The R3-30
Encyclopedia
The R3-30 is a weekly record chart
show on CBC Radio 3
, which counts down the week's top indie rock
singles as determined by airplay (top 30), listener feedback (Chartbreaker segment), and other criteria (Tastemaker segment). The show, hosted by Craig Norris
and produced by Pedro Mendes, airs at 11 a.m Eastern time
(8 a.m. Pacific time
) Fridays on CBC Radio 3, and is repeated at various times through the following week. The program also aired on Sunday mornings from midnight to 3 a.m. on CBC Radio 2 until March 17, 2007. The program airs on web radio on the CBC Radio 3 website Fridays at 9 a.m. Pacific time
, Saturdays at 6 a.m. Pacific time
, Sundays at noon Pacific time
and the downloadable R3-30 podcast debuts on Mondays. The final episode that aired on CBC Radio 2 was the first and only live episode where listeners could call the show in real time.
The program was launched on August 26, 2006.
On the week of April 26, 2007, The R3-30 had its first episode without Craig Norris hosting. The episode featured former Brave New Waves
host Brent Bambury
as the special guest host while Norris was away. In August 2007, Amanda Putz
guest hosted two episodes of the program while Norris was on vacation; the following August, Vish Khanna
filled in similarly. Khanna has also filled in for Mendes, while he was on a five-week sabbatical which included adopting a son from Korea. In summer 2011, both regular hosts were replaced for 14 weeks by the solo-hosting Dave Shumka.
Originally, each week the show marked the week's fastest-rising song on the charts with a clip of a choir singing "Alleluia", and the week's fastest-dropping song with a descending slide whistle
tone. In early 2007, the show's use of the slide whistle resulted in a comedic on-air feud between Norris and the band Henri Fabergé and the Adorables
.
A small choir of CBC Radio 3 employees sang each number, as well as occasional side comments, such as "songs are nice!" or "yet another collective
!", which Norris and Mendes played at random moments during the show. The network has also aired a comedic commercial promoting a (fictional) compilation album of these R3-30 choral comment jingles — including some, such as "does this look infected?", "you're dead to me!" and "are those new slacks?", which have never actually been used on the show.
As of 2010, these effects have been replaced with a computerized voice
, which the show has anthropomorphized
and named the 'Jingle-Matic 3000'. The Jingle-Matic and Norris have an ongoing, mutually antagonistic relationship.
Several major Canadian cities also have their own "town jingles", which are played whenever the city gets mentioned in a song intro or one of the feature segments. Town jingles consist of a voice reciting a nickname for the city, such as "Toontown" for Saskatoon
, "Cowtown" for Calgary
, "The Royal City" for Guelph
, "The Hammer" for Hamilton
or "The Suds" for Sudbury, accompanied by a related sound effect.
. Since March 17, 2007, the show is now heard primarily by listeners who already have a satellite radio, and accordingly the prize is a surprise pack (which may sometimes still be a satellite radio) determined by spinning the "Wheel of Freedom".
The show also occasionally includes a "Tastemaker" segment, in which a song not currently on the chart is proposed by a music blogger, a concert promoter or somebody else in the Canadian music industry. Unlike Chartbreakers, however, the Tastemaker segment does not air every week.
. While the radio show plays all charting songs, the podcast names the whole list, but in order to keep the podcast to one hour in length only certain songs are actually played (usually most debuts, the Wheel of Freedom segment, and the top 3 at minimum).
In September 2007, a web radio version of the R3-30 was introduced, which allowed listeners who do not own Sirius satellite radios to listen to the show on the internet. The show features the same format as the Sirius version of the R3-30, however the web radio version does not feature any non-Canadian artists in the programme, while the Sirius version does. With the introduction of the web radio R3-30 is a feature called "The R3-30 Fan Club Favourite". The Fan Club Favourite is a segment where an R3-30 fan can submit requests for songs they would want to hear on the R3-30 through an R3-30 centred Facebook
group. Each week one song is chosen and played on the program.
