CFNY

CFNY is a radio station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. For some time in the 1980s, its free-format programming was considered unique, and the station garnered wide respect around the world. This rarely translated into profits, however, and after being sold and re-sold several times to larger and larger media companies, the station now plays a conventional modern rock format with the branding 102.1 The Edge.

Related Topics:
Radio station - Toronto, Ontario - Canada - 1980s - Modern rock

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CFNY originally started operating in the 1960s, as an FM rebroadcast of an AM radio station, CHIC. The nearby Humber College provided a steady stream of young employees, who were encouraged to play their own selections in the evening. In the mid-1970s, the owners decided to give the station a brand of its own, creating CFNY, or CFNY-FM, in 1977.

Related Topics:
1960s - FM - AM radio - CHIC - Humber College - 1970s - 1977

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Things started changing when David Marsden joined as program director in 1978, and started a format that ignored the charts, and played any well-produced alternative music. The station started to sound like a "slick" version of a college radio station. At the time alternative was still very new, but it was also in 1978 that new wave and punk rock took off, and soon the station became known as one of the few commercial stations that played alternative music.

Related Topics:
David Marsden - 1978 - New wave - Punk rock

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Fans started referring to it as the spirit of radio, which was used as their catchphrase for some time. (This slogan also inspired the Rush song, "The Spirit of Radio".) Fans were loyal but few, and with a measly 857 watts of power, broadcast from a house in Brampton, a suburban town northwest of Toronto, the problems of attracting new listeners were many. In 1979, the original owners were involved in an unrelated court action and forced to sell the station. The new owners started the process of moving the antenna to the CN Tower in 1983.

Related Topics:
Rush - The Spirit of Radio - Brampton - 1979 - CN Tower - 1983

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With the Canadian economy in recession, and interest rates high, the new owners sold the station to media conglomerate Selkirk Communications. At first, Selkirk did not change the format, and completed the move to the CN Tower. 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. For a brief period. it was also available on satellite across North America, although this also led to the introduction of more "popular" music.

Related Topics:
Recession - 1985

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The station was particularly well respected for introducing new acts which other stations wouldn't play because they were too small -- in the early 1980s, Canadian artists such as Martha and the Muffins, Rough Trade, Blue Rodeo, Jane Siberry, 54-40 and Spoons were among the acts championed by CFNY. CFNY also created Canada's first independent music awards, the U-Knows (a pun on Canada's mainstream Juno Awards). In 1986, the station held a listener contest to rename the awards, which were redubbed the CASBY Awards, for "Canadian Artists Selected By You".

Related Topics:
1980s - Martha and the Muffins - Rough Trade - Blue Rodeo - Jane Siberry - 54-40 - Spoons - U-Knows - Juno Award - 1986 - CASBY Award

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In 1988, the station turned its first profit. However, this was not enough for Selkirk, which sought higher ratings. Late that year, it switched to a mostly top 40 format, leaving its alternative format for weekends and late night. At first, there was a listener rebellion. Their phone-in show at noon was an all-request hour, and invariably the requests were for alternative songs. However, the management soon put a stop to this, telling DJs to refuse such calls and only select requests from the top 40. Soon, most of the staff resigned, or were fired.

Related Topics:
1988 - Top 40

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Loyal listeners soon began signing petitions, and filed an intervention with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) opposing the station's 1989 licence renewal. Radio analyst reports suggested that 100,000 new listeners had been gained by the change. However, this hid the fact that the market share dropped considerably, to 4.3%.

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In 1989 Selkirk was acquired by Maclean-Hunter, who committed to returning the station to an alternative format. Instead of reviving the old freeform programming, however, Maclean-Hunter tweaked the station's programming to create a more conventional modern rock station. In the early 1990s, the station again became an important outlet for new Canadian music, with acts such as Barenaked Ladies, The Lowest of the Low, Rheostatics, and Sloan counting CFNY as their first major radio supporter. However, with alternative rock being the decade's dominant genre, CFNY did not sound as distinctive compared to other radio stations as it had in the 1980s, so it never really regained its former level of influence and respect.

Related Topics:
1989 - Maclean-Hunter - Modern rock - 1990s - Barenaked Ladies - The Lowest of the Low - Rheostatics - Sloan

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The change also masked, rather than solving, morale problems at the station; in 1992, DJ Dani Elwell resigned from the station by reading her résumé over the air.

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When Maclean-Hunter was purchased by Rogers Communications in 1994, CFNY was one of the stations sold off by Rogers to Shaw Communications, which in turn spun its radio holdings off to Corus Entertainment, CFNY's current owner, in 1999.

Related Topics:
Rogers Communications - 1994 - Shaw Communications - Corus Entertainment - 1999

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In the mid-1990s, the station dropped its old branding, becoming 102.1 The Edge. Later it became Edge 102 before reverting to 102.1 The Edge. Although CFNY remains the station's official call sign, it was never mentioned on-air for many years. In August 2005, however, the station began airing some new identification breaks which used both the CFNY calls and the Edge branding.

Related Topics:
August - 2005

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The station's program director is Alan Cross, who is also the host of the station's most famous and influential program, The Ongoing History of New Music.

Related Topics:
Alan Cross - The Ongoing History of New Music

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