Picking up where we left off last week… Toronto still isn’t the capital of Canada, so please stop Googling it regardless of how wrong you think I am. But there is some really great Alternative radio being done in that market, and it’s also the home of some great poutine places. Coincidence? For reals, don’t sleep on the poutine, I’m being completely serious on how great it is.
Toronto is also the home base of CIND-FM (Indie88) under the purview of PD Ian March, who was gracious enough to talk about some of his secret sauce and offer some thoughts on the Alternative format. In last week’s edition of this column, March discussed how he distinguishes Indie88’s sound to make it sound distinctive, especially in the face of competition from crosstown format mainstay CFNY (102.1 The Edge).
One example of that is the emergence of what March describes as “Alt-country, or ‘cooler country.’” When he went to a Chris Stapleton show in Toronto, he saw a fair amount of Indie88 listeners there, and one of Stapleton’s tracks went into rotation on the station. March cautions that it does take some thought to make material like that fit in sonically and be palatable, even to listeners who don’t like country. “Pick your battles with that stuff,” he advises. “Everyone who’s experimented with genres knows you don’t fully know how it will sound until you put it on air.”
Personally, one of the reasons why I love listening to Indie88 is that March and his MD, Michael Religa, take special care to find great new local and national music and bands since Toronto and Canada, in general, have a lot to offer. There seems to be a longtime stigma against Canadian stations because the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which is their version of the FCC) mandates that Canadian music radio stations play at least 35% Canadian content every week, which led to decades of jokes and stereotypes about Canadian Alt stations being frontloaded with a ton of Alanis Morissette and Barenaked Ladies.
“I’ve heard American programmers just assume everything we play is because we’re legally required to. It gives the material we do play an air of not being legitimate, which is not true,” March says firmly. Again, personally, I can corroborate: Indie88 has a slew of great-sounding tracks from Canadian artists that fit right in alongside known American quantities – including a number of currents, and I’m at a loss why American stations haven’t been liberally importing them.
I asked March for a couple of recommendations of Canadian artists who should get their due in the U.S. The first he named was a band I’d been following for a few months – thanks largely because I initially heard them on Indie88 – but also because they’re making headway in America: The Beaches. “We consider them an Indie88 success story,” March says, revealing that his station was the first to play them thanks to MD Michael Religa’s early belief in and enthusiasm for them. “Michael helped them pick singles,” he says. “They have a diverse audience, and their material is resonating.”
The second artist he mentioned was a Rock-leaning band I’ve liked for a few years called The Glorious Sons. “They make really great straight-ahead rock, and they’re great live performers,” March proclaims. “I don’t think they got their due in Canada because we don’t really have Active Rock stations, and our Rock stations don’t play many currents, but they’d fit right in on American Active Rock stations.” Their 2017 track “Everything Is Alright” is one of my favorite songs, and I’m not alone in that respect – the song made it to the top of the Canadian Alternative radio chart and was included in Indie88’s year-end countdown of 2017 songs.
I had to ask March about the station’s recent sale, which actually closed the week I spoke to him. He’s extremely positive about the future, describing the change in ownership as “transformative.” The company that now owns Indie88 is named Local Radio Lab, which March calls indicative of their fresh take on radio. “It’s not a phone company or a bank; local radio is what they do,” he says. “The owner, Christopher Grossman, is a fan of the station, and that’s why he bought it. In the last 10 years, we’ve tried a lot of things, and it’s going to be fun to now double-down on the things that work with a fresh set of ears and fresh resources.”
Widening his perspective to the Alternative format in general, March feels like things used to be a lot more creative, but the creativity has stopped over the past several years. “The format we have and the options we keep going back to… they weren’t handed down from God,” he says. “If you feel like you need to flip a station or launch a new station, it’s one of a small handful of preset formats. Why don’t we create new things anymore?”
Regarding the new trend of Classic Alternative stations, March is watching Corus’ CFGQ (107.3 The Edge)/Calgary. “That market didn’t have an Alternative station in the ‘90s, so some of what it’s doing is new to the market. It’s not a throwback to itself,” he says, referencing the rebirths of KITS (Live 105)/San Francisco and 99X in Atlanta. “That Calgary one will be interesting.”
Stream Indie88 live and see recently played tracks listed at indie88.com.
Sample playlist segment from Monday, August 12:
Cage The Elephant – “Ready to Let Go”
Billie Eilish – “Lunch”
The Wallflowers – “One Headlight”
JJ Wilde – “Hands”
Arkells – “Whistleblower”
Smashing Pumpkins – “Sighommi”
The Black Keys – “Beautiful People (Stay High)”
Third Eye Blind – “Semi-Charmed Life”
The Beaches – “Edge of the Earth”
The Smiths – “How Soon Is Now”
Grimes – “Flesh Without Blood”
The Killers – “Bright Lights”
Hollerado – “Born Yesterday”
The White Stripes – “The Hardest Button to Button”
Chappell Roan – “Good Luck, Babe!”
The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Bad Luck Again”
Foo Fighters – “The Glass”
Metric – “Breathing Underwater”
Glass Animals – “Creatures in Heaven”
A former air personality and industry journalist, Keith Berman worked at the late Radio & Records for several years, where he held a number of positions before being promoted to format editor. While at R&R, he also served as a writer and reporter, covering breaking news; authoring weekly columns, format roundups and features; and contributing heavily to Street Talk Daily. When R&R folded, he co-founded RAMP (Radio and Music Pros) and spent 3 years covering radio and record labels before taking a hiatus from the industry. His experiences also include time on-air at stations in Connecticut, Boston and Southern California. He can be reached at KeithBerman@gmail.com.