The first #1 song on the chart was "Anything" by Kinnie Starr
, on August 31, 2006. Two songs, "Black Mirror
" by Arcade Fire and "Civil Twilight" by The Weakerthans
, are currently tied for the status of the chart's longest-running #1, with five weeks each atop the chart. Both songs are from 2007.
The Weakerthans were also the first band ever to reach #1 on the chart with two different songs — their cover of Rheostatics
' "Bad Time to Be Poor" reached #1 the week of June 21, 2007, and "Civil Twilight" hit the top spot the week of November 15, 2007. "Civil Twilight" was also #1 in the R3-30's end of year chart for 2007.
In July 2009, Metric
became the first band ever to hit #1 with two different singles from the same album. Their song "Gold Guns Girls" recently became their third #1 from the same album. Other artists to have reached #1 with more than one song include Stars, Tokyo Police Club
, Handsome Furs
, Great Lake Swimmers
, Julie Doiron
, Joel Plaskett
and Chad VanGaalen
.
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
show on CBC Radio 3
CBC Radio 3
CBC Radio 3 is a radio station that consists of two parts devoted to Canadian arts and music: a radio service which is available on Sirius Satellite Radio and streaming audio, and several daily and weekly podcasts from the CBC Radio 3 website...
, which counts down the week's top indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
singles as determined by airplay (top 30), listener feedback (Chartbreaker segment), and other criteria (Tastemaker segment). The show, hosted by Craig Norris
Craig Norris
Craig Norris is a Canadian rock singer and radio personality. He is the lead singer for The Kramdens, and is also a host on CBC Radio 3, including the network's weekly record chart show The R3-30, as well as the CBC Radio One program Laugh Out Loud...
and produced by Pedro Mendes, airs at 11 a.m Eastern time
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
(8 a.m. Pacific time
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
) Fridays on CBC Radio 3, and is repeated at various times through the following week. The program also aired on Sunday mornings from midnight to 3 a.m. on CBC Radio 2 until March 17, 2007. The program airs on web radio on the CBC Radio 3 website Fridays at 9 a.m. Pacific time
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
, Saturdays at 6 a.m. Pacific time
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
, Sundays at noon Pacific time
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
and the downloadable R3-30 podcast debuts on Mondays. The final episode that aired on CBC Radio 2 was the first and only live episode where listeners could call the show in real time.
The program was launched on August 26, 2006.
On the week of April 26, 2007, The R3-30 had its first episode without Craig Norris hosting. The episode featured former Brave New Waves
Brave New Waves
Brave New Waves was a Canadian radio program which aired on CBC Stereo, later known as CBC Radio 2, from 1984 to 2007. Airing weeknights from midnight to 4 a.m., the show profiled alternative and indie music and culture, including film, comics, literature and art...
host Brent Bambury
Brent Bambury
Brent Bambury is a Canadian radio and television personality, who has hosted a number of programs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. A New Brunswick native, Bambury began his CBC career at stations in Saint John, Halifax and Montreal. In 1984, he became a correspondent for CBC Stereo's...
as the special guest host while Norris was away. In August 2007, Amanda Putz
Amanda Putz
Amanda C. Putz is a Canadian radio personality. Formerly the host of Fuse and Bandwidth on CBC Radio One, she moved to Hong Kong in 2006, and briefly hosted a program on Radio Television Hong Kong's English network before becoming a news announcer for the station.In April 2007, Putz had a guest...
guest hosted two episodes of the program while Norris was on vacation; the following August, Vish Khanna
Vish Khanna
Vish Khanna is a Canadian musician, music journalist and radio personality, currently best known as the host of The Wrath of Khanna show on CBC Radio 3, his work as an Assistant Editor at Exclaim! Magazine, and as a contributor to Signal to Noise. Khanna was born in Kitchener and raised in nearby...
filled in similarly. Khanna has also filled in for Mendes, while he was on a five-week sabbatical which included adopting a son from Korea. In summer 2011, both regular hosts were replaced for 14 weeks by the solo-hosting Dave Shumka.
