Music
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we reported that Toronto might get a new indie radio station on the wavelength formerly occupied by CKLN, whose licence was revoked by the CRTC in January of 2011.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.
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cock rock sure beats it's-good-just-because-it's-new-and-nobody's-heard about-it. Sakamoto in the Star is the leader of this crowd.
Everyone hates to hate Hipsters because everyone is doing it, but everyone is a sheep and no one thinks for themselves.
Maybe if you had an original thought about anything other than what society tells you then you'd be on to something.
Some people count their chickens before they hatch, but it seems like you don't even think they'll hatch and have already thrown the towel in.
Lighten up and support the radio station and spread the word instead of listing all the reasons why it won't work. UGH!
If you've ever tried to use one of those in car low power FM transmitters there is basically no single frequency that works everywhere in the GTA, every spot on the dial has something on it somewhere in the GTA or coming from the other side of the lake.
You all might not care, but it's one of the few things that I love when I get back up into Barrie! They play a lot of pretty great music (even though they sometimes play some shitty top 40 rock stuff)
I'm looking forward to some quality programming with the likes of stars, bss, the dears, and tegan & sara! Go CanCon!
they usually have a great mix of solid music.
I won't argue that indie rock is fully represented on the airwaves in Toronto, but the artists mentioned in this article do appear on CBC and some cross over to mainstream rock radio. It's unfortunate that we've lost a main outlet for styles of music that are increasingly popular and feature artists with breakout international success stories that call Toronto home.
High-Definition radio, where a few stations can occupy the same channel will open up more choice in all Canadian cities, but it will take years, maybe decades, for the audience to acquire the equipment to listen.
Here I'd just have to laugh in their faces and silently walk away...