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February 19, 2020 12:56 am  #1


Beautiful Music

Many of us here remember the "Beautiful Music" format. Locally, that format was heard on CHAY Barrie, CKDS Hamilton and CKQS Oshawa, and CHFI-FM at least until the early '70s. While I listened mostly to Top 40 radio back then, from what I heard of the Beautiful Music format, it was very well done, very stylish.

Would there be room for an updated version of the Beautiful Music format today? At least a couple of SiriusXM channels are devoted to that style of programming, so there must be interest from listeners for them to provide these channels. But what about terrestrial radio? Is there a place for Beautiful Music on today's radio dial? Maybe not with the Living Strings and Mantovani, but a "lighter than light" format with modern artists. Kind of like Iain Grant's very nice online station.

http://crystalradio.ca


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
 

February 19, 2020 2:00 am  #2


Re: Beautiful Music

Dale Patterson wrote:

Many of us here remember the "Beautiful Music" format. Locally, that format was heard on CHAY Barrie, CKDS Hamilton and CKQS Oshawa, and CHFI-FM at least until the early '70s. While I listened mostly to Top 40 radio back then, from what I heard of the Beautiful Music format, it was very well done, very stylish.

I always knew 94.9 FM to be CKQT Oshawa.
This was long before it was sold to Power Broadcasting in the 90's as it became CKGE-Edge 94.9 FM "Your current music station" (No relation to Toronto's Edge)

CKQT Oshawa, under Grant Broadcasting ownership was "On the Quiet side" and "Always quiet and beautiful..." 
until one day they decided to become "Easy favourites", while maintaining a very similar format.

Also, here's a great timeless classic ad for a station greatly missed in Toronto: 









 

Last edited by Radiowiz (February 19, 2020 2:14 am)


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

February 19, 2020 7:21 am  #3


Re: Beautiful Music

Yes, CKQT. Thank you. CJEZ was another good one as you mentioned.


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
     Thread Starter
 

February 19, 2020 9:23 am  #4


Re: Beautiful Music

Buffalo had "JOY" 96.1 WJYE. I think the last station to drop the "Elevator Music" format, as we called it in our teen years, was 101.3 CKOT in Tillsonburg. The format change probably came shortly after Rogers purchased the station in 2017? Rochester's Beautiful station was also located at 101.3, WEZO, now WRRM.

 

February 19, 2020 9:35 am  #5


Re: Beautiful Music

From the Torontoist in 2008. This was their signature show. RIP Don Parrish.

Candlelight, Wine, You and Me


 

February 19, 2020 10:37 am  #6


Re: Beautiful Music

Dale Patterson wrote:

Yes, CKQT. Thank you..

The various iterations:
1957 - CKLB-FM
1966 - CKQS
1979 - CKQT
1993 - CKGE

 

February 19, 2020 10:56 am  #7


Re: Beautiful Music

I'm not sure what artists you'd include in such a station that wouldn't make your audience composition 65+ which (wrongly) makes it commercially nonviable. 

The closest we have in Canada are Stingray's Breeze stations, but they sound more like 80s AC stations than Beautiful/Easy Listening.

 

February 19, 2020 11:22 am  #8


Re: Beautiful Music

Perhaps the closest right now to this format would be Wave FM (94.7) out of Hamilton?

 

February 19, 2020 11:35 am  #9


Re: Beautiful Music

And of course the musically interesting and traditional MOR variety on "The Lounge" on the Jewel stations    7-10pm every evening.

 

February 19, 2020 12:42 pm  #10


Re: Beautiful Music

I would like to see this format to return somewhere. Always listened to CKQT, CHAY and WJYE.  Also listened to 98 WPXY Rochester before it flipped to pop. The Rochester station on 101.3 was beautiful music to, but I could not pull it in because of 101.5 Peterborough.
Before they flipped to Oldies, CKEY was pretty good too.
CFOS plays some nice music in the evenings but by then, they are only at 1000 watts.

Last edited by andysradio (February 19, 2020 12:45 pm)

 

February 19, 2020 12:48 pm  #11


Re: Beautiful Music

The closest I guess would be SOME of the music on 96.3 /103.1 / 102.9 ... beautiful music for a crazy world, or some slogan along those lines...

 

February 19, 2020 2:05 pm  #12


Re: Beautiful Music

paterson1 wrote:

And of course the musically interesting and traditional MOR variety on "The Lounge" on the Jewel stations    7-10pm every evening.

