CJEZ-FM
Encyclopedia
CHBM-FM is a radio station in Toronto
, Ontario
, Canada
owned by Astral Media
. It broadcasts an adult hits
format at 97.3 FM and is branded as boom 97.3 - 70's, 80's, 90's, and is also the only adult hits station owned by Astral. Like most Toronto radio stations, this station transmits from the CN Tower
with an ERP
of 28,900 watt
s.
The station's playlist contains tracks released between 1964 and 2005, with a core focus on music released in the 1980s.
format under the branding Easy 97. In the early 1990s, it changed its moniker to Lite 97, but soon after changed its format to classic hits
as Z97.3. In 1995, Redmond sold the station to Telemedia
and on June 30, at 5:30 AM, the station changed monikers to 97.3 EZ Rock
. The slogan was "The Heartbeat of Toronto", with a soft rock
/adult contemporary format that was geared primarily towards women ages 35-44. CJEZ became the flagship when several other stations owned by Telemedia at the time broadcasting a similar format were also rebranded as EZ Rock.
In the summer of 1998, EZ Rock Toronto aired liners in Italian
, French
, Spanish
and Cantonese
as a way to acknowledge the racial diversity in the city.
The station went through several slogan changes during its tenure with the AC format, including "My Music at Work", which inspired the title of The Tragically Hip
's 2000 album "Music At Work
". It also had a modified version of that slogan, "Toronto's Music @ Work". In later years, the station had other taglines such as "Toronto's Soft Rock Favourites", "Today's Soft Rock with Less Talk", and "A Better Variety of Yesterday and Today".
In 2002, Standard Radio bought Telemedia and kept CJEZ under their ownership, while some of the other EZ Rock stations were sold to either Rogers Communications
or Astral Media
.
In 2003, CHFI fired long time morning show host Erin Davis
and was replaced by Mad Dog and Billie
. To combat this, in 2004, CJEZ hired Davis to partner along side Mike Cooper (who has been at the station since the flip to EZ Rock in 1995) because long time co-host Christine Cardoso left due to maternity leave. This worked well for the station, as the station became the most listened-to station in Toronto (and in Canada for some books). However, when Davis was rehired by CHFI in 2005 (and returned to mornings), CHFI's ratings skyrocketed back to #1, causing CJEZ to slip. To solve this, EZ Rock hired Stu Jeffries and Colleen Rusholme
for mornings and the station began leaning in a more Hot AC direction patterned after its sister station CKFM-FM
. During its latter days as EZ Rock, the station removed songs from the 1960s.
In 2007, Astral purchased Standard, resulting in the Standard-owned EZ Rock stations across Canada (including CJEZ) become Astral-owned.
In 2008, Humble Howard, and Kim Stockwood
joined Rusholme and took over EZ Rock's morning show in August, replacing Stu Jeffries. In June of the same year, Rick Hodge (formerly a long time morning co-host on CHUM-FM
) joined EZ Rock and sister CFRB (AM)
.
In November 2009, Hodge and Kim Stockwood left EZ Rock. A short time later, midday announcer Darryl Henry was gone from the station as well (he is now at CHFI). Henry has been with the station since 1997 and has hosted evenings and afternoons before moving to middays.
On December 24, 2009, during its standard Christmas music run during the holidays, EZ Rock's website was changed completely by hosting only a countdown clock and a posted message urging listeners to tune in on December 26, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. On December 26, at 6 AM, after playing EZ Rock's final song (which was Christina Aguilera
's version of This Christmas), the station began stunting with a recorded message on how to "view" the launch of the new station. Finally, at 9 AM, the station ended its 15 year run with AC, and flipped to adult hits
(the first for the company, even though Astral is Canada's largest radio company) with the branding boom 97.3, Toronto's Greatest Hits, adopting the Boom FM
branding used by some of Astral's small-market French-language stations in Quebec
. The first song played on boom 97.3 was Don't Stop Believin'
by Journey
. CJEZ's call letters were changed on December 27, 2009 to CHBM-FM. The station's airstaff remained intact for a time, but in May 2011 Humble Howard and Colleen Rusholme were let go by the station.
