In the history of the Adult Hits format, CIXL (The Giant) St. Catharines, Ontario, had the distinction of one of the best positioning linesever: "If it was big then, its Giant now." But the Giant was also one of the few Canadian stations during the mid-'00s Bob- and Jack-FM blitz that never gained even momentary traction, segueing relatively quickly to its current Classic Rock format. While St. Catharines seemed like fertile ground for the Adult Hits format, the hole was quickly plugged by WBUF (Jack FM) in nearby Buffalo, N.Y.

It's been nine years since then-PD Howard Kroeger launched the then-CHUM Group's CFWM (99.9 Bob FM) Winnipeg, Manitoba, the first of the modern-day Classic Hits/Hot AC-hybrids. CHUM's former head of programming Ross Davies is now VP of operations of Canada's Haliburton Broadcast Group, which just took over Hot AC CFLZ St. Catharines (better known to most Americans as the sister station of Top 40 CKEY [Z101]). CFLZ is now "Ed-FM" and attempting to take care of the format's unfinished business on the Niagara Frontier.

In some ways, Ed-FM is like Winnipeg in its barnstorming days, before time and PPM took a lot of the "oh wow" titles from the format. (Instead of "Turn Your Knob To Bob," the slug line is, "Turn Your Head To Ed.") There are more '90s and now songs, and less Classic Rock '70s titles, but there are still a lot of Bob's calling card records. (The last time I remember hearing "Naughty Naughty" by John Parr was in the Adult Hits format's early days, for instance.)

The other significant difference is in Ed's stagers. The original Bob's attitude was more whimsical than the snarkier version that later came to typify the format on CKLG Vancouver and the subsequent Jack-FMs it inspired. I wrote earlier that some of the stagers on the station reminded me of Adult Hits imaging, if it were done by the writers of "Family Guy," or at least "The Simpsons." After a few days with the station, not every stager fits that description, but there's no other way to explain the NPR-cadenced stager that says, "Funding for the largest music library in town is made possible by… depriving the family of seven in Buffalo of the necessities of life."

There's another stager, reminiscent of a wedding sermon (or the opening of "Let's Go Crazy") that begins, "We are gathered here in the eyes of our audience—adult males and females." And, yes, the station is absolutely aware of what else the letters "E" and "D" together signify, and they also tackle that one in a stager.

Here's Ed-FM on Tuesday, August 30:

Guns N' Roses, "Sweet Child O' Mine"
Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Traveling Band"
Stabilo, "Everybody" (CDN)
Jackson Browne, "Somebody's Baby"
Dionne Ferris, "I Know"
April Wine, "Tonight Is A Wonderful Time To Fall In Love" (CDN)
Blondie, "Call Me"
Melanie Doane, "Goliath" (CDN, Lilith-era singer/songwriter with a song that was also an early Bob staple)
Jitters, "Last Of The Red Hot Fools" (CDN, one of the many '50s-flavored '80s acts that proliferated in Canada even more than in the States)
Rocky Burnette, "Tired Of Toeing The Line"

And here's Ed-FM today (Thursday, Sept. 1) at 2:35 p.m. with afternoon driver J.T., formerly Top 40 sister CKEY (Z101)'s Jammin' Todd:

John Parr, "Naughty Naughty"
Tom Petty & Heartbreakers, "I Won't Back Down"
All-American Rejects, "It Ends Tonight"
Autograph, "Turn Up The Radio"
Led Zeppelin, "All My Love"
Billy Joel, "Only The Good Die Young"
Bryan Adams, "Run To You" (CDN)
Bon Jovi, "We Weren't Born To Follow"
Steve Perry, "Oh Sherry"
Kim Mitchell, "Go For Soda" (CDN)
Rick Springfield, "Jessie's Girl"
Eric Burden & War, "Spill The Wine"
Great Big Sea, "Sea Of No Cares" (CDN, Pithy, Celtic-flavored Canadian band that could most quickly be explained to the uninitiated as the Barenaked Dropkick Murphys)