So, yes, this and Wave are examples of super-soft programming *existing*, but not of it being sustainable as a full-time format that is at least somewhat contemporary to keep the ad dollars coming in.

Certainly,  younger people like softer music, but it almost entirely exists in sub-genre niches like Chill that don't have a significant number artists or hits that cross to the mainstream. (In its last years, NYC's Smooth Jazz station tried to incorporate Chill into the format to breathe some life into it. Rogers tried in Vancouver with CLEAR-FM too, but it turns out no hits = no ratings.)

Having said all that, one of the Top songs on CHR right now, Billie Eilish's "Everything I Wanted" is one of the softest songs to chart on younger-skewed formats in a long time.

 

February 19, 2020 2:18 pm  #13


Re: Beautiful Music

Speaking of mainstream and millenials.   If you listen to the way music has somewhat "softened" just tune into Virgin 999,...its pretty darn soft sounding.  

CHUM 1045 is more pumped up than that station!

 

February 19, 2020 2:47 pm  #14


Re: Beautiful Music

I received this email a few minutes ago from an old friend who once toiled at CFTR in its rock days. Certainly an interesting tale!

-----------------

I see you mentioned Don Parrish. Haven’t thought of that name in a long time. I only really met him once – I was a producer at CFTR and he was upstairs at CHFI when we were at 25 Adelaide St. E.
 
The encounter wasn’t quite what I expected. You may remember that TR used to have a daily news feature called “Monitor 680,” later just “Monitor.” I never did quite figure to how this came to pass, but the guy who did the intro that simply said “Monitor!” followed by a sting and the start of the 3-minute mini-feature had left the station after a major dispute.
 
He threatened legal action if we kept using his voice (why he was entitled to anything as a former employee, I’ll never know) but the opening had become somewhat iconic and they didn’t want to lose it. So I was asked to replace the word with someone else voicing it, while keeping the elements that went with it.
 
And that’s when Don Parrish walked into my studio. The request from management was that the new “Monitor!” word sound as much like the old one, so no one would be able to spot the difference.
 
I told that to Parrish and as he sat behind the mic, he thundered at me in that incredible deep bass voice, “What! You want me to sound like someone one else! I’m Don Parrish! I don’t sound like anyone else!”
 
He was extremely insulted and if I’d slunk (is that a word?) any farther into my chair, I wouldn’t have been able to reach the board! I’ll give him this, though. He listened to the old intro about 3 times and then did what was a very close approximation of the word.
 
I thanked him profusely and with that, he got up and stomped out of the booth, out my control room and went back upstairs, presumably to be a lot softer for “Candlelight & Wine.”
 
In the end, he wasn’t mean to me, just upset that when you hire Don Parrish, you expect to get Don Parrish, and not an imitation. And that memory all came back to me because you mentioned his name on the Board!


-----------------

I love those kinds of behind-the-scenes stories we'd never hear about any other way.    

 

February 19, 2020 2:55 pm  #15


Re: Beautiful Music

mace wrote:

Buffalo had "JOY" 96.1 WJYE. I think the last station to drop the "Elevator Music" format, as we called it in our teen years, was 101.3 CKOT in Tillsonburg. The format change probably came shortly after Rogers purchased the station in 2017? Rochester's Beautiful station was also located at 101.3, WEZO, now WRRM.

Hey, while many might recall Joy 96 WJYE, don't forget that 107.7 also once spent some time as an easy listening station shortly before becoming the short lived WNUC, a country station. 

 


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

February 19, 2020 3:20 pm  #16


Re: Beautiful Music

markow202 wrote:

Speaking of mainstream and millenials.   If you listen to the way music has somewhat "softened" just tune into Virgin 999,...its pretty darn soft sounding.  

CHUM 1045 is more pumped up than that station!

CHR is not in a great spot, tempo-wise right now. Not a lot of fun.

And when talking about a softer station needing younger appeal, I don't really even mean millennials, but at least people in the 40-55 range.
 

 

February 19, 2020 3:48 pm  #17


Re: Beautiful Music

True. CHR is not a fun place to be currently, unless you like Rap/Hip-Hop. The Box by Roddy Ricch is in its fifth consecutive week on top of the Hot 100. Nine of this week's top twenty are performed by Rap artists. Some of the non rap artists in this week's top 20 seem rather sappy/lame, in my opinion. Memories-Maroon 5, Someone You Loved-Lewis Capaldi, Lose You To Love Me-Selena Gomez, Yummy-Justin Bieber and the above mentioned Everything I Wanted-Billie Eillish. Sorry, none of those impress me. Still, a bit better than endless songs about ghetto bitches and hoes. 
 

