CHDI-FM
Encyclopedia
CHDI-FM is the callsign of a Canadian
radio station
, broadcasting at 102.9 FM in Edmonton, Alberta. The station broadcasts a modern rock
format under the brand name SONiC 102.9.
The station spent its first year broadcasting from a run down oil-field trailer on the property of the Airways Country Inn in Nisku, Alberta. The station founders wanted to get the station on the air as quickly as possible so it was decided they would broadcast from the trailer until their Gateway Boulevard
studios were complete. Local media latched on to their "pirate
" story, giving them a huge shot in the arm in their first year.
CHDI FM is now owned and operated by Rogers Radio
. Many listeners have voiced concerns over the takeover from the independently owned OK Radio Group, however many feel the change will ensure the station survives.
On September 17, 2007, Sonic 102.9 began the "Own Your Own Home Edition", a contest where one Edmontonian will win a $50,000 down payment on a Rohit Infusion condo
or townhouse. On November 3, Sonic announced that James Prince was the winner.
Since the station was launched in 2005, ratings have been steady around a 6.0 share, peaking at an 8.0 share, 4th place station in spring 2007, however CHDI dropped to a 4.8 share in fall 2008, making it the 10th most listened to station in Edmonton.
Upon inception of the new BBM Canada radio ratings devices, the PPM (Personal People Meter), Sonic has held a steady 8.0 market share and a top 4 or 5 radio station in the Edmonton market. A fact many in the Edmonton market knew to be more accurate with the audience, based on Sonic's prevalence with the listeners.
CHDI-FM is the only Edmonton radio station launched in 2005
to have not changed its format, while CHBN-FM
moved from rhythmic top 40 to top 40 later that year, and regarding CHMC-FM
dropping smooth jazz
for adult contemporary in 2010
.
Jason Manning - former SONiC Music Director who moved to Medicine Hat to launch and program the Rogers station Rock 105.3
, now PD in Victoria for Rogers radio properties there.
, Tupelo Honey
, and My Sister Ocean.
Former bands of the month include: Drive By Punch, Screwtape Lewis, Murder City Sparrows, Jets to Theory, Red Shag Carpet, Our Mercury
, Whitey Houston
, Mark Birtles Project, Casanova Playboys, Calico Drive, Rake, Ellis, The Surgents, Tim Gilbertson
, Hot Panda, Radioforhelp, Greater Than Giants, Portal, Michael Rault and the Mixed Signals, Christian Hansen and the Autistics, and Parachute Penguin.
The first "Sonic BOTM" was in July 2005.
In addition to airtime, bands perform live at the Pawn Shop in Edmonton
, Alberta, after a month of promotion on the station. Generally, these shows are sold out.
in Edmonton. The line-up was The Wet Secrets, Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker
, illScarlett
, Girl Talk, Metric
, Franz Ferdinand
, Alexisonfire
, and headliners, Billy Talent
. Taking Back Sunday experienced a flight delay the morning of the festival in Kansas City, and were unable to perform. The event was hosted by Jason Mewes
, of Jay and Silent Bob
fame. The festival drew a crowd of over 11,000. The festival also featured a pro wrestling match between each band, and culminated in a battle royale prior to Billy Talent's set. The inaugural festival was a huge success and thus promoter, The Union, announced that the festival would return on September 4, 2010.
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...
radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
, broadcasting at 102.9 FM in Edmonton, Alberta. The station broadcasts a modern rock
Modern rock
Modern rock is a rock format commonly found on commercial radio; the format consists primarily of the alternative rock genre...
format under the brand name SONiC 102.9.
