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CHR/Top 40
This essay, Coast to Coast With Canadian Top 40 – Part I: St. John's to Ottawa, was written by Sean Ross for Radio-Info.com's CHR/Top 40 column.
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Coast to Coast With Canadian Top 40 – Part I: St. John's to Ottawa
Canada’s Top 40 format has had an interesting journey in recent years. Stations like CKMM (Hot 103) Winnipeg, CHUM-FM Toronto (an Adult Top 40 reporter, but effectively Top 40 these days), CIBK (the Vibe) Calgary, Alberta, and CFBT (the Beat) Vancouver, B.C., managed to put together boxcar 12-plus numbers even before the format pendulum had completely swung back in Top 40’s favor in the U.S. And as in the U.S., the format has started to proliferate with Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, and Halifax, N.S., all getting second Top 40s, among others. Then PPM came to Canada and Top 40 suddenly had similar challenges in some markets as Urban radio in the U.S.—fewer shares than expected divided among more stations.
To celebrate the Canadian Music Week conference, Radio-Info.com decided to take a virtual road trip through Canadian radio, listening to as many of the country’s major Top 40s and Adult Top 40s as possible. Like Top 40 in America, we heard a lot of rhythmic pop (something the country now produces in abundance) and teen punk (even moreso than here). The most unavoidable spot, meanwhile, is for drugstore chain Shopper’s Drug Mart, in which a woman considers her spring shopping list, concluding with “…and a new hair color, because the toque is coming off!”
Our “virtual road trip” starts Friday (March 5) in the east. Click on any station name to listen yourself.
CKIX (Hits 99.1) St. John’s, Newfoundland
Newcap’s Hits 99.1 may lean to the adult side during the day, but in this market, where only a few FMs meant hybrid stations covering multiple formats, it may as well have been “The Power Pig” when it showed up a few years ago. It’s now “the only station authorized to bring you the hits.” Here’s the station just before 5 p.m. on Friday (5):
Lifehouse,”Halfway Gone”
Daughtry, “Life After You” (top 5 at 5, No. 5)
Taylor Swift, “Today Was A Fairytale” (No. 4)
Hedley, “Perfect” (current ballad hit by one of many power/punk/poppers that we’ll be hearing from, No. 3)
Orianthi, “According To You” (No. 2)
Michael Bublé, “Haven’t Met You Yet” (No. 1)
Down With Webster, “Your Man” (follow-up to “Rich Girl$” that samples Honey Cone’s “Girls It Ain’t Easy”)
Real McCoy, “Another Night” (staged as a “Vintage Track”)
State Of Shock, “Money Honey”
Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
CHKZ (Z103.5) vs. CJCH (the Bounce) Halifax, N.S.
Halifax has one of North America’s fiercest Top 40 battles between Evanov’s CHKZ (Z103.5) and CHUM’s CJCH (the Bounce)—both of which also compete with CHUM’s Adult Top 40 CIOO (C100). Z103.5 leaned to the dance side at the outset, now both stations are more R&B and Rhythmic Pop driven. The Bounce, in particular, was one of the most musically aggressive Top 40s anywhere under recently departed PD Rob Basile.
Here’s The Bounce at 9:30 a.m. on Friday (5);
Pitbull, “Shut It Down”
Stereos, “Turn It Up” (more Canadian teen punk)
Boys Like Girls & Taylor Swift, “Two Is Better Than One”
Emmalyn Estrada, “Get Down” (sister of another Canadian pop star, Elise Estrada)
Kevin Lyttle, “Turn Me On” (a hit two years earlier in this country, where it counts as Canadian content)
Ke$ha f/3Oh!3, “Blah! Blah! Blah!”
New Boyz, “Tie Me Down”
Drake, “I Get Paper”
Taio Cruz, “Break Your Heart”
Kardinal Offishall, “Dangerous”
Baby Bash, “Cyclone”
And here’s Z103.5 at 10:15 a.m.:
Aleesia, “Bubblegum” (more rhythmic pop than bubblegum, despite the name)
JLS, “Everybody In Love”
Ricky J., “Whatta Night”
Lola, “High Heels”
Ke$tha f/3Oh!3, “Blah, Blah, Blah”
Karl Wolf, “Hurtin’”
Rihanna, “Rude Boy”
Belly & Ginuwine, “Pressure”
Madonna, “Holiday” (a staged “wayback playback” cut)
Taio Cruz, “Break Your Heart”
CKOI and CKMF (Radio NRJ) Montreal
Montreal’s French-speaking Top 40s have always been unique with a Classic Rock component that’s hard for an American programmer to imagine (Bon Jovi remains a core artist, and even Dennis DeYoung had a hit duet with a French artist in recent years). There is, at the same time, a lot more dance music (and less Hip-Hop). There are the international hits that never make it to Top 40 in the states (Miike Snow, Milow, and Charlie Winston at the moment). Then there are the “montages”—the anything goes mixes in which you can hear the Beach Boys and Blink-182 together. There are also low rotations—bilingual markets Montreal and Ottawa still contend with government limits on top spin that have long been dropped elsewhere.