 

February 19, 2020 4:33 pm  #18


Re: Beautiful Music

mace wrote:

True. CHR is not a fun place to be currently, unless you like Rap/Hip-Hop. The Box by Roddy Ricch is in its fifth consecutive week on top of the Hot 100. Nine of this week's top twenty are performed by Rap artists. Some of the non rap artists in this week's top 20 seem rather sappy/lame, in my opinion. Memories-Maroon 5, Someone You Loved-Lewis Capaldi, Lose You To Love Me-Selena Gomez, Yummy-Justin Bieber and the above mentioned Everything I Wanted-Billie Eillish. Sorry, none of those impress me. Still, a bit better than endless songs about ghetto bitches and hoes. 
 

Haha very well put!  I think the last ever party anthem from the CHR world was "despacito" back in 2017.

I used to DJ weddings and right now I dont really know of any current hit that would light up a dancefloor.  I'd have to go back to the decade vault for anything like that.  

 

February 19, 2020 4:54 pm  #19


Re: Beautiful Music

I am over 65 and love easy listening music. I listen to 96.3 some of the time but can't listen to classical music all the time. I listen to Sirius XM Escape in the car and stream it at home. In addition, as a Rogers customer, I have access
to Stingray and so I can stream their Easy Listening channels such as Channel 747.
Kudos to Iain Grant and Don Andrews for their great web station Crystal Radio.  Great sounds.
Also, the web site www.ezradio.info offers free access to stream 40 easy listening stations from all over Canada
and the USA.  A lot of choice.

 

February 19, 2020 5:15 pm  #20


Re: Beautiful Music

Shameless plug

The format not being widely available out there is what keeps the listener numbers reasonable..  at least for an online internet whatever station .

http://crystalradio.ca/


Madness takes its toll.  Please have exact change.
 
 

February 19, 2020 6:42 pm  #21


Re: Beautiful Music

Co-incidentally I have been thinking about this very thing for the past few weeks and was going to pose the question here in SOWNY. I've come to the conclusion that "Beautiful Music" as I think we all define it wouldn't work.  In addition you have  PD's who would try to insert more contemporary stuff and adulterate the format.  However, notwithstanding that you have to keep those aforementioned PD's hands off it, a format I think might work is what one might call, "The American Songbook."   It's vast, very deep and varied. (Please note the de rigeur Radio alliteration).

A man with a famous name, but not the famous man (sorry but I just can't remember the name), had a series on PBS called just that, IIRC -- The American Songbook. I was surprised at how much it spoke to me, as it were. Just one "Oh Wow!" song after another. And could you ever be creative setting up the songs!  "Years before Frank Sinatra sang about the "City That Never Sleeps" he sang about another American city -- twice!" Make sure you don't clobber the vocal as Frank starts to sing, "Chhhhhicago, Chicago, that toddlin' town!" 

(Sorry got a bit carried away there. **blushes)
 

 

February 19, 2020 7:55 pm  #22


Re: Beautiful Music

potentiometer wrote:

Co-incidentally I have been thinking about this very thing for the past few weeks and was going to pose the question here in SOWNY. I've come to the conclusion that "Beautiful Music" as I think we all define it wouldn't work. 
 

I see it working best in the States, where a company is allowed to own up to 60 percent of a market. 
Beautiful music secures that a (weaker?) frequency is not eating away at the revenue of sister stations.
A deliberate intent to be what it is. 
107.7 in Buffalo might be a good example. If they were to put Beautiful music (back) on that frequency, they'd clearly do that because it's not a threat to other stations that Entercom owns.
I borrow 107.7 as a potential example because Entercom bought that frequency strictly to block competition to WKSE-Kiss98.5. 
Respectfully, it may be that their current alt format still makes more money for them while accomplishing the job of not being a threat to sister stations in the same market...?


RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person. 
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.

 
 

February 19, 2020 10:30 pm  #23


Re: Beautiful Music

markow202 wrote:

Perhaps the closest right now to this format would be Wave FM (94.7) out of Hamilton?

Small correction - for the last few years WAVE has been available only on HD. Country thrives there now with KX94.7 being one of the city's top stations.
Also, no one has brought up the former 105.7 CHRE (and its predecessor CHSC-FM) St. Catharines which was "beautiful music" for nearly two decades. It's one of the stations that was on frequently in our house growing up and turned out to be my first radio job.