This now puts itself in direct competition with CING-FM
, which became a classic hits station a month earlier in November 2009. This leaves CHFI-FM
as the only adult contemporary station in the Toronto radio market. However, CKDX-FM
could now be known as a direct competitor to that station. Overall, Vancouver
is still the largest market with only one adult contemporary radio station, which is CHQM-FM
. Even after the station switched to adult hits
, the "boom 97.3" jingles sound similar to that of Virgin Radio.
It became Toronto's first adult hits station ever since former Jack FM
station CJAQ-FM (now CKIS-FM
) switched to mainstream rock
in 2006
. boom 97.3 became more successful than Toronto's original Jack FM station.
During the first book of boom 97.3, it debuted with a 9.3 share, slightly higher than what it was in EZ Rock's last book and one of the highest-rated books since 2005.
On May 28, 2010
, Astral Media
launched CJOT-FM 99.7 in Ottawa
as the new flagship station of EZ Rock
, and took over CJEZ-FM's former website, EZRock.com.
CHBM is the only Boom FM station with an adult hits
format, although its logo consists of the same font and 45 RPM insert
device as its French-language counterparts.
The Boom FM branding was cloned on CJOT-FM on June 30, 2011
, replacing adult contemporary with classic hits
, unlike the format of CHBM-FM.
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
owned by Astral Media
Astral Media
Astral Media Inc. is a Canadian media corporation. It is Canada's largest radio broadcaster with 83 radio stations in eight provinces, and is a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, including The Movie Network, Super Écran, Family, Teletoon, Canal D, Canal Vie, VRAK.TV,...
. It broadcasts an adult hits
Adult hits
Adult hits is a radio format, popular in the early 2000s, that does not adhere to a specific music genre, but instead draws from a wider playlist...
format at 97.3 FM and is branded as boom 97.3 - 70's, 80's, 90's, and is also the only adult hits station owned by Astral. Like most Toronto radio stations, this station transmits from the CN Tower
CN Tower
The CN Tower is a communications and observation tower in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Standing tall, it was completed in 1976, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure and world's tallest tower at the time. It held both records for 34 years until the completion of the Burj...
with an ERP
Effective radiated power
In radio telecommunications, effective radiated power or equivalent radiated power is a standardized theoretical measurement of radio frequency energy using the SI unit watts, and is determined by subtracting system losses and adding system gains...
of 28,900 watt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
s.
The station's playlist contains tracks released between 1964 and 2005, with a core focus on music released in the 1980s.
History
The station was launched on May 24, 1987 at 9:00 AM by Redmond Broadcasting, with the call letters CJEZ-FM, and carried an easy listeningEasy listening
Easy listening is a broad style of popular music and radio format that emerged in the 1950s, evolving out of big band music, and related to MOR music as played on many AM radio stations. It encompasses the exotica, beautiful music, light music, lounge music, ambient music, and space age pop genres...
format under the branding Easy 97. In the early 1990s, it changed its moniker to Lite 97, but soon after changed its format to classic hits
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
as Z97.3. In 1995, Redmond sold the station to Telemedia
Telemedia
Telemedia was a Canadian media company, which had holdings in radio, television and magazine publishing.The company was launched in 1968 by Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien.Telemedia was held privately until it became publicly traded in the late 1980s....
and on June 30, at 5:30 AM, the station changed monikers to 97.3 EZ Rock
EZ Rock
EZ Rock is a brand of adult contemporary music radio stations heard primarily in Canada. The branding was originally created by Telemedia in the mid-1990s for its adult contemporary stations, and based on the call sign of its former Toronto flagship CJEZ .Telemedia was later acquired by Standard...