Here’s Corus’ CKOI just before 10 a.m. on Friday (5):
Simple Plan, “When I’m Gone”
Oasis, “Wonderwall”
Owl City, “Fireflies”
Champion, “Alive Again”
Gossip, “Love Long Distance”
K-Maro, “Music”
Kate Ryan, “Voyage Voyage” (2007 dance hit by the Belgian pop artist that showed up on both stations)
Smash Mouth, “Walkin’ On The Sun”
Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “Takin’ Care Of Business”
Bon Jovi, “Superman Tonight”
Gaetan Roussel, “Help Myself”
Anik Jean, “Je Suis Partie”
And here’s Astral’s rival CKMF, previously known as Energie, now rebranded as NRJ, using the familiar logo of the European Top 40 chain:
Vincent Vallieres, “Le Temps Est Long”
LaRoux, “Bulletproof”
New Cities, “Dead End Countdown”
Blink-182, “What’s My Age Again”
Steve Marin, “Pas Un Gars Facile”
Train, “Hey Soul Sister”
Kate Ryan, “Voyage Voyage”
Boom Desjardins, “Le Train”
Kelly Clarkson, “Since U Been Gone”
Katy Perry, “Hot And Cold”
Green Day, “East Jesus Nowhere”
CJFM (Virgin Radio 96) Montreal
Astral rebranded longtime Adult Top 40 FM96 as Virgin Radio 96 with a new handle and a dollop of female-friendly talk. This station has moved back and forth around the cusp of Top 40, but this stretch was a little more adult- and pop-leaning than last time I listened.
Here’s Virgin Radio 96 at 1:15 p.m. on Friday (5):
Everything But The Girl, “Missing”
Kelly Clarkson, “Since U Been Gone”
K’naan, “Waving Flag”
U2, “Beautiful Day”
T.A.T.U., “All The Things She Said”
Faber Drive, “G-Get Up And Dance”
All American Rejects, “Gives You Hell”
Boys Like Girls & Taylor Swift, “Two Are Better Than One”
No Doubt, “It’s My Life”
Train, “Hey Soul Sister”
Danny Fernandes, “Addicted”
Licensed to upstate New York, Hits 94.7 has a very different take on Mainstream Top 40 that sounds more like a Rhythmic-leaning U.S. Top 40 than either Virgin or the French CHRs. It’s also the second home of WAKS (Kiss 96.5) Cleveland night jock Java Joel, who is heard in afternoons here. There is a French-language version of the Website, as well as some local retail running in French.
Here’s Hits 94.7 at 2:45 p.m. on Friday (5):
Boys Like Girls, “Love Drunk”
Secondhand Serenade, “Fall For You”
Beyoncé, “Diva”
Ice Cube, “You Can Do It”
Jay Sean, “Do You Remember”
Taylor Swift, “You Belong With Me”
Kelly Clarkson, “I Do Not Hook Up”
Ludacris, “How Low”
Train, “Hey Soul Sister”
Lady Gaga & Beyoncé, “Telephone”
Rogers’ Kiss Ottawa has spent several years now staking out the cusp of Adult and Mainstream Top 40, not unlike WKRQ (Q102) Cincinnati or WWMX (Mix 106.5) Baltimore. Like sister CKIS (Kiss 92.5) Toronto, it offers “commercial free Mondays.” It also has a unique promotion, the upcoming “father/daughter dance.” Here’s CISS on Saturday (6) at 12:05 p.m.:
Black Eyed Peas, “Meet Me Halfway”
State Of Shock, “Different Day”
Boys Like Girls & Taylor Swift, “Two Are Better Than One”
Faber Drive, “Give Him Up”
Flo Rida, “Right Round”
Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy”
New Cities, “Dead End Countdown”
Orianthi, “According To You”
Kardinal Offishall, “Dangerous”
Timbaland f/Katy Perry, “If We Ever Meet Again”
Five For Fighting, “Chances”
Miley Cyrus, “Party In The U.S.A.”
Newcap’s Hot 89.9 has evolved from one of the country’s first Rhythmic Top 40s to a still heavily-rhythmic-leaning Mainstream. It’s also been one of the format’s most promotionally active stations—the first major outlet in North America to do the U.K.’s “Is It You” contest (we follow a listener and they figure it out if it’s them from the clues). Now they’re updating last year’s Mauler & Rush Almighty (the morning team controls a listener’s life for prizes).
Here’s Hot 89.9 from Sunday (7) at 7:10 p.m.:
Jaicko f/Snoop Dogg, “Oh Yeah” (rhythmic pop song that is almost a deliberate parody of current rhythmic pop)
Quanteisha, “D N G” (stands for divas and gangsters)
Jason DeRulo, “In My Head”
Classified, “Anybody Listening” (one of 2009’s biggest hits, Hip-Hop record sampling Genesis’ “No Reply At All”)
Timbaland f/Justin Timberlake, “Carry Out”
Jay-Z f/Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind”
Marianas Trench, “Beside You”
Hedley, “Perfect”
David Guetta f/Akon, “Sexy Bitch” (in the station’s tradition of playing the “Let’s Get Retarded” version of the Black Eyed Peas hit)
Down With Webster, “Rich Girl$”
Lights, “Ice”
Black Eyed Peas, “Imma Be”
Britney Spears, “3”
Read Part II: Toronto to Winnipeg, Part III: Saskatoon & Calgary, and Part IV: Edmonton to Vancouver
About the Writer
Sean Ross, one of the radio and music industry’s most widely respected writers and programming analysts, is the author of the newsletter Ross On Radio, an extension of his long-running column of the same name.
