The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum » Are Any Toronto Radio Stations Planning Special July 1st Programming?

RadioActive · June 29, 2026 5:29 pm

With Canada Day just days away, you'd think any GTA radio station planning special July 1st programming would be getting the word out.

But so far, there are only two I can find that are doing anything marking the day.

The first is CBC Radio 1, which will be simulcasting a lot of the events in Ottawa and elsewhere, as the nation celebrates its 159th birthday.

The other is Q107, which promises a host of events, including a live 12 PM-Dusk party for a Canada Day Picnic at Woodbine Park. While many station personalities will be there, Dan Chen will be doing a live radio show from noon to 6PM. You can see what else they're planning here.

In years past, Boom would do an All Canadian playlist on July 1st, but I see no sign of that on their website in 2026. But things can change, although you'd think they would have been promoting it by now.

If you're aware of any special shows on the day, please post them here. Otherwise, it looks like Wednesday will be a regular day on the radio, with rerolls and automation likely the order of the day.

AspectRatio · June 29, 2026 7:18 pm

RadioActive wrote:
In years past, Boom would do an All Canadian playlist on July 1st, but I see no sign of that on their website in 2026. But things can change, although you'd think they would have been promoting it by now.

They may be lagging behind on website updates; I've noticed with staff decreases in the industry, website updates and content management systems are broken or lagging - probably easier for them to take to social media channels directly (Instagram, Bluesky, etc.) where all that is hosted/handled elsewhere by the service themselves.

Here's Boom Toronto's promotion from Instagram - good to see they're doing something:

RadioActive · June 29, 2026 7:35 pm

Thanks for that. Didn't really think of looking on Instagram. Their websites generally feature their core identities. Shame they didn't post anything there this year.

Scarboroughbluffsradiof99 · June 29, 2026 8:40 pm

Shame, because instagram's not the friendlyest for screan-readers such as Jaws or NVDA.
Not everyone uses instagram or wants to check social media, some people such as me still loves websites and site blogs.

AspectRatio · June 29, 2026 9:50 pm

Scarboroughbluffsradiof99 wrote:
friendlyest for screan-readers

Scarboroughbluffsradiof99, I know you've mentioned to excuse any misspellings of yours as you use voice dictation software. In this day and age with software leasing inexpensive spellcheck libraries or AI entering software in useful and interesting ways, I've been increasingly puzzled that your posted text ends up with strange spellings like the above. I wonder if there's a setting you can tweak or having someone sighted set you up with a different solution? Even a browser should be "underlining" it in the form entry box, which I know must differ for screen reading software but surely that's such a basic requirement there must be a way it's able to interpret that and relay the finding via audio?

A great example of technology able to help put some polish on the presentation. If I were a software maker I'd be embarrassed that my product emits misspellings like that of fairly basic words. Are you articulating each letter aloud instead of full words and are you misspelling when you dictate letters?

Doing some quick searching on dictation options and spell-check, a few emerge:

* Willow Voice (for Mac, Windows, iOS) apparently has context-aware spelling and "learns" spelling preferences.
* Superwhisper (for Mac, Windows, iOS) fixes grammar and spelling.
* Microsoft Word Dictate (Web, Desktop, Mobile) leverages Microsoft's auto-correct and spelling/grammar.
* Nuance Dragon and Windows Voice Access let you say "correct that" or "spellcheck that" to trigger a spelling window popup, apparently, including reading it aloud.

Aytononline · June 30, 2026 4:46 am

Because of the Fifa Games, TSN 1050 morning show will be from 8am to 11am. For Bell this is a big deal to bring in there morning show on a stat holiday.

RadioActive · June 30, 2026 6:19 am

Publicist and frequent radio guest Eric Alper picks the all time Top 40 of Canadian artists.

The 40 Greatest Canadian Artists of All Time

jughead jones · June 30, 2026 6:37 am

640 Toronto has no full time hosts on Canada Day I am told.

RadioActive · June 30, 2026 6:45 am

jughead jones wrote:
640 Toronto has no full time hosts on Canada Day I am told.

I'm not in the least bit surprised by this. They always go full rerolls on holidays.

Shorty Wave · June 30, 2026 8:18 am

RadioActive wrote:
Publicist and frequent radio guest Eric Alper picks the all time Top 40 of Canadian artists.

The 40 Greatest Canadian Artists of All Time

Mostly the usual suspects but was impressed to see 54-40 included but surprised not to see Bachman Turner Overdrive, as they were huge internationally for a while.

Dale Patterson · June 30, 2026 12:19 pm

Shorty Wave wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
Publicist and frequent radio guest Eric Alper picks the all time Top 40 of Canadian artists.

The 40 Greatest Canadian Artists of All Time

Mostly the usual suspects but was impressed to see 54-40 included but surprised not to see Bachman Turner Overdrive, as they were huge internationally for a while.

Lighthouse is a major omission.

TheWiz · June 30, 2026 3:19 pm

In Waterloo Region, 88.3 CJIQ is all-canadian tomorrow starting at 5am.

Shorty Wave · July 1, 2026 8:51 am

Dale Patterson wrote:
Shorty Wave wrote:
RadioActive wrote:
Publicist and frequent radio guest Eric Alper picks the all time Top 40 of Canadian artists.

The 40 Greatest Canadian Artists of All Time

Mostly the usual suspects but was impressed to see 54-40 included but surprised not to see Bachman Turner Overdrive, as they were huge internationally for a while.
Lighthouse is a major omission.

Them too! If this keeps up we might just have to create the SOWNY Top 40 Canadian Artists list!

paterson1 · July 1, 2026 9:40 am

. Zoomer radio's morning show (The Morning Zoom) has been all Canadian music today. I don't know if they are going all day like BOOM. I believe in the past they have. Canada Day is about the only time you will hear Stompin' Tom on various radio stations.

Ale Ont · July 1, 2026 10:00 am

Maple Music Cafe is always all Canadian. It is an internet station.