Format
In addition to playing the charting and chartbreaking songs, one of the show's signatures is the comedic banter between Norris and Mendes, as well as the extensive use of audio clips and sound effects.Originally, each week the show marked the week's fastest-rising song on the charts with a clip of a choir singing "Alleluia", and the week's fastest-dropping song with a descending slide whistle
Slide whistle
A slide whistle is a wind instrument consisting of a fipple like a recorder's and a tube with a piston in it. Thus it has an air reed like some woodwinds, but varies the pitch with a slide. The construction is rather like a bicycle pump...
tone. In early 2007, the show's use of the slide whistle resulted in a comedic on-air feud between Norris and the band Henri Fabergé and the Adorables
Henri Fabergé and the Adorables
Henri Fabergé and the Adorables are a Canadian indie rock band formed in 2005 from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.-History:Henri Fabergé and the Adorables formed in 2005 and is a musical collective including members of The Bicycles, Born Ruffians, Spitfires & Mayflowers, Woodhands, The Rural Alberta...
.
A small choir of CBC Radio 3 employees sang each number, as well as occasional side comments, such as "songs are nice!" or "yet another collective
Musical collective
Musical collective is a phrase used to describe a group of musicians in which membership is flexible and creative control is shared. Such entities have transitioned from the traditional hierarchical configuration that features either a frontman , or a plurality of band members in tension for...
!", which Norris and Mendes played at random moments during the show. The network has also aired a comedic commercial promoting a (fictional) compilation album of these R3-30 choral comment jingles — including some, such as "does this look infected?", "you're dead to me!" and "are those new slacks?", which have never actually been used on the show.
As of 2010, these effects have been replaced with a computerized voice
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
, which the show has anthropomorphized
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
and named the 'Jingle-Matic 3000'. The Jingle-Matic and Norris have an ongoing, mutually antagonistic relationship.
Several major Canadian cities also have their own "town jingles", which are played whenever the city gets mentioned in a song intro or one of the feature segments. Town jingles consist of a voice reciting a nickname for the city, such as "Toontown" for Saskatoon
Saskatoon
Saskatoon is a city in central Saskatchewan, Canada, on the South Saskatchewan River. Residents of the city of Saskatoon are called Saskatonians. The city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Corman Park No. 344....
, "Cowtown" for 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...
, "The Royal City" for Guelph
Guelph
Guelph is a city in Ontario, Canada.Guelph may also refer to:* Guelph , consisting of the City of Guelph, Ontario* Guelph , as the above* University of Guelph, in the same city...
, "The Hammer" for Hamilton
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
or "The Suds" for Sudbury, accompanied by a related sound effect.
Features
In addition to the show's weekly Top 30 charts, the show airs three "Chartbreakers" each week, songs not currently on the chart which are proposed by listeners. During the show's run on CBC Radio 2, the prize for pitching a song selected for the Chartbreaker segment was a satellite radioSatellite radio
Satellite radio is an analogue or digital radio signal that is relayed through one or more satellites and thus can be received in a much wider geographical area than terrestrial FM radio stations...
. Since March 17, 2007, the show is now heard primarily by listeners who already have a satellite radio, and accordingly the prize is a surprise pack (which may sometimes still be a satellite radio) determined by spinning the "Wheel of Freedom".
The show also occasionally includes a "Tastemaker" segment, in which a song not currently on the chart is proposed by a music blogger, a concert promoter or somebody else in the Canadian music industry. Unlike Chartbreakers, however, the Tastemaker segment does not air every week.
Podcast and web radio
The show is also now available as an hour long podcastPodcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
. While the radio show plays all charting songs, the podcast names the whole list, but in order to keep the podcast to one hour in length only certain songs are actually played (usually most debuts, the Wheel of Freedom segment, and the top 3 at minimum).