General information and history
The OK Radio Group Ltd. was granted this license in 2005 as one of three new FM stations in Edmonton.The station spent its first year broadcasting from a run down oil-field trailer on the property of the Airways Country Inn in Nisku, Alberta. The station founders wanted to get the station on the air as quickly as possible so it was decided they would broadcast from the trailer until their Gateway Boulevard
Gateway Boulevard
Gateway Boulevard is a one-way major arterial in south Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is a major commuter route for communities south of Edmonton, such Leduc....
studios were complete. Local media latched on to their "pirate
Pirate broadcasting
Pirate broadcasting is illegal unlicensed broadcasting, referring to:*pirate radio*pirate televisionSee also: broadcast signal intrusion, when a licensed broadcast signal is overridden by an unauthorized signal, more akin to real piracy....
" story, giving them a huge shot in the arm in their first year.
CHDI FM is now owned and operated by Rogers Radio
Rogers Radio
Rogers Radio is a subdivision of Rogers Communications, specializing in the radio broadcasting industry. Rogers Radio is Canada's third-largest radio broadcaster....
. Many listeners have voiced concerns over the takeover from the independently owned OK Radio Group, however many feel the change will ensure the station survives.
On September 17, 2007, Sonic 102.9 began the "Own Your Own Home Edition", a contest where one Edmontonian will win a $50,000 down payment on a Rohit Infusion condo
Condominium
A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...
or townhouse. On November 3, Sonic announced that James Prince was the winner.
Since the station was launched in 2005, ratings have been steady around a 6.0 share, peaking at an 8.0 share, 4th place station in spring 2007, however CHDI dropped to a 4.8 share in fall 2008, making it the 10th most listened to station in Edmonton.
Upon inception of the new BBM Canada radio ratings devices, the PPM (Personal People Meter), Sonic has held a steady 8.0 market share and a top 4 or 5 radio station in the Edmonton market. A fact many in the Edmonton market knew to be more accurate with the audience, based on Sonic's prevalence with the listeners.
CHDI-FM is the only Edmonton radio station launched in 2005
2005 in radio
The year 2005 in radio involved some significant events.-Events:*April 29 - KFRC 610 AM in San Francisco, switches formats as a result of ownership change. KFRC becomes KEAR, the "Sound of the New Life", a listener-supported, gospel/religious only station. It had been previously KFRC from...
to have not changed its format, while CHBN-FM
CHBN-FM
CHBN-FM is a contemporary hit radio station based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The station, which is jointly owned by Rogers Radio, operates at 91.7 MHz with an ERP of 100 kW.-History:...
moved from rhythmic top 40 to top 40 later that year, and regarding CHMC-FM
CHMC-FM
CIUP-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 99.3 FM in Edmonton, Alberta. The station, which uses the brand name up! 99.3, broadcasts an Adult Hits music format...
dropping smooth jazz
Smooth jazz
Smooth jazz is a genre of music that grew out of jazz fusion and is influenced by R&B, funk, rock, and pop music styles ....
for adult contemporary in 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....
.
On-air personalities
- Garner AndrewsGarner AndrewsGarner Andrews is a popular morning radio personality in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He has been voted "#1 radio personality in Edmonton" for four years straight by See Magazine...
- Host of the Garner Andrews Show weekday mornings, from 5:30 am until 10:00 am. Garner has become known for his rants/discussions on various subjects, from using debit at the Tim HortonsTim HortonsTim Hortons Inc. is a Canadian fast casual restaurant known for its coffee and doughnuts. It is also Canada's largest fast food service with over 3000 stores nationwide. It was founded in 1964 in Hamilton, Ontario, by Canadian hockey player Tim Horton and Jim Charade, after an initial venture in...
drive-thru, to man crushes and the ever-popular nap index, and is always pushing some sort of agenda, or idea. Features the Sonic Modern Rock Door, daily at 8:20 am where listeners try to guess a song from a very short (usually less than 1 or 2 seconds) clip from the song. Garner also posts a daily Podcast of the program. Available on iTunesITunesiTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
or on Garner's BlogBlogA blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
http://www.garnerandrews.com.- Bryce Kelley - morning show newscaster, taking over at the end of June 2008 after Kory Read left the station a couple months before. Liann Cameron filled in during the gap between Kory and Bryce.