. The slogan was "The Heartbeat of Toronto", with a soft rock
Soft rock
Soft rock is a style of music which uses the techniques of rock music to compose a softer, more toned-down sound. Soft rock songs generally tend to focus on themes like love, everyday life and relationships. The genre tends to make heavy use of acoustic guitars, pianos, synthesizers and sometimes...
/adult contemporary format that was geared primarily towards women ages 35-44. CJEZ became the flagship when several other stations owned by Telemedia at the time broadcasting a similar format were also rebranded as EZ Rock.
In the summer of 1998, EZ Rock Toronto aired liners in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and Cantonese
Cantonese
Cantonese is a dialect spoken primarily in south China.Cantonese may also refer to:* Yue Chinese, the Chinese language that includes Cantonese* Cantonese cuisine, the cuisine of Guangdong province...
as a way to acknowledge the racial diversity in the city.
The station went through several slogan changes during its tenure with the AC format, including "My Music at Work", which inspired the title of The Tragically Hip
The Tragically Hip
The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as The Hip, is a Canadian rock band from Kingston, Ontario, consisting of Gordon Downie , Paul Langlois , Rob Baker , Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fay . Since their formation in 1983 they have released 12 studio albums, two live albums, and 46 singles...
's 2000 album "Music At Work
Music at Work
Music @ Work is the seventh full-length album by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. It was released in 2000. It won the 2001 Juno Award for Best Rock Album...
". It also had a modified version of that slogan, "Toronto's Music @ Work". In later years, the station had other taglines such as "Toronto's Soft Rock Favourites", "Today's Soft Rock with Less Talk", and "A Better Variety of Yesterday and Today".
In 2002, Standard Radio bought Telemedia and kept CJEZ under their ownership, while some of the other EZ Rock stations were sold to either Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications Inc. is one of Canada's largest communications companies, particularly in the field of wireless communications, cable television, home phone and internet with additional telecommunications and mass media assets...
or Astral Media
Astral Media
Astral Media Inc. is a Canadian media corporation. It is Canada's largest radio broadcaster with 83 radio stations in eight provinces, and is a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, including The Movie Network, Super Écran, Family, Teletoon, Canal D, Canal Vie, VRAK.TV,...
.
In 2003, CHFI fired long time morning show host Erin Davis
Erin Davis
Erin Davis is a popular media figure in Toronto, Ontario. At present she is a co-host of 98.1 CHFI's Morning Show along with Mike Cooper. She also appears regularly as an MC or keynote speaker for many local organizations and events in Toronto.- Early life :...
and was replaced by Mad Dog and Billie
Mad Dog and Billie
Canadian broadcasters Jay "Mad Dog" Michaels and Billie Holiday hosted a succession of prominent morning drive time shows in the Toronto, Ontario radio market as Mad Dog and Billie, later Jay and Billie and then Mad Dog and Billie again.After CISS 92.5 FM Toronto, was acquired by Rogers...
. To combat this, in 2004, CJEZ hired Davis to partner along side Mike Cooper (who has been at the station since the flip to EZ Rock in 1995) because long time co-host Christine Cardoso left due to maternity leave. This worked well for the station, as the station became the most listened-to station in Toronto (and in Canada for some books). However, when Davis was rehired by CHFI in 2005 (and returned to mornings), CHFI's ratings skyrocketed back to #1, causing CJEZ to slip. To solve this, EZ Rock hired Stu Jeffries and Colleen Rusholme
Colleen Rusholme
Colleen Rusholme is a Canadian radio and television broadcaster. Rusholme began her career as a news reporter in Toronto....
for mornings and the station began leaning in a more Hot AC direction patterned after its sister station CKFM-FM
CKFM-FM
CKFM-FM, branded as 99-9 Virgin Radio , is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 99.9 on the FM dial in Toronto, Ontario. The station is owned by Astral Media...
. During its latter days as EZ Rock, the station removed songs from the 1960s.
