It's Time For CIUT's Spring Funding Drive!

Yes it's CIUT's Fall Membership Funding Drive again. You know; that time of year when we go to you our faithful listeners to ask for your support for another year. As always we still need to pay our bills. Remember all the money we raise all goes right back into the station, and there's always something that needs fixing or replacing. So it's back to work.

CIUT 89.5fm is Toronto's listener supported community radio station. We have a unique blend of music, news, talk and arts programming not to be found any where else on the dial. All brought by volunteers with very few paid ads for more rock less talk.

THE BB GUNS LIVE ON CIUT;


My show;"Moondog's Ballroom" Tuesdays at 5pm brings the Punk, Rockabilly, Surf, Garage, Psyche, Blues, Honky Tonk, Swing, Gospel, Ska and various combinations thereof from the 1940's, 50's, 60's to today. Including some stuff rarely if ever played on the radio. I've also done live sessions with The Vibrators, Robyn Hitchcock, BB Guns, Split Lip Rayfield, CATL, Speaking Tongues, Fruitbats, Bela Clava, Three Blue Teardrops, Blue Demons, Maximum RnR, B-17, Christian & the Hangovers, Luau Or Die and more for unique recordings, with more planned for the future.

That's where you, our faithful listeners come in.

Just cuz CIUT has very few paid ads doesn't mean we have no costs. We have to pay for the equipment, a small paid staff and our transmitter, and we are hoping to buy a new one to improve our signal. But we need you to become members of CIUT and show your support.



Here's the drill;
1. Listen in to "Moondog's Ballroom" Tuesday May 26 from 5-6pm
2. Phone in to 416-946-7800 or more likely go online to our secure server at www.ciut.fm.
3. Make a pledge of $89.50 or more to my show and become a member of CIUT
4. Become one of the Cool Kids!

It's Just That Easy!

B-17 LIVE ON CIUT;


And as an added incentive for a pledge of $89.50 You, Yes You can Be DJ For A Day & Host Your Show On CIUT! For one hour you choose the music, we bring the 15,000 honking watts of power. You have a band and want to come down? Cool! Make a pledge, become a member and let's do this!

We also have exclusive CIUT merch including shirts, tote bags and hats.

If you can't tune in for Tuesday May 26 no worries, you can always go to our website at www.ciut.fm and sign up online, or contact me.



So this Tuesday ay 26 at 5pm; Tune in, Listen in, Phone in and Join up.

Besides our onair broadcast you can still hear us @;
online at www.ciut.fm
iTunes Radio
TuneIn Radio Phone App
Rogers Digital Cable - Channel 946
Bell Fibe - Channel 970
Star Choice Satellite Channel - Channel 826

THE UNBELIEVERS ON CIUT:




THE SUICIDE DATES AT CIUT;

Thanks Again as always!

Upcoming Moondog's Ballroom Shows

THIS TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 13;

MISS GINGER ST JAMES & SNOWHEEL SLIM;

GINGER ST JAMES ~ "FURIOUS";


GINGER ST JAMES & SNOWHEEL SLIM ~ "FOLSUM PRISON BLUES";



JOHNNY GUNNER (UK Rockabilly);

JOHNNY GUNNER ~ "THE GRIM REAPER";


JOHNNY GUNNER & GINGER ST JAMES ~ "JACKSON TENNESSEE";



PAUL CAFCAE & 20 FLIGHT ROCKERS ~ "HATE TO SEE YOU LEAVE";


AT THE LINSMORE TAVERN 1298 DANFORTH (at Greenwood)

===================================================




HALLOWEEN CREATURE WITH SILENT CLASSIC "HP LOVECRAFT'S CALL OF CTHULHU" WITH LIVE SOUNDTRACK BY HAMILTON HORROR SURF PUNKS NIGHTCHILL;

"CALL OF CTHULHU"


NIGHT CHILL ~ "QUEEN OF BLOOD";