- Teddy Peterson - Garner Andrews Show studio usher.
- Rick Lee - Host of the midday portion of the station, from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm on weekdays.
- Rick is also host of the Sonic Modern Rock Countdown, a countdown show airing on weekends that takes a look back at events that happened over the past week, while counting down the top songs. As well, a yearly edition called the Rewind in Review does the same thing for the previous year.
- Layne Mitchell - Afternoon drive host, on the air from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm, also has his own PodcastPodcastA podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
, updated weekly that appears on his blog. - Adam Thompson - Left the station in December 2006 in order to travel around AsiaAsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
. Following his trip, he returned to Sonic in September 2007. When Jason Manning left to start a Modern Rock station in Medicine Hat, AlbertaMedicine Hat, AlbertaMedicine Hat, known to locals as "The Hat", is a city of 61,097 people located in the southeastern part of the province of Alberta, Canada. It is enclaved within Cypress County along with the nearby Town of Redcliff, although neither is part of the county....
- Rock 105.3CKMH-FMCKMH-FM is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts an active rock format at 105.3 FM in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The station is branded as Rock 105.3 and is currently owned by Rogers Communications....
- Adam became the new Music Director. He now is also Assistant Program Director. - Al Ford - Sonic's Program Director, who also hosts weekend mornings before the Modern Rock Countdown & The Ongoing History of New MusicThe Ongoing History of New MusicThe Ongoing History of New Music is a Canadian radio program, produced by Corus Entertainment's ExploreMusic division in Toronto. The program, hosted by Alan Cross, is syndicated to several other radio stations, mostly but not exclusively Corus-owned, across Canada.The Ongoing History chronicles...
.- Adam and Al host Farm Fresh - the New Music Show Sundays at 8:00 pm. This is a show devoted to new music that they just received, or up-and-coming artists.
Former on-air personalities
- Sherry Ryan - Returned to school in the summer of 2006.
- Kory Read - Kory won his job as the SONiC Newcaster in the Fall of 2005. Ultimately, the SONiC listeners voted to have Kory as the Newscaster. Kory left SONiC in 2008 to return to his career as a teacher in BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. - Craig "Young Craig" Lawrence - Left SONiC for Fort McMurray Rogers radio properties, now works for 95.7 The Sound in Edmonton*'
Jason Manning - former SONiC Music Director who moved to Medicine Hat to launch and program the Rogers station Rock 105.3
CKMH-FM
CKMH-FM is a Canadian radio station that broadcasts an active rock format at 105.3 FM in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The station is branded as Rock 105.3 and is currently owned by Rogers Communications....
, now PD in Victoria for Rogers radio properties there.
- Shaun Bogner - former weekend/overnight host.
- Matty Bezanson - former fill-in/weekend guy and Intern Army member, left to report helicopter traffic for CHQT.
- Liann Cameron - Left SONiC to join 91.7 The Bounce
- Graham Scott - Former weekend host. In August 2007, he moved to Sonic's sister station, CKER-FMCKER-FMCKER-FM is a Canadian radio station, broadcasting at 101.7 FM in Edmonton, Alberta. The station airs a multilingual programming format branded as 101.7 World FM and is owned by Rogers Media.-History:...
(World FM) to take over the morning show. However, after a short-stint in mornings, Graham returned to weekend hosting on Sonic until his untimely death.
Band of the Month
Sonic has a feature called "Band of the Month", which features a local band or artist from the Edmonton region and gives them airtime. Some previous bands of the month have received more national attention, such as Ten Second EpicTen Second Epic
Ten Second Epic is a five-piece rock band from Edmonton, Alberta. The band formed in 2002 and still consists of original lineup Andrew Usenik , Daniel Carriere , Craig Spelliscy , Sandy MacKinnon and Patrick Birtles . The band has released two full-length albums, Count Yourself In and Hometown...