In September 2007, a web radio version of the R3-30 was introduced, which allowed listeners who do not own Sirius satellite radios to listen to the show on the internet. The show features the same format as the Sirius version of the R3-30, however the web radio version does not feature any non-Canadian artists in the programme, while the Sirius version does. With the introduction of the web radio R3-30 is a feature called "The R3-30 Fan Club Favourite". The Fan Club Favourite is a segment where an R3-30 fan can submit requests for songs they would want to hear on the R3-30 through an R3-30 centred Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
group. Each week one song is chosen and played on the program.
#1 songs
Because the radio and podcast versions of each week's chart are released on different dates, the chart uses the end date of the week to which it pertains, rather than the beginning date.The first #1 song on the chart was "Anything" by Kinnie Starr
Kinnie Starr
Alida Kinnie Starr Pierre is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Calgary, Alberta. Her music, which blends hip hop and alternative rock, has been described as "hip hop aggro groove". Her songs have been included on the soundtracks for the TV series The L Word and the movie Thirteen...
, on August 31, 2006. Two songs, "Black Mirror
Black Mirror (song)
"Black Mirror" is the first single by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire in the US from their second album Neon Bible ....
" by Arcade Fire and "Civil Twilight" by The Weakerthans
The Weakerthans
The Weakerthans are a four-piece Canadian indie rock band.-History:The band was formed in 1997 in Winnipeg, Manitoba by John K. Samson, after he left the punk band Propagandhi to start a publishing company. Samson joined forces with bassist John P...
, are currently tied for the status of the chart's longest-running #1, with five weeks each atop the chart. Both songs are from 2007.
The Weakerthans were also the first band ever to reach #1 on the chart with two different songs — their cover of Rheostatics
Rheostatics
Rheostatics was a Genie Award-winning Canadian indie rock band, active from 1980 to 2007.Although they had only one Top 40 hit, "Claire" in 1995, they were simultaneously one of Canada's most influential and unconventional rock bands, a band whose eclectic take on pop and rock music has been...
' "Bad Time to Be Poor" reached #1 the week of June 21, 2007, and "Civil Twilight" hit the top spot the week of November 15, 2007. "Civil Twilight" was also #1 in the R3-30's end of year chart for 2007.
In July 2009, Metric
Metric (band)
Metric is a Canadian indie rock and New Wave band founded in 1998 in Toronto. The band has also at various times been based in Montreal, London, New York City and Los Angeles...
became the first band ever to hit #1 with two different singles from the same album. Their song "Gold Guns Girls" recently became their third #1 from the same album. Other artists to have reached #1 with more than one song include Stars, Tokyo Police Club
Tokyo Police Club
Tokyo Police Club is an indie rock band from Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. It consists of vocalist and bassist David Monks , keyboardist Graham Wright, guitarist Josh Hook , and drummer Greg Alsop ....
, Handsome Furs
Handsome Furs
Handsome Furs is a Montreal-based indie rock duo which consists of Dan Boeckner, of Wolf Parade and Atlas Strategic, and his wife, writer Alexei Perry.-Music:...
, Great Lake Swimmers
Great Lake Swimmers
Great Lake Swimmers is a Canadian band built around the melodic folk rock songs of singer-songwriter Tony Dekker. Originally from Wainfleet, Ontario, the band is currently based in Toronto....
, Julie Doiron
Julie Doiron
Julie Doiron is an award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter of Acadian heritage.-Background:Doiron started playing guitar in Eric's Trip at the age of eighteen, having joined the band at the insistence of her then-boyfriend, Rick White, also of Eric's Trip...
, Joel Plaskett
Joel Plaskett
Joel Plaskett is a Canadian rock musician originally from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. He grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia and now resides across the harbour in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia...
and Chad VanGaalen
Chad VanGaalen
Chad VanGaalen is a Canadian musician and artist from Calgary, Alberta.-Infiniheart:Following a few scattered independent releases, done mostly on homemade CDs with hand-drawn art, VanGaalen released Infiniheart on Canadian independent label Flemish Eye...
.