Fitz wrote:

 I believe that Blind Faith album came out in 1969 but Traffic reformed in the 1970's without Dave Mason and put out out some excellent albums like John Barleycorn Must Die,The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys and Shootout at The Fantasy Factory.

This is Grech's own compilation...and includes various bands.

Funny, I like those BF albums precisely in that order...

Test music often doesn't mean a lot but in this case they seem to be sticking to a gold format. So this could be a bit of a preview.  However I have heard many stations that didn't sound too similar to the music they used for testing and what they actually played on the launch. One station that I am familiar with, it was the engineers actually pulling much of the music. So it is possible this could be happening with some of the selections on 1220, and might be why some songs have been somewhat unusual.  And also as pointed out many times, there aren't really any restrictions to change popular music formats so if this station ever officially gets on the air, the general music format may be quite a bit different.

Jody Thornton wrote:

I like some psychedelic music (Hendrix, Traffic and Cream) but I was thinking more of hearing 70s and 80s AM friendly hits on 1220.  I have not yet listened to the test signal.
 

I think your best option for hearing 70's and 80's AM friendly hits on AM right now is CKDO 1580.

The test signal for 1220 is all over the place but I think they probably play more 1960's than 50's, 70's or 80's. Definitely hear the occasional 80's surprises like Tempted by Squeeze which was an AM hit in some markets. They also go from light, novelty, pop to occasional heavy rock. They have for example featured three versions of Summertime Blues. Including the Eddie Cochran original plus heavy covers by Blue Cheer and The Who.

Speaking of covers I heard the Letter by the Box Tops and The Arbors today on Roger Ashby's double play. No Joe Cocker. My only gripe is they cut out the Arbors version too early and we did not get to hear the psychedelic flourishes at the end. I think they may get to this one on 1220.








 

Last edited by Fitz (March 8, 2020 1:52 pm)

paterson1 wrote:

The Letter is about the only song where I like all four "hit" versions, and all are so different.  The Arbors is the one that isn't played on radio that much any longer if at all.  Are you sure about not hearing the psychedelic bit at the end? I heard it and had the radio cranked since I love this version so much. Maybe the album version is longer but the phased/psychedelic ending was definitely there when I was listening to Ashby's show.  He continues to play a great deal of super B hits that still should be heard, Staple Singers Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom-Boom) from a few weeks ago was awesome. I noticed he is starting to get a lot more requests over the past few weeks.

You may be right but I think they cut out the last few seconds of the phasing effect. Another similar two-fer for Roger in the future could be Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett and the 1970's cover by Cross Country ( who were mostly the Tokens) where they add a few psychedelic touches at the end.
 

Dale Patterson wrote:

I heard "They're Coming To Take Me Away, A-ha" by Napoleon XIV on 1220 the other day.

That's great! Good to hear the original version...will they play the follow up version?




How many people still have the original 45 with the B side playing the same song backwards (instead of "I'm glad they took you away")




Test more or not, I still say Thanks 1220 for playing this lost classic/gem!!
 

Last edited by Radiowiz (March 8, 2020 5:18 pm)

They have played a bunch of novelty tunes. May be the last time they are played on terrestrial radio in these parts. Have heard Leader of the Laundromat, the take off of Lorne Green's Ringo and a few others. Have not heard any Weird Al yet but I read somewhere that he will not be recording My Corona as a Covid 19 parody.

Further extension to commence service granted....from the application: =12px This is an application by 10070394 Canada Inc., the licensee of the AM commercial radio station to serve St. Catharines, Ontario approved by the CRTC in Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2016-143 (the “Station”). We respectfully request a further six-month to one-year extension to commence operation of the Station. 
 The Commission will recall that Radio Dhun Inc. acquired control of the licensee and the Station pursuant to an administrative decision of the CRTC dated October 30, 2017. We then sought and received a one-year extension to commence service. The first extension application was approved by the Commission on February 9, 2018, extending the required commencement date to April 20, 2019. We subsequently obtained a second extension until April 20, 2020. =12px We are pleased to advise the Commission that transmission equipment has now been installed, is operational, and is undergoing testing for radio frequency purposes in accordance with ISED testing procedures. Reaching this stage did take somewhat longer than anticipated due to required antenna tower remediation and other technical concerns. We are currently building our studio facilities and installing equipment for that purpose so that the station can be fully operational. We are requesting a 6-month to 1-year further extension to our commencement date in order to avoid any further need for requests from the Commission. While we expect to be fully operational within the next 3 months, it is possible that exterior circumstances, such as the current concerns regarding the Covid-19 pandemic declared by the World Health Organization, could disrupt our plans. For that reason, a 6-month to 1-year further extension is requested.