NIGHT CHILL ~ "7 DOORS TO DEATH";


NIGHT CHILL ~ "LONDON FOG";


NIGHT CHILL ~ "CAGED PANTHERS";



WITH CLASSIC SURF PUNKS MARK MAILBU & THE WASAGAS;

MARK MALIBU & THE WASAGAS ~ "ASTROBOTS";


MARK MALIBU & THE WASAGAS ~ "PET SEMETARY";



AND HORROR GARAGE PUNKS THE SCREAMAGERS;

THE SCREAMAGERS ~ "VIMPIRA IST TODT";


THE SCREAMAGERS ~ "DAY OF THE CENTIPEDES";



At the Hardluck Bar 772 Dundas west
Presented by Moondog's Ballroom & CIUT 89.5fm in association with Rue Morgue Magazine

Some Figures From The Toronto Music Scene Pass On

Frankie Busseri of 1950's Toronto pop vocal group the Four Lads, the first Toronto group to score international hits ("Standing On The Corner", "No Not Much", "Moments To Remember", "Istanbul");

THE FOUR LADS ~ "STANDING ON THE CORNER";


THE FOUR LADS & FRANKIE LAINE;



Fred Keeler ~ Guitarist with 1960's Toronto band David Clayton Thomas & the Shays

DAVID CLAYTON THOMAS & THE SHAYS ~ "WALK THAT WALK";



Jackie Shane ~ 1960's Toronto R&B singer;

JACKIE SHANE ~ "WALKING THE DOG";



Joanne Brooks ~ 1970's R&B singer and later singer in New Wave band Rough Trade;

ROUGH TRADE ~ "BIRDS OF A FEATHER";


ROUGH TRADE ~ "BUTCH";



Johnny Lovesin ~ Rock & Roll singer/guitarist and a fixture on the Toronto scene from the late 70's onward including opening for the Ramones first Toronto gig;

JOHNNIE LOVESIN ~ "WORKING GIRL";


JOHNNIE LOVESIN ~ "BAD TALK";



Dave Bookman ~ Radio DJ from the 80's onward on CIUT, CFNY and INDIE 88m club booker and supporter of indie music, also singer in 80's for indie band The Bookmen;

VIDEO TRIBUTE FOR DAVE BOOKMAN;



Leon Redbone ~ Ragtime Folk Rocker from the 1970's and an influence on Tom Waits;

LEON REDBONE ~ "DIDDY WAH DIDDY";


LEON REDBONE ~ "SHINE ON HARVEST MOON";



Joe Hall ~ Artsy Folk-Rock and Comedy singer songwriter and another fixture on the Toronto club scene from the 1970's & 80's

JOE HALL & THE CONTINENTAL DRIFT ~ "SWEET GYPSY NOSE";


JOE HALL & THE CONTINENTAL DRIFT ~ "LOS HABLOS TELEPHONOS";



Ed Bickert ~ Jazz guitarist from the 1960's onward;

ED BICKERT ~ "JUMPIN' THE BLUES";



Mose Scarlett ~ Folk & Blues singer from the 1970's onward;

MOSE SCARLETT ~ "SWEET GEORGIA BROWN";



Herb Dale - Toronto Country singer/songwriter;

HERB DALE ~ "JUST LIKE GOOD OLD WILLIE NELSON";



Justin Haynes ~ Toronto guitarist & mandolinist;

JUSTIN HAYNES;



Brian LaHaie ~ Drummer for Toronto folk band the Donefors & Cindy Doire;

THE DONEFORS ~ "IN A CORNFIELD";

Next Week; CIUT's 30th Anniversary Pub Crawl!

CIUT's been on the air with 15,000 Watts of power for thirty years so join us for our Year End Pub crawl.

