The Spirit of Radio

There was something magical at Toronto's CFNY 102.1 from the late 70s to the mid 80s. This site celebrates the time the airwaves "crackled with life". Here's to a great group of people that proved radio could have integrity and personality. Here's to the memory of a radio station was about the art.

Chris Sheppard- 80s Style! Chris Sheppard 2001 Chris Sheppard and Megamixes were virtually synonymous as he consistently remixed tracks with a passion - coming to us live from RPM on a Saturday night! Yeeeeeeah Boys!

FM 102.1 Today Still best of breed, but suffers from the same malaise most modern radio stations have succumbed to - playing generic music chosen to appeal to the largest audience. The resulting playlists are predictable, inoffensive and devoid of soul. CFNY 102.1 The Spirit of Radio is now edge 102. Gone are the days of cool, but unsound business practices such as never playing a song more than once a day or allowing the DJs the freedom to ignore the playlist.

The Spirit Reincarnated David Marsden, the founder of CFNY and Coast 1040 in Vancouver (RIP) now heads up the 2kool4radio.com web radio station. Yes, cheesy name, but the spirit is alive! Alive! The first time I tuned in, I had the same euphoric rush I had when I was first introduced to CFNY in the early eighties. I didn't recognize most of the music, but I loved it! George Lucas might not be able to make good Star Wars movies anymore, but Dave Marsden still knows how to make a truly great radio station - even if it's not on the radio anymore.

MP3s! Scott has over 2000 records which largely mirror the collection that CFNY played in the 80s - and he has the MP3s to prove it. Surf on over to get a "new" CFNY-type tune from the 80's every week!

SpiritOfRadio.ca Scott also has a nice CFNY fan site.

The Spirit of Radio Rush's 1979 tribute to CFNY (and UK top 15 hit).

Worst of 85 Examples of what one would NOT hear on CFNY. I recorded this "Top 10 List" off the air in '85 and converted it to MP3. It pokes fun at the type of music being played on the other more popular stations at the time.

Intro 1, Intro 2, Intro 3, Intro 4, Intro 5, Intro 6, Intro 7 Several CFNY intros I taped many moons ago.

CD Listings A while ago I tranferred many of the tapes I'd made of CFNY in the 80s onto CD. Here are the details.

CFNY played alternative music when it truly was alternative. This, of course, spoiled me. Now there are two types of "retro-80s" music for me - the normal type - with Cyndi Lauper, Def Lepard et al and the CFNY type with the likes of Aztec Camera and Skinny Puppy. And it's pretty hard to find the latter. I have a void that an 80s night at a club just can't fill. Oh well, didn't Socrates once say it was better to be an unhappy wise man than a happy pig? Something like that.

Perhaps it was inevitable. Radio is a business and needs to make money for their owners. CFNY wasn't aiming for the greatest market share, or if it was, it was gloriously misguided. In any case, with the knowledge managers have today, it is obvious that "looking at the numbers" is vital for generating the greatest audience share and hence, the most ad revenue. It's far safer to play a song that is already a hit than take a chance on a song that may or may not be popular. It is also more lucrative to play a song that is already a hit than to build an audience for a song, even if it ends up being a hit. When it becomes a hit, then it can be played. But if a new song is to be played, it had better be test marketed beforehand. And better yet, the tune should come from an established artist. Much safer. Theses are the new rules for radio. And we suffer for it.

There's a saying that everyone has one good book in them. After that, there's got to be some outstanding talent required. I think it's the same with music. Every band has one good song in them. But if they have more, they are uncommonly good. I think the majority of bands are not uncommonly good. So what does this mean? Well, CFNY played a lot of songs by one-hit-wonders. This sounds like a bad thing at first blush but look at what it means. It means that CFNY was playing a song because they thought it was good and not because the artist was famous. Sure there are notabe exceptions like the Beatles and U2 and they deserve to have a good many of their songs played. However, did Voice of America have much more than Story of Love to offer? Not really. So, why not play their one good song, and make room for good songs from others? Why fill up the airwaves with followup singles? Do you expect movie sequels to be good? No, you realize that most aren't as good as the original, but there are the occasional exceptions. OK, Frankie Goes to Hollywood had a good followup to Relax, namely, Two Tribes. But that was an exception. Look no further than the Frankie example for a dearth of other great tunes - there aren't any. Sure, some of their other tracks were passable, but none as great as those two mentioned. So, what's better than to make room for new artists with fresh creative talent.

CFNY was also known for breaking many futre hits. It was simply becuase someone at the station liked a song and the management was confident enough in their staff's abilities to let them play what they liked. Hit lists, thankfully, were not required. This also had the effect of giving the station an edgy feel. They weren't always on the money, but when they were, there was nothing else like it.

Anyway, now there's 2kool4radio.com so there's no longer any need to feel like you missed out. If you weren't around for CFNY and are still in your formative years, you owe it to yourself, but be warned, you will be spoiled and never enjoy the radio again.

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