CIDC-FM
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| CIDC-FM | |
 |
|
| City of license | Orangeville, Ontario |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Greater Toronto Area |
| Branding | "Z 103-dot-5" |
| Slogan | All The Hits |
| Frequency | 103.5 (MHz) |
| First air date | 1987 |
| Format | CHR/dance |
| ERP | 30,700 kW |
| Class | C |
| Callsign meaning | CI Dufferin Communications (Former owners) |
| Owner | Evanov Communications |
| Webcast | Listen Live |
| Website | Z103.5 |
CIDC-FM (Z103.5) is a Rhythmic/Dance Top 40 radio station that serves Central Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area in Canada. Although the station is licensed to Orangeville, and still has a transmitter there, its studios are located in Toronto. The station is owned by Evanov Communications. It fills the market's Top 40 niche and includes a certain degree of dance music in its playlists, similar to CKOI-FM in Montreal. The station can be heard as far south as St. Catharines and north to Georgian Bay. During good DXing times, CIDC's signal can get interfered from a radio station, WRTS-FM on 103.7 MHz out of Erie, Pennsylvania. CIDC has also been voted as the CHR station of the year for Canada at the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Awards.[1]
Contents |
[edit] History
The Orangeville area was struck by a massive tornado on May 31, 1985, and the community felt it did not receive adequate warning. As such, an application was made to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for a radio station to serve Orangeville. CRTC approval was given for the station on September 10, 1986. [2] The station's frequency allocation was moved from Guelph to Orangeville to allow for the service. CIDC was launched on May 1, 1987 on 103.5 FM with an ERP of 50,000 watts from a site located northwest of the town. The height of the hill (527.3 m/1,730 ft) and tower (98.1 m/322 ft) made the station antenna (0.6 m/2 ft) higher above sea level than the CN Tower.
On September 28, 1994, the CRTC approved the ownership transfer of Dufferin Communications from its shareholders to CKMW Radio Ltd., operator of Brampton multicultural station CIAO (AM). The station was branded Hot 103 point 5 in 1995, (later calling it hot 103 dot 5) playing only dance music. The station then began adding more R&B and pop tracks to its Top 40/dance playlist in February 1998, and was renamed Hits 103.5.
On July 28, 2000, approval was given to relocate the transmitter site from 6 km west of Orangeville town hall to 11 km east of Orangeville town hall and decrease the station's power from 50,000 watts to 30,700 watts.
On January 1, 2001, the station was renamed in imitation of New York station Z100 and became known as Z103.5 (pronounced "zee"), though the CIDC call letters were retained.
Until the summer of 2006, Z103.5 was the only radio station in Canada that played dance music since Energy 108 changed formats. It should be noted that it was the only Top 40 station left in Toronto after Kiss 92 became Jack FM in 2003. For a brief period in 2001, CKDX-FM also played dance music but poor ratings led it to switch to an oldies format.
In the summer of 2006, Evanov launched a new station in Halifax, Nova Scotia patterned after CIDC. It uses the Z103.5 moniker but features a different logo and slogan.
Despite the decrease in dance music, the station's highest rated program continues to be The Drive @ 5 Street Mix with DJ Danny D. The show is mixed live with vinyl records and Compact Discs. In 2000, the show started out as a 30 minute Friday afternoon mix, but soon expanded into a 1 hour set. By 2004-2005, the set was so popular that Z103.5 introduced the "Drive @ 5" five times a week. Recently, as of 2008, high profile guest DJ's have started to mix live for the Drive @ 5 on several occasions including David Guetta, Tiesto, and Armin van Buuren. A similar show, The Power Mix with DJ Spence Diamonds, used to air three nights a week (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights). The show, which featured urban music, was cut in fall of 2007.
Z103.5 also had a weekly show on Sundays called the Freestyle Frenzy, hosted by Z103.5 veteran Tony Monaco. It was solely a show of freestyle music and mixes. It aired from June 4, 1995 to January 2004, then Evanov cancelled it and made the time slot available for regular programming, which would become Ryan Seacrest's American Top 40 countdown. As of the summer of 2008, that show was removed from the schedule. CKFM-FM later picked up the show after its relaunch as Virgin Radio.
MC Mario also previously held regular Sunday programming called "The Mixdown" which ran for a full hour in the afternoon. MC Mario presented the hits of the week and new house and dance music that usually wasn't able to be heard on most Canadian stations. His Mixdown is still widely heard in Montreal and around the world. The Mixdown was last presented on Z103.5 in December 2004. There were large programming changes in 2005.
[edit] Concerts and live-to-air programs
The station annually hosts a number of live concert events. Past and present concerts include the Hot Rush (created in 1993, now Summer Rush), Euro-Freestyle Invasion (now Euro Invasion), and Partymania. Most of the concerts are sold-out because they are mostly filled with performances by dance artists that usually don't get much publicity. Interestingly, its sister station in Halifax also started holding a similar Summer Rush concert in 2007, usually around the same time as its Toronto sibling.
The station also hosts live-to-airs from various Toronto-area nightclubs three to five nights per week. Wednesdays have been wayback playbacks from Club Menage since 2002 (hence the term Wayback Wednesdays), but they have recently moved to Club Frequency. Thursdays are live from Sugar Daddy's in Mississauga, playing the best R&B, Hip-Hop, Reggae, and Reggaeton. Fridays are broadcast from the same club, with a theme called Euro Fridays, playing the best in Eurodance music. Saturday nights are live from Mansion in Toronto. Recently, a Sunday night party has been added, broadcasting live from Embassy nightclub.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Official Z103.5 website
- CIDC history at Canadian Communications Foundation
- Query the REC's Canadian station database for CIDC-FM
|
||||||||||||||