Thurs.Dec.14 at the Bovine w/The Swinging Pussycats, Unbelievers and Doghouse Rose;



THE UNBELIEVERS AT CIUT;


DOGHOUSE ROSE;


THE SWINGING PUSSYCATS ~ "GOO GOO MUCK";


THE SWINGING PUSSYCATS ~ "THESE BOOTS ARE MADE FOR WALKING";


Fri.Dec.15 at Cherry Cola's w/Luau Or Die, The Speedkings, Mark Malibu & The Wasagas and The Hang Ten Gallon Hats;



THE SPEEDKINGS ~ "SOAPBOX PREACHER";


THE SPEEDKINGS ~ "WRECKING YARD" & "DRAGSTRIP GIRL";


MARK MALIBU & THE WASAGAS ~ "PET CEMETERY";


LUAU OR DIE ~ "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER";


Sat.Dec.16 at the Cameron House w/Christian & The Sinners, George Westerholm & the Wildcats, The Cliff Divers, The Calrizians



CHRISTIAN & THE HANGOVERS ~ "LIFE GETS IN THE WAY";


THE CALRIZIANS;

Coming Live To CIUT This Month!

Next Thursday at 1pm July 16 Ginger St James brings her Honky-Tonkin'-Rockabilly self on down to CIUT for a live session in our Map Room Sessions for a live-to-air recording. Any and all cheering sections are cordially invited. At the low, low price of absolutely free. Full 45 minute show starts at 1pm sharp. In the Map Room at Hart House in the University Of Toronto.

GINGER ST JAMES ~ "TRAVELING BAND";


GINGER ST JAMES ~ "FOLSUM PRISON BLUES";


GINGER ST JAMES ~ "HONK TONK BLUES";


GINGER ST JAMES ~ "TENNESSEE WALTZ";


Also coming up in August;

Old Time Country with Pigeonhawk Stringband ~ Thursday Aug.13
PIGEONHAWK STRING BAND ~ "EVA'S LULLABY";


Surf's Up with Luau Or Die ~ Friday Aug.14
LUAU OR DIE ~ "HAVING AN AVERAGE WEEKEND";


LUAU OR DIE ~ "PIPELINE";


LUAU OR DIE ~ "GEEK USA";


As always listen online at www.ciut.fm

88.1fm UPDATE; Although Not Yet On-Air INDIE 88 Goes For A Signal Upgrade

As some of you may recall, last year the CRTC granted the 88.1fm frequency vacated by the CKLN's meltdown to a new station to be called INDIE 88, an independent group dedicated to Indie and Canadian music. And then...nothing...at least not in public. So what's been going on with that? Well here's a recent update sent out by INDIE 88 a while back;

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"* The Licence is confirmed!! Although the CRTC awarded us the licence, procedures allow for an appeal of the decision to Federal Cabinet. One applicant did appeal the decision, bringing us to a stand-still. Just before Christmas our decision was confirmed. Big collective “Whew!”

* We are starting to build our systems and put together technical plans for the studios, transmitter and antenna. It will take us several months to get all of this organized.

* We applied to the CRTC for approval to increase power- 88.1 coverage is limited due to other users of the frequency. We have negotiated cooperative agreements allowing us to increase power from 875 watts to 4,000 watts. This is a big deal for the station - as licensed our signal will be difficult to pick up in many parts of the City. With higher power we will reach most Toronto homes. You’ll also be able to hear us on car radios throughout the GTA. BUT, the power increase has to be approved by the CRTC.

Once again we need your help. You can help us get approval by sending another letter of support to the CRTC. If you’d like to help out, just reply back with an e-mail and we’ll pass along the details."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A little back ground here; Firstly they don't say what group of entitled jerks actually tried to fight the granting of a license in court (with zero chance of success) but I can think of two possibilities. First there is Moses Znaimer who had also applied for the license and threw a public hissy fit and threatened a lawsuit (which I wrote about here) when they didn't get it. Then there was the CBC who also made a similar threat at the actual CRTC hearings which I was at. I have defended the CBC in the past but there is no excusing such arrogant behavior, assuming it was them.