In 2007, Astral purchased Standard, resulting in the Standard-owned EZ Rock stations across Canada (including CJEZ) become Astral-owned.
In 2008, Humble Howard, and Kim Stockwood
Kim Stockwood
Kim Stockwood is a Canadian pop singer and songwriter. She was a member of Atlantic Canadian regional music group Shaye from 2003-2009 with Damhnait Doyle and Tara MacLean ....
joined Rusholme and took over EZ Rock's morning show in August, replacing Stu Jeffries. In June of the same year, Rick Hodge (formerly a long time morning co-host on CHUM-FM
CHUM-FM
CHUM-FM is a Canadian radio station licensed to Toronto, Ontario and operated by Bell Media. It broadcasts at 104.5 MHz with a hot adult contemporary format that leans towards rhythmic adult contemporary...
) joined EZ Rock and sister CFRB (AM)
CFRB (AM)
CFRB, Newstalk 1010, is an AM radio clear-channel station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, broadcasting on 1010 kHz, with a shortwave radio simulcast by CFRX-SW on 6.070 MHz. The station broadcasts a mix of talk and news throughout the day from its transmitter located in the community of...
.
In November 2009, Hodge and Kim Stockwood left EZ Rock. A short time later, midday announcer Darryl Henry was gone from the station as well (he is now at CHFI). Henry has been with the station since 1997 and has hosted evenings and afternoons before moving to middays.
On December 24, 2009, during its standard Christmas music run during the holidays, EZ Rock's website was changed completely by hosting only a countdown clock and a posted message urging listeners to tune in on December 26, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. On December 26, at 6 AM, after playing EZ Rock's final song (which was Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
's version of This Christmas), the station began stunting with a recorded message on how to "view" the launch of the new station. Finally, at 9 AM, the station ended its 15 year run with AC, and flipped to adult hits
Adult hits
Adult hits is a radio format, popular in the early 2000s, that does not adhere to a specific music genre, but instead draws from a wider playlist...
(the first for the company, even though Astral is Canada's largest radio company) with the branding boom 97.3, Toronto's Greatest Hits, adopting the Boom FM
Boom FM
Boom FM is a branding of classic hits radio stations broadcasting in Canada. The network and its stations are operated by Astral Media.Boom FM was first launched on May 1, 2003 as a network of French-language oldies stations, and originally included CFEI-FM and CHRD-FM...
branding used by some of Astral's small-market French-language stations in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. The first song played on boom 97.3 was Don't Stop Believin'
Don't Stop Believin'
"Don't Stop Believin is a popular song by the American rock band Journey, originally released as a single from their 1981 album Escape, which became a #9 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 on its original release. It re-entered the UK Singles Chart in 2009 as a result of increased prominence of digital...
by Journey
Journey (band)
Journey is an American rock band formed in 1973 in San Francisco by former members of Santana. The band has gone through several phases; its strongest commercial success occurred between the 1978 and 1987, after which it temporarily disbanded...
. CJEZ's call letters were changed on December 27, 2009 to CHBM-FM. The station's airstaff remained intact for a time, but in May 2011 Humble Howard and Colleen Rusholme were let go by the station.
This now puts itself in direct competition with CING-FM
CING-FM
CING-FM is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts at 95.3 FM in Hamilton, Ontario. The station airs a classic hits format branded as Vinyl 95.3.CING was launched in 1976 by Burlington Broadcasting, at 107.9 FM in Burlington, Ontario...
, which became a classic hits station a month earlier in November 2009. This leaves CHFI-FM
CHFI-FM
CHFI-FM is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts an adult contemporary format at 98.1 on the FM dial in Toronto, Ontario. Like most Toronto radio and TV channels, it broadcasts atop the CN Tower with and ERP of 44 kW and has a sizeable amount of American listeners...
as the only adult contemporary station in the Toronto radio market. However, CKDX-FM
CKDX-FM
CKDX-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 88.5 FM in the Greater Toronto Area. Although officially licensed to Newmarket, the station's studios are located in Toronto...
could now be known as a direct competitor to that station. Overall, Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
is still the largest market with only one adult contemporary radio station, which is CHQM-FM
CHQM-FM
CHQM-FM is a Canadian radio station in the Metro Vancouver region of British Columbia. It broadcasts at 103.5 megahertz on the FM band with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts from a transmitter on Mount Seymour and airs an adult contemporary format...
