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. Motto: Diversity Our Strength Map of Ontario Counties, Toronto being red Area: 641 sq. ... Look up Slogan on Wiktionary, the free dictionary A slogan is a memorable phrase used in political or commercial context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose. ... Jump to: navigation, search The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... Sine waves of various frequencies; the lower waves have higher frequencies than those above. ... A megahertz (MHz) is one million (106) hertz, a measure of frequency. ... FM radio is a broadcast technology invented by Edwin Howard Armstrong that uses frequency modulation to provide high-fidelity broadcast radio sound. ... A radio format or programming format describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. ... Modern rock is a phrase commonly used by radio stations to describe rock music styles that are commonly found on mainstream radio stations. ... In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or ERP is determined by subtracting system losses from system gains. ... This is the list of broadcast station classes. ... Call sign can refer to different types of call signs: Airline call sign Aviator call sign Cosmonaut call sign Radio and television call signs Tactical call sign, also known as a tactical designator See also: International Callsign Allocations, Maritime Mobile Service Identity This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid... A backronym or bacronym is a reversed acronym. ... Corus Entertainment (TSX: CJR.NV.B) NYSE: CJR is a Canadian entertainment company, headquarted in Calgary, Alberta, which owns television networks, digital music channels and 50 radio stations across Canada. ... Jump to: navigation, search The front page of the English Wikipedia website. ... A radio station is a sound broadcasting service. ... Motto: Diversity Our Strength Map of Ontario Counties, Toronto being red Area: 641 sq. ... Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... Modern rock is a phrase commonly used by radio stations to describe rock music styles that are commonly found on mainstream radio stations. ...

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. Jump to: navigation, search The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... Jump to: navigation, search The abbreviations FM, Fm, and fm may refer to: Electrical engineering Frequency modulation (FM) and its most common applications: FM broadcasting, used primarily to broadcast music and speech at VHF frequencies FM synthesis, a sound-generation technique popularized by early digital synthesizers Science Femtometre (fm), an... Mediumwave radio transmissions (sometimes called Medium frequency or MF) are those between the frequencies of 300 kHz and 3000 kHz. ... Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning (generally referred to as Humber College) is a college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ... Jump to: navigation, search The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ...

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. David Marsden is a Canadian radio broadcaster. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1978 was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... New Wave is a term that has been used to describe many developments in music, but is most commonly associated with a movement in American, Australian, British, Canadian and European popular music, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, growing out of the New York City punk rock scene, itself... Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ...

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. Jump to: navigation, search Rush is an acclaimed Canadian progressive rock band comprising bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Geddy Lee (formerly Gary Weinrib), guitarist Alex Lifeson (real name Alexander Zivojinovich), and drummer/lyricist Neil Peart (pronounced: Peert) who released their first album in 1974. ... The Spirit of Radio was a phrase used to describe the Toronto radio station CFNY throughout the 1980s, by both listeners [[1]], and later, the station itself. ... Jump to: navigation, search Motto: Welcomes you Area: 266. ... Jump to: navigation, search This page refers to the year 1979. ... Jump to: navigation, search CN Tower as seen from Lake Ontario Canadas National Tower is the tallest tower and free-standing structure in the world, at 553. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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. A recession is usually defined in macroeconomics as a fall of a countrys real Gross Domestic Product in two or more successive quarters of a year. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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". Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 1960s and 1970s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... Martha and the Muffins Martha and the Muffins were a Canadian new wave synth pop band in the 1970s and 1980s. ... Rough Trade was a Canadian new wave rock band in the 1970s and 1980s. ... Blue Rodeo is a Canadian country rock band formed in 1984 in Toronto. ... Jane Siberry (born October 12, 1955 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. ... 54-40 is a Canadian alternative rock group from Vancouver, British Columbia, whose literate and melodic music is frequently compared to that of R.E.M. The band takes their name from American President James K. Polk, whose campaign slogan was Fifty-Four Forty or Fight, stating Polks intention... Jump to: navigation, search Spoons is a childrens card-matching and bluffing game also enjoyed by adults, Spoons is a fast-action, knuckle-punishing game requiring the players to pay attention to 2 things at once. ... The U-Knows were a Canadian award for independent and alternative music, initiated by Toronto radio station CFNY in 1981. ... The Juno Awards are awards of achievement presented to Canadian musical artists and bands; they could be considered the transnational counterpart to the United States Grammy Awards. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The CASBY Awards are a Canadian award for independent and alternative music, presented annually by Toronto radio station CFNY. The name CASBY stands for Canadian Artists Selected By You. ...

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. Jump to: navigation, search 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Top 40 is a radio format based on frequent repetition of songs from a constantly-updated list of the forty best-selling singles. ...

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%. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC, in French Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes) was established in 1968 by the Canadian Parliament to replace the Board of Broadcast Governors. ...

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. Jump to: navigation, search 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search Maclean-Hunter was a Canadian communications company, which had diversified holdings in radio, television, magazines, newspapers and cable television distribution. ... Modern rock is a phrase commonly used by radio stations to describe rock music styles that are commonly found on mainstream radio stations. ... Jump to: navigation, search // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but otherwise retaining the same mindset. ... Barenaked Ladies members, performing onstage. ... The Lowest of the Low were a Canadian alternative rock group in the early 1990s. ... Rheostatics are a Canadian indie rock band. ... Jump to: navigation, search Sloan is a power pop quartet from Halifax, Nova Scotia. ...

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. Jump to: navigation, search 1992 was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...

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. Rogers Communications Inc. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Shaw Communications Inc. ... Corus Entertainment (TSX: CJR.NV.B) NYSE: CJR is a Canadian entertainment company, headquarted in Calgary, Alberta, which owns television networks, digital music channels and 50 radio stations across Canada. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1999(MCMXCIX) is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

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. Note: as an adjective (stressed on the second syllable instead of the first), august means honorable. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2005 (MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

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. Alan Cross is a Canadian radio broadcaster. ... The Ongoing History of New Music is a Canadian radio program, produced and aired weekly by CFNY in Toronto, Ontario. ...

See also

• List of radio stations in Ontario

The following is a list of radio stations in the Canadian province of Ontario as of 2004. ...

External links

• spiritofradio.ca, a CFNY historical fan page
• 102.1 The Edge