Now for the more important issue; INDIE 88 originally applied for a signal at approx. 500watts. By comparison CKLN broadcasted at 250 watts, and when I worked there we had done some prepwork to upgrade to 1000 watts. So I was not surprised to hear that INDIE 88 was going for an upgrade, although making an application before even going on-air is a little odd. I guess the extra time left by the court challenge gave INDIE 88 time to kill. INDIE 88's application called for an almost hundred percent increase to 4000 watts. To keep that in perspective CIUT has 15,000 watts, CFNY (AKA The EDGE) has 35,000 watts, Q107 has 40,000 watts, BOOM 97 has 29,000 watts, KISS FM (formerly JACK FM) has 4,700 watts, FLOW has 1,170 watts, CKFG-FM (AKA CARN) has 446, CHRY has 150 watts and PROUD FM has 60 watts. Incidentally CARN and PROUD FM also applied for the 88.1fm signal. So 4,000 watts would make INDIE 88 competitive and allow them to compete with CFNY who are their obvious main competitor as well as enable them to reach the entire GTA with a good signal.



At any rate since I did intervene in support of the original INDIE 88 application with a fairly detailed 12 page submission I figured I might as well fire off another letter if support for the CRTC below; "Being a veteran of the Toronto music and radio scene as a DJ, Journalist and Show Promoter I wrote a letter of support of CIND's initial application and now wish to express my support for the proposed signal increase to 4000 watts. While the Commission's decision to grant a license to a radio station dedicated to an all-independent music station with a commitment to 40% Cancon is certainly a welcome step I am also aware that the current signal is not strong enough to adequately and consistently cover the ever growing Greater Toronto Area. The Independent music scene is not merely restricted to the downtown core but throughout the suburbs and surrounding communities. It is essential to encourage young musicians outside the downtown core with music that goes beyond that offered by the current commercial radio stations. Such a signal is also necessary enable CIND to appeal to advertisers needed to stay profitable. An upgrade capable of reaching not only the downtown core but also the suburbs is essential to enable CIND to meet it's desired mandate.

Furthermore I am aware as the Commission is that the proposal by CIND includes provisions to enable radio stations CHES and CFRH to increase and improve their signals as well along with financial support for these upgrades and would therefore have obvious benefits to the communities as well. This opportunity may not arise in the future and should naturally be taken advantage of. By it's willingness to work with and support these Community Stations I believe that CIND has shown it's willingness to be the "good corporate citizen" that any "Indie" oriented radio station must be in order to build a relationship with it's proposed audience and should be encouraged.

While I recognize that it is unusual for a radio station to ask for a signal upgrade before it has actually gone on the air I believe that the unusual challenges set by the unexpected opening of the 88.1FM frequency and the short deadlines for application made this unavoidable in this case. I have read the Supplementary Brief offered by the Applicant and I believe they have answered the concerns that the Commission may have concerning this issue. I therefore ask the Commission to approve the proposed signal upgrade.

(Signed) Daibhid James

The hearings will be sometime in April. They'll be in Ottawa so I won't be there however but I'll post the CRTC decison when it comes in.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I allude to in my support letter one of the byproducts of INDIE 88 applications is that it also allowed for signal upgrades for two other stations; CHES and CFRH. This is because they share the 88.1 frequency outside the GTA and therefore INDIE 88 had to get their permission to upgrade their signal since to do so would (or could) interfere with their signals. CHES is a small non-campus Community Station in the small town of Erin west of Toronto, CFRH is a French language community station in Penetanguishene. Both have been trying to get a signal upgrade for a few years now. To do so they would have needed the co-operation of the then holder of the 88.1fm frequency, CKLN. While I was working there back in 2008 there were working out a deal in which both CKLN and CHES and CFRH would be able to mutually support each other in getting signal upgrades for all of them. After the Ryerson Coup seized CKLN in 2009 the new supposedly community based leftist junta in charge of CKLN scuttled those agreements with two community stations in favour of a vague dream of getting a 1000 watt upgrade for themselves. Of course that was delusional since CKLN was at that point already busy being dragged in front of the CRTC hearings and have their license yanked.