, Tupelo Honey
Tupelo Honey (band)
Tupelo Honey is a Canadian rock band formed in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada, in February 2003. They have played with numerous headlining acts such as Bon Jovi, Default, Theory of a Deadman, Bif Naked, Three Days Grace, Thornley, The Trews, Billy Talent, and Sam Roberts.-Formation:The members of...
, and My Sister Ocean.
Former bands of the month include: Drive By Punch, Screwtape Lewis, Murder City Sparrows, Jets to Theory, Red Shag Carpet, Our Mercury
Our Mercury
Our Mercury was a Canadian indie rock band. Its members were singer/guitarist Ben Stevenson, drummer John Watson, bassist Joseph Lubinski-Mast, and keyboardist Eric Budd.-History:...
, Whitey Houston
Whitey Houston
Whitey Houston is a four man rock group from Alberta. Their debut album was released in 2005. Their name is taken from Whitney Houston, the famous pop singer...
, Mark Birtles Project, Casanova Playboys, Calico Drive, Rake, Ellis, The Surgents, Tim Gilbertson
Tim Gilbertson
Tim Gilbertson is a Canadian power-pop singer-songwriter based in Edmonton, Alberta. He plays guitar, bass guitar, and piano. His musical influences include The Weakerthans and Modest Mouse.- Biography :...
, Hot Panda, Radioforhelp, Greater Than Giants, Portal, Michael Rault and the Mixed Signals, Christian Hansen and the Autistics, and Parachute Penguin.
The first "Sonic BOTM" was in July 2005.
In addition to airtime, bands perform live at the Pawn Shop in 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...
, Alberta, after a month of promotion on the station. Generally, these shows are sold out.
Sonic Boom Festival
On September 5, 2009, the first Sonic Boom Festival, was held at NorthlandsNorthlands
Northlands is a non-profit, volunteer organization in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1879, before the official incorporation of the city of Edmonton, or the province of Alberta....
in Edmonton. The line-up was The Wet Secrets, Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker
Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker
Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker is a musical duo that began working out of Parkdale, a neighbourhood situated in the west end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
, illScarlett
IllScarlett
IllScarlett is a Canadian rock and reggae band.Their sound can be defined as pop infused rock reggae. They have made a name for themselves in the Canadian music scene and are making their name known throughout the United States and around the world...
, Girl Talk, 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...
, Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...
, Alexisonfire
Alexisonfire
Alexisonfire was a five-piece, Juno-nominated post-hardcore band that formed in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada in 2001. The band consisted of George Pettit , Dallas Green , Wade MacNeil , Chris Steele , and Jordan Hastings .They describe their music as "the sound of two Catholic high-school girls...
, and headliners, Billy Talent
Billy Talent
Billy Talent is a Canadian post-hardcore band from Streetsville, Ontario. They formed in 1993 with Ben Kowalewicz as the lead vocalist, Ian D'Sa on lead guitar, bassist Jon Gallant and drummer Aaron Solowoniuk ....
. Taking Back Sunday experienced a flight delay the morning of the festival in Kansas City, and were unable to perform. The event was hosted by Jason Mewes
Jason Mewes
Jason Edward Mewes is an American television, film actor, and internet radio show host best known for playing Jay, the vocal half of the duo Jay and Silent Bob, in longtime friend Kevin Smith's films.-Early life:...
, of Jay and Silent Bob
Jay and Silent Bob
Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively, in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse, a fictional universe created and used in most films, comics and television by Smith, which began in Clerks....
fame. The festival drew a crowd of over 11,000. The festival also featured a pro wrestling match between each band, and culminated in a battle royale prior to Billy Talent's set. The inaugural festival was a huge success and thus promoter, The Union, announced that the festival would return on September 4, 2010.
Competition
Their main competition, as both stations share a Rock radio format, is 100.3 The Bear (CFBR-FM). Other non-commercial radio competitors are CJSR-FM (88.5 FM) and CKUA-FM (94.9 FM).External links
- SONiC 102.9
- CHDI-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....