Toronto to get new indie radio station at 88.1

Back in April we reported that Toronto might get a new indie radio station on the wavelength formerly occupied by CKLN, whose licence was revoked by the CRTC in January of 2011. Well, I'm happy to report that there's good news for those who want to punch themselves in the face when they hear Matchbox 20 or, worse, old Alannah Myles songs used to fulfill Canadian content quotas (let's not even mention the always humble Nickelback). Earlier today, the CRTC announced that it had granted a licence to Rock 95 Broadcasting, who plans to launch Indie Toronto at a currently undisclosed future date.

The content requirements for the new station stipulate that 40 per cent of the music featured will be CanCon, of which 60 per cent must represent so-called emerging artists. If that doesn't give you a picture of what the station will actually sound like, it's not hard to suss it out based on its website, which has been up and running for a while.

Some of the artists currently featured on the site include James Blake, Paper Lions, Rich Aucoin, Stars, Tegan and Sara, The Dears, Tokyo Police Club, etc. — pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a radio station that calls itself Indie Toronto in 2012. But who's complaining? Most times that I make the mistake of trying to listen to music on the FM dial, I cycle through every station at least three times before I realize that I won't escape the exercise with any bit of satisfaction.

The new 88.1 might just change that.