Freestyle was a radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 program on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...

's Radio One

CBC Radio One

CBC Radio One is the English language news and information radio network of the publicly-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial free and offers both local and national programming...

 network, which aired from 2005 to 2007. For the first year, the program's hosts were Cameron Phillips

Cameron Phillips (broadcaster)

Cameron Phillips is a Canadian radio broadcaster, best known as the co-host of CBC Radio One's Freestyle...

 and Kelly Ryan; in December 2006, Ryan left the program and was replaced by Marsha Lederman.

Freestyle combined contemporary music with generally irreverent stories from 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...

 and the rest of the world. The show also featured regular commentators including "music guy" Daniel Levitin

Daniel Levitin

Professor Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D. is a prominent American cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, record producer, musician, and writer...

 and book reviewer Sara O'Leary. It first aired on November 9, 2005, replacing The Roundup

The Roundup

The Roundup was a weekday afternoon program on the Radio One network of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, hosted by Tetsuro Shigematsu and Bill Richardson at different times. It was heard Monday to Friday from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. . The show mixed music with calls and letters from listeners,...

. The show was, however, criticized by some CBC Radio listeners who claimed that it followed a format more common to commercial radio than to the traditional CBC Radio One style.

Freestyle had its final broadcast on April 13, 2007, and was replaced on the CBC Radio One schedule by Q

Q (radio show)

Q is a Canadian radio show, which airs on CBC Radio One. Hosted by Jian Ghomeshi, the program is a national arts magazine show. The program is also now syndicated to public radio stations in the United States through Public Radio International....

.

Scheduling

Officially, Freestyle aired weekdays from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. However, it was also one of the most variably-scheduled programs on the network — some stations aired only the first hour of the program, while others shifted the program to the 1:00 to 3:00 slot, and still others didn't air the program at all.

Only the first hour of Freestyle aired in Calgary

Calgary

Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...

, Edmonton

Edmonton

Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

, 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...

, Toronto

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...

 and 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,...

. In each of those markets, the local afternoon program

CBC Radio One local programming

Stations in Canada's CBC Radio One network each produce some local programming in addition to the network schedule.The amount of local programming may vary from station to station. For instance, some stations in smaller markets may produce their own morning show, but air an afternoon show from...

 started at 3:00 p.m. instead of 4:00. However, the stations' rebroadcast transmitters outside of the main markets aired all of Freestyle and then joined the host station's local program in progress at 4:00.

In Winnipeg

Winnipeg

Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

, Freestyle aired from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., airing the whole program but preempting the final hour of the regional noon-hour show. Again, however, rebroadcast transmitters outside of Winnipeg aired all of the noon show, then ran Freestyle in its normal time slot and joined the local afternoon show in progress at 4:00 p.m.

The program did not air at all in the Northwest Territories

Northwest Territories

The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...

 or Nunavut

Nunavut

Nunavut is the largest and newest federal territory of Canada; it was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the Nunavut Act and the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act, though the actual boundaries had been established in 1993...

, as the CBC North

CBC North

CBC North is the name for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio and television service in the Canadian Arctic. Originally known as the CBC Northern Service, its first operations began in 1958 with radio broadcasts including the takeover of CFYK, originally a Royal Canadian Signal...

 stations in those territories entirely preempted the program in order to offer special local programming in aboriginal

Aboriginal peoples in Canada

Aboriginal peoples in Canada comprise the First Nations, Inuit and Métis. The descriptors "Indian" and "Eskimo" have fallen into disuse in Canada and are commonly considered pejorative....

languages.