 

February 20, 2020 12:27 am  #24


Re: Beautiful Music

ig wrote:

Shameless plug

The format not being widely available out there is what keeps the listener numbers reasonable..  at least for an online internet whatever station .

http://crystalradio.ca/

When I made my original post, I had Crystal Radio in mind. You do an excellent job with it. If Crystal Radio were a terrestrial broadcast outlet, I could see it having a good and loyal following, as there would nothing else quite like it.


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
     Thread Starter
 

February 20, 2020 12:34 am  #25


Re: Beautiful Music

andysradio wrote:

I would like to see this format to return somewhere. Always listened to CKQT, CHAY and WJYE.  Also listened to 98 WPXY Rochester before it flipped to pop. The Rochester station on 101.3 was beautiful music to, but I could not pull it in because of 101.5 Peterborough.
Before they flipped to Oldies, CKEY was pretty good too.
CFOS plays some nice music in the evenings but by then, they are only at 1000 watts.

Another one I remember was Rich Blend 101, which as I recall was an outlet in Niagara in the early '90s. Then was Buffalo's WADV in the early '80s, but I believe they were more jazz than Beautiful Music.
 


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
     Thread Starter
 

February 20, 2020 12:43 am  #26


Re: Beautiful Music

potentiometer wrote:

Co-incidentally I have been thinking about this very thing for the past few weeks and was going to pose the question here in SOWNY. I've come to the conclusion that "Beautiful Music" as I think we all define it wouldn't work.  In addition you have  PD's who would try to insert more contemporary stuff and adulterate the format.  However, notwithstanding that you have to keep those aforementioned PD's hands off it, a format I think might work is what one might call, "The American Songbook."   It's vast, very deep and varied. (Please note the de rigeur Radio alliteration).

A man with a famous name, but not the famous man (sorry but I just can't remember the name), had a series on PBS called just that, IIRC -- The American Songbook. I was surprised at how much it spoke to me, as it were. Just one "Oh Wow!" song after another. And could you ever be creative setting up the songs!  "Years before Frank Sinatra sang about the "City That Never Sleeps" he sang about another American city -- twice!" Make sure you don't clobber the vocal as Frank starts to sing, "Chhhhhicago, Chicago, that toddlin' town!" 

(Sorry got a bit carried away there. **blushes)
 

Some of you might remember WQEW New York. It was branded as "The Home of American Standards" and every night when the skywave kicked in, one could discover many great tunes at 1560 on the dial. Music from the '40s to the '60s generally. It only lasted six years (1992-1998) but it was a gem.
 


"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram
     Thread Starter
 

February 20, 2020 10:30 am  #27


Re: Beautiful Music

I'm glad Iain chimed in regarding Crystal Radio.  I was going to email him to ask him if it was still available.  Thanks Iain.  Stingray the mobile app also has what could be called a great easy listening station.  Stingray the mobile app has more to offer then what's on Rogers.  Don't know why.

Last edited by John D (February 20, 2020 10:31 am)

 

February 20, 2020 10:49 am  #28


Re: Beautiful Music

I checked out crystalradio.ca. Sorry, My parent's musical tastes aren't for me. Not impressed when I was 17. Still not impressed at 67.

 

February 20, 2020 11:48 am  #29


Re: Beautiful Music

I have a few of the stations mentioned at my site. Mostly in the Radio Miscellany section but  some elsewhere. I have a few tapes that I have not uploaded including I believe Candlelight and Wine and some easy listening from London and Tillsonburg. Not necessarily my cup of tea but some are interesting from a historical perspective.

On one CKFM air check Carl Banas plays the group It's a Beautiful Day and he says the group name in advance of playing them and I thought he made an error but sure enough he does play them and the track fit the format. A hippie band playing beautiful music. Somewhat in the same area I heard this Mike Oldfield track on the St Cath oldies station test :





 

Last edited by Fitz (February 20, 2020 11:52 am)


Cool Airchecks and More:
http://www.lettheuniverseanswer.com/
 

February 20, 2020 4:32 pm  #30


Re: Beautiful Music

I thought there was a difference between Beautiful Music and Easy Listening. Not much of a difference perhaps, but a difference nonetheless. Meh, what would life be without a few hairs to split?

Speaking of which, The Great American Songbook on PBS was hosted by Michael Feinstein.  I thought he shared his name with someone else  who is famous.... oops.  Google is your friend, but only if you use it.