air simply as Leake, is one of Edge's two swing announcers

Station-wide Contests, Events, and Features

CASBY Awards

CFNY launched the annual U-Knows awards in 1981, to recognize Canadian musicians. Following a listener contest in 1986, they were renamed the CASBY Awards - an acronym for Canadian Artists Selected By You. The event is held every summer, where awards are presented to Canadian musicians who have won the most votes from listeners.

Edgefest

Since 1987, Edge has been the organizer of the annual Edgefest summer concert festival.

Free Money Month

Free Money Month is a call-in contest run by the station. Every day for a given month, a band is selected as the Edge Artist of the Day. The first time that this artist is played on-air, listeners may begin calling in. The 102nd caller to get through wins $1000 from the station. In 2011, Free Money Month actually spanned three months: September, October, and November.

Indie Online

Indie Online is a website feature run by on-air personality Raina. It is a section of The Edge's site which takes music contributions from indie bands, which are then voted on by listeners on the page to determine the Edge Indie Band of the Month.

Jingle Bell Rock

Jingle Bell Rock is an annual concert series that the station began running in 2009. It is a series of several concerts in the month of December which are generally in smaller concert venues, although playing in large venues is not unheard-of. A percentage of proceeds from ticket sales are donated to the Daily Bread Food Bank.

Josie's Top 20

Beginning on August 29, 2011, Josie Dye began compiling lists of her top 20 songs on themes that she decides upon. Josie hosts a pre-recorded show for these features, which is broadcast on Saturdays at 10 a.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m. The lists are archived on the Edge's website.

Rock of Fame

The station launched its own hall of fame for notable musicians in the summer of 2011. To date, there have been two inductees:

Sausagefest

A yearly event which has been held since the start of The Dean Blundell Show, Sausagefest is a summertime backyard barbecue-style event which is typically held at the Sound Academy venue and emceed by the hosts of the show. It features artists and bands (different each year) performing on the stage inside, while drinks and barbecued food are sold outside.

Past hosts and staff

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.spiritofradio.ca/index.asp
  2. ^ a b c Bill Reynolds, "A rock 'n' roll original: DJ Martin Streek symbolized CFNY's unlikely resilience". The Globe and Mail, July 11, 2009.
  3. ^ Ian Pearson, "ramshackle radio", The City, October 1979
  4. ^ http://www.spiritofradio.ca/Articles/NewspaperArticle.asp
  5. ^ http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/index3.html?url=http%3A//www.broadcasting-history.ca/listings_and_histories/radio/histories.php%3Fid%3D397%26historyID%3D179
  6. ^ "Thousands of Canadians join to pay tribute to Lennon". The Leader-Post. The Canadian Press (Regina SK). 15 December 1980. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=f41VAAAAIBAJ&sjid=uj8NAAAAIBAJ&dq=brampton%20city%20hall&pg=1098%2C4963104. Retrieved 15 July 2011. 
  7. ^ http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/index3.html?url=http%3A//www.broadcasting-history.ca/listings_and_histories/radio/histories.php%3Fid%3D397%26historyID%3D179
  8. ^ http://www.spiritofradio.ca/Articles/NOWArticle.asp
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/news/astral-s-97-7-htz-fm-niagara-announces-new-morning-show/1000398882/
  11. ^ http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/index3.html?url=http%3A//www.broadcasting-history.ca/listings_and_histories/radio/histories.php%3Fid%3D397%26historyID%3D179
  12. ^ http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/news/astral-s-97-7-htz-fm-niagara-announces-new-morning-show/1000398882/
  13. ^ http://www.toromagazine.com/legacy/612add04-3c97-0bb4-ad2a-cde2e185aa65/index.html
  14. ^ http://ca.linkedin.com/in/derekwelsman
  15. ^ a b "Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2006-394" (Press release). Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. 2006-08-23. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2006/db2006-394.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-13. 
  16. ^ http://www.torontomike.com/2009/05/martin_streek_out_at_edge_1021.html
  17. ^ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/former-1021-the-edge-personality-martin-streek-commits-suicide/article1209390/
  18. ^ http://www.torontomike.com/2009/08/fearless_fred_on_his_way_to_ed.html
  19. ^ http://www.torontomike.com/2010/08/jason_barr_deleted_from_the_ed.html
  20. ^ http://www.blogto.com/news_flash/2010/09/1021_the_edge_is_leaving_the_eaton_centre/
  21. ^ Arbitron Press Release
  22. ^ http://www.torontomike.com/2010/11/derek_welsman_joins_the_dean_b.html
  23. ^ http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/news/astral-s-97-7-htz-fm-niagara-announces-new-morning-show/1000398882/
  24. ^ http://www.wannabebig.com/forums/showthread.php?30026-Toronto-WBBers-102.1-Edge-Wheel-of-Greed
  25. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_WgoWTcwUc
  26. ^ http://topchoiceawards.com/video/dean-blundell-show-top-radio-program-morning-show-top-choice-awards-2011
  27. ^ Kryk, John (2004-03-30). "Edge's Blundell back on air today". Toronto Sun. http://www.thefreeradical.ca/The_Edge_Jackass.htm. 
  28. ^ http://horseshoetavern.com/whos_playing.htm
  29. ^ http://www.edge.ca/DJsandShows/Melani/Bio.aspx
  30. ^ http://www.edge.ca/DJsandShows/Raina/Bio.aspx
  31. ^ http://www.edge.ca/rockoffame/
  32. ^ http://www.edge.ca/rockoffame/

External links

Coordinates: 43°38′37″N 79°22′00″W / 43.64362°N 79.36677°W / 43.64362; -79.36677


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