. Even after the station switched to adult hits
Adult hits
Adult hits is a radio format, popular in the early 2000s, that does not adhere to a specific music genre, but instead draws from a wider playlist...
, the "boom 97.3" jingles sound similar to that of Virgin Radio.
It became Toronto's first adult hits station ever since former Jack FM
Jack FM
JACK FM is the alternative name and on-air brand of 60 radio stations in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. Jack stations play a mix of 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s hits with some current hot adult contemporary singles. Jack's slogan "playing what we want" can also be...
station CJAQ-FM (now CKIS-FM
CKIS-FM
CJAQ-FM is a Canadian radio station, which broadcasts at 96.9 FM in Calgary, Alberta. The station uses the on-air brand name Jack FM. It is the second Jack FM station in Canada and the world, after its sister CKLG-FM in Vancouver.-History:...
) switched to mainstream rock
Mainstream rock
Mainstream rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.-Format background:...
in 2006
2006 in radio
The year 2006 saw a number of significant events in radio broadcasting.-Events:*January 3 - The BJ Shea Morning Experience switches to KISW in Seattle, Washington, from the former FM Talk station KKWF....
. boom 97.3 became more successful than Toronto's original Jack FM station.
During the first book of boom 97.3, it debuted with a 9.3 share, slightly higher than what it was in EZ Rock's last book and one of the highest-rated books since 2005.
On May 28, 2010
2010 in radio
The following events occurred in radio in 2010.-Events:*Date Unknown: CHOI/Quebec City flips from Alternative Rock to News/Talk.*January 4: KJCS/Lufkin, Texas goes silent....
, Astral Media
Astral Media
Astral Media Inc. is a Canadian media corporation. It is Canada's largest radio broadcaster with 83 radio stations in eight provinces, and is a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, including The Movie Network, Super Écran, Family, Teletoon, Canal D, Canal Vie, VRAK.TV,...
launched CJOT-FM 99.7 in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
as the new flagship station of EZ Rock
EZ Rock
EZ Rock is a brand of adult contemporary music radio stations heard primarily in Canada. The branding was originally created by Telemedia in the mid-1990s for its adult contemporary stations, and based on the call sign of its former Toronto flagship CJEZ .Telemedia was later acquired by Standard...
, and took over CJEZ-FM's former website, EZRock.com.
CHBM is the only Boom FM station with an adult hits
Adult hits
Adult hits is a radio format, popular in the early 2000s, that does not adhere to a specific music genre, but instead draws from a wider playlist...
format, although its logo consists of the same font and 45 RPM insert
45 rpm adapter
A 45 rpm adapter is a small plastic or metal insert that goes in the middle of a 45-rpm record so it will play on a turntable...
device as its French-language counterparts.
The Boom FM branding was cloned on CJOT-FM on June 30, 2011
2011 in radio
The following events occurred in radio broadcasting in 2011.-Events:*January 1: 2 Knoxville stations change formats as WDLF and WYLV flip to K-LOVE and Air 1 , and a few Pittsburgh station change formats, as ESPN Radio moves from WEAE to WBGG, and Radio Disney moves from WWCS to the renamed WDDZ,...
, replacing adult contemporary with classic hits
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...
, unlike the format of CHBM-FM.
External links
- boom 97.3
- CHBM-FM history at Canadian Communications FoundationCanadian Communications FoundationThe Canadian Communications Foundation is a history of Canadian broadcasting for radio and television chronicles and documents. It also provides a history of radio and television stations, including networks, programs, broadcasters and many others....