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by Jeff Bateman |
Switch on the boom box, car stereo, or walkman - whatever's your choice in made-in-Japan circuitry that matter-of-factly taps into the ozone. Chances are you'll punch on the radio station of habit, maybe top 40, maybe rock n jock. But, take a minute, exercise your right, and take a spin along the AM and FM dial!
If you're in a major city, or anywhere near one, you'll encounter a lot of what sounds the same, yet quite a bit that's unique. Perhaps 18th Century classical music, or contemporary jazz. Maybe a talk show in Ukrainian or the machinegun clatter of a hardcore punk band.
This might not be much fun compared to humming along with Paula or doing air-guitar gymnastics in time with the Cult. Just count yourself lucky - as a Canadian, you've got more listening options, more real choice, than anyone anywhere in the world.
Europeans are stuck with state radio and very little else outside of illegal 'pirate' stations. In the essentially unregulated United States, the airwaves are jammed tighter than the skies over Lester Pearson Airport. Yet dollars speak louder than music and that means commercial radio rules with either the safest artists (Madonna, Phil Collins, etc) or the most over-used oldies (the Beatles and Elvis add nauseum).
Canadian commercial radio, too, is generally conservative in its airtime. That's a direct response to the realities of a competitive system which is influenced by advertisers who spend a half billioin dollars each year on Canadian radio campaigns. Now, that's small potatoes compared to the sums lavished on television and print, but it's large enough to permit a good percentage of our 300 or so radio stations to earn a profit.
The objective of every commercial broadcaster is to entice the most possible listeners...the right listeners. Most advertisers aren't terribly interested in anyone over 55 or under 18; their philosophy is that the best consumers are young adults and baby boomers (the 40-year olds).
To capture this prized 'demographic' radio programmers rely almost exclusively on a half-dozen music formats (see box). There are shining exceptions, but stations in each format play essentially the same songs. In fact, there is less and less difference between the formats themselves. That's because in today's high-stakes record business, it's now felt that no artist can become a success without appealing to at least two different formats. The goal of music producers is to create records so broadly adaptable that they 'crossover'.
Rod Stewart's Downtown Train was a smash on CAR, CHR and Pop Adult radio. Ditto the melodic Paul Janz single Every Little Bit. Midnight Oil's Blue Sky Mine was tailor-made for both hard rock and top-40 radio, but was too intense for Pop Adult. Seeking an older audience, hard rocking Alannah Myles released the tender (for her) ballad, Lover of Mine and sure enough, it became a hit on the three rock/pop formats.
The result of all this maneuvering by artists and broadcasters is mix-and-match radio, lean on character, heavy on the safest, most predictable and/or popular music. To most listeners, this is just fine. Good sounds, a suitable mood or ambience, a little news and weather, entertaining disc jockeys - it's a formula that's been used throughout the radio era in North America.
That would likely be the extent of radio right here if not for the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). This is the federal government watchdog that licences broadcasters and ensures that listeners are given a broad range of predominantly Canadian music and talk (or 'foreground') programming.
This philosophy applies to commercial radio, which is allowed to play the hits only while heeding rigid Canadian content and foreground quotas. Yet it is much more vividlly illustrated in the CBC, mothership of Canadian broadcasting. CBC radio and television operate entirely at the whim of Parliament, which often views it as a luxury in the age of the deficit. Still, anyone with an eye not on the bottom line in this country realizes that the CBC is as vital an institution as any in Canada, fighting to mirror (or create, some argue) a national identity. By comparison, commercial broadcasters treat us as generic North Americans, little different from our neighbours.
CBC-AM programming is almost entirely of the foreground variety. It includes acclaimed news programs such as As It Happens and long-running talk shows like Morningside and Basic Black.
Yet the CBC also offers some firstrate music programs. Saturday evenings are given over to an excellent all-Canadian rock show, Coast to Coast. It mixes interviews with current songs from established acts and such new talent as Andrew Cash, The Pursuit of Happiness, and Sarah McLachlan. A little later, Quebecois songwriter and recording artist Jim Corcoran hosts two hours of French Canadian pop music, the only chance English Canadians ever get to hear what's happening in a scene that's given us Celine Dion and Mitsou. For night owls and insomniacs, the most polished alternative rock radio in Canada can be heard weeknights on Brave New Waves. Like everything on the CBC it's commercial-free.
Then there is campus radio, the antithesis of the CHUMs, CFOXs and Q107s that rule the private sector. Broadcasting from university campuses across the country and run by a small core of paid staff, it is an example of just how diverse and exciting radio can be.
Campus radio first broadcast only within the confines of the university. Over the past 15 years it's been given access to the FM dial by the CRTC. Every one of the 29 full time campus stations has its own unique character, formed by the personalities of the dj's and listeners.
"We don't think of our listeners as numbers or demographics," says John Stevenson, president of the national Campus Radio Association. "They're people with needs and interests, like and dislikes, and they're curious about things that don't get addressed on the commercial system."
Granted, a campus station can be amateurish. The musical selection can be too intense and/or oddball for many, and it's not always planned out too logically - the speed metal some campus stations like to play at 7 am guarantees they're not often used for clock-radio wake-up calls!
What the discriminating campus listener needs is a program guide - the hour-by-hour listing of music and special interests shows published by most campus stations. With it, you can treat your radio like a TV, tuning in for a favourite style of music. It's music you won't hear anywhere else, delivered by informed hosts who aren't there because they're earning a wage but because they're genuine fans who do it out of a love of music.
Campus radio is one easy way for would-be broadcasters to get experience; it employs some 4,000 volunteers in researching and assembling programs, fund-raising, commuity relations, running the music library, hosting programs and doing paperwork. You'll be welcomed as a volunteer and it's that same kind of openness and spirit that makes campus radio such a vital alternative to its hard-sell, big time counterpart.
The Format Game - Commercial Radio
Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR)
Top 40 radio and home for Paula Abdul, New Kids On The Block, Maestro Fresh-Wes and the hottest pop hits. Most listeners are teenagers and young adults. Because of CRTC regulations, it's invariably found on the AM band.
Contemporary Album Radio (CAR)
Rock n roll as hard as commercial radio lets it get. Golden greats from Zeppelin and ZZ Top to current tunes by Aerosmith, Bon Jovi and Kim Mitchell. This is tough stuff, for listeners aged 18 to 34.
Pop Adult
The soft-rock version of CAR, tailored primarily for young and middle-aged. The Rolling Stones, Tears for Fears and Bad English are here, but only their pop-oriented songs. Mainstays include Chicago, Luba and Elton John.
Country
Home of the twang for those dreaming of Nashville North. Tune in for Patty Loveless, Clint Black, the Judds and such homegrown as k.d. lang, George Fox and the Great Western Orchestra.
Easy Listening
The last refuge for your grandparents. Nostalgic re-runs of Frank Sinatra's Strangers in the Night and instrumental remakes of soft-rock hits (i.e. elevator music).
All-Talk
Every major city has a station that devotes its time to news, sports, city shows, weather and talk, talk, and more talk.
©1999 TG Magazine/Le Magazine TG
tgmag@tgmag.ca