 We greatly appreciate the extensions previously granted to commence operations. We are quickly approaching our full launch and will, of course, keep the Commission fully appraised of the launch date. We would be pleased to provide the Commission with any additional information it may require in this matter.

The above Facebook Page is different from the original one posted near the beginning of this thread. Garevine Radio is also apparently Radio Dhun which sounds like an east Indian service but it's also using the CFAJ call letters. Weird ???

Radiowiz wrote:

Fitz wrote:

The above Facebook Page is different from the original one posted near the beginning of this thread. Garevine Radio is also apparently Radio Dhun which sounds like an east Indian service but it's also using the CFAJ call letters. Weird ???

The about section of their FaceBook page gives credit to FM 100.7:

MORE INFOAbout1220AM -- Radio Dhun  RADIO DHUN FM 100.7 has the best quality music and programming. Our talented team works hard to come up with interesting discussion to brighten your evenings and relax you after a stressful day.
Tune in from Monday to Friday and listen to our show for the best entertainment.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/CFAJ1220/about/?ref=page_internal

The phone number and email contact is the same on both Facebook Pages ?

https://www.facebook.com/pg/1220CFAJ/about/?ref=page_internal
 

A quick search of the CRTC website will reveal the following:
CFAJ is licesned to 10070394 Canada Inc.    The most recent letter to the CRTC extending its time to start operations was on "Radio Dhun Inc."  letterhead, at the  same address as the numbered company on Derry Road.   If you look at the application form, from the CRTC site, you will see that the signatory of the letter has an email address with the domain name: iccimmigration.ca - Manu Datta submitted the application to the CRTC.  He is a principal shareholder of the numbered company.

If you go to http://iccimmigration.ca/about-us/, you will see that the two principals of the immigration consulting firm, are the same individuals who are the shareholders ot 10070394 Canada Inc. 
Radio Dhun appears to my knowledge, to be an airtime broker, which buys blocks of airtime from broadcasters, in this case - CHIN Radio, and provides the programming.  Possibly from its 1137 Derry Road East location.  Ethnic airtime brokers usually sell all of the airtime in their broadcasts, either by commissioned sales agents of their own, or a combination of sales agents and on-air staff who double as sales people.

The sale of large blocks of airtime to S. Asian brokers is all very legal.  Technically the licensed broadcaster (CHIN) is responsible for 100% the content of the programming.  Whether the host broadcaster actually monitors the content...well that is sometimes another story.  

Bottom line:  Radio Dhun Inc and 10070394 Canada Inc., are operated by the same people from the same address as ICC Immigration Inc.

Any questions?

 

Lost decent reception in Whitby a few weeks ago.

I also have a ton of trouble hearing them in northern North York. It's just barely audible and some days, what signal exists is swallowed up by electrical noise. According to a note on their Facebook page placed 21 weeks ago, they were operating on one tower at 1,000 watts.

A subsequent post dated 9 weeks ago was even worse, paring them down to just 500 watts. There's no word on when they might actually start but they've been in testing mode since the end of February and here it is the middle of July. I know COVID has delayed many technical upgrades, but this is approaching CKNT-delay numbers. Seven months and still counting to a sign on!

I noticed this week and last that their signal has gone from almost complete static in my area (North York) to near listenable (although still weak.) Have they upped their power or started up from a new tower? Anyone know?

Nothing on their Facebook page indicates anything is new or if there will ever be an actual sign-on date. But then the page doesn't appear to have been updated in months. Last sign of life there was some 12 weeks ago. Since then, nothing. Also no answers to my emails and the phone number is voicemail. 

How long can a testing phase go on? I suppose we could ask the gang at CKNT, which took six or seven YEARS to officially get up and running.

While out running errands and shopping yesterday in the Avenue Rd/401 vicinity yesterday, I tuned them in. A bit of static occasionally, but overall a reasonably listenable signal. One of the songs I heard was the seldomly played John Sebastian tune Younger Girl by The Critters.

And of course the big question remains: when they finally do sign on, whatever century that may be, will they keep that varied playlist or go back to the traditional 300 songs that have worn out their welcome with most listeners?