Ironically it turned out that CKLN's shutdown was good news for everyone since once INDIE 88 got their application they quickly set to work on an agreement with CHES and CFRH which involved not only license upgrades for the two smaller stations but also INDIE 88 giving a large sum of cash to enable CHES to afford a more powerful broadcast antenna. CFRH has not actually applied for an upgrade yet, although they will probably do so at some point. CHES on the other hand has hit the ground running and applied for a signal upgrade simultaneously with INDIE 88. So I figured I might as well fire off a short support letter for them as well.



See below;

"I am writing in support of CHES FM's application for a signal upgrade. Although I am a resident of Toronto I have many years of experience in Community Radio and am well aware of the importance of such a station to it's local community. I am also aware that CHES has struggled to reach much of it's surrounding area with it's current signal and the requested increase seems both necessary and appropriate to it's mandate. A signal increase which allows CHES to reach the entire area would obviously be of benefit to that community as well as allowing CHES an opportunity to reach potential advertisers. I am also aware of CHES's previous attempts to address this issue were opposed by the now defunct CKLN. Since that station has now been replaced by CIND, a station which shown a greater ability to work with it's neighbors. This has allowed both stations to come to an arrangement which allows both station's to increase their signals for the mutual benefit of both audiences. It would therefore be wise to take advantage of this arrangement and grant both applications and I ask the Commission to do so."
(signed) Daibhid James

Fade to black, SUN TV's Last Day in The Bunker

For those who didn't notice, and judging from their truly pathetic ratings most people didn't, SUN TV (AKA FOX North) went off air on midnight October 31 2011, after being ordered to cease all terrestrial (meaning over-the-air) broadcasting by the CRTC. SUN TV will still however be offered by some cable networks in some parts of Canada including Shaw and Bell.

The CRTC announced their order back in August 2011 ruling that SUN NEWS TV would be losing their terrestrial (over-the-air) signal at the end of October . It seems that SUN TV had been living on borrowed time since going on the air in a suspiciously rushed and slapdash manner during the last federal election, during which SUN TV acted as cheerleaders for the Tories. Since backing the winning horse in the election SUN TV had spent an remarkable amount of attacking their enemies in the media with vitriolic campaigns against the CBC and arts funding along with some what less frenzied attacks on the CRTC. Both SUN TV as well as FOX itself have been feuding with the CRTC for years while demanding the preferential treatment that would allow both of them to set up the kind of national wide right wing network FOX has in the USA and ultimately the rest of the (white) English speaking world including Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. FOX's ambitions have dealt a serious if not lethal blow by the phone hacking scandals of course, but this hasn't dampened the frothing ambitions of SUN TV who continued to try and bully the CRTC into granting them a full nation wide broadcast. If SUN TV were assuming that they now had protection from the now all powerful Harper govt, they gambled wrong.

The odd thing about the SUN TV's sign off was it's stealthy nature. For a right wing trash talking tabloid who never pass up a chance to rage against the vast liberal establishment which is always censoring our poor oppressed billionaires and conservatives this silence spoke volumes. Even after the CRTC's public announcement the near silence from SUN TV was deafening. The assumption is that SUN wants another crack at this once the current CRTC chair, who has the honest-to-God name of Conrad Von Finkelstein (Seriously? He sounds like a Bond villain) is gone. Finkelstein's term is ending and while he has made it known that he would like to stay for another term, Harper has made it even more clear that he will be appointing another one of his more pliable cronies. So SUN is going to bide their time and not make things worse by picking a public fight with the CRTC.

An additional factor was the pathetic ratings of SUN TV which at times have been measured as being as low as 25,000 nation wide, which is less than some local TV stations. Some surveys showed them pulling less than half that (7000 at one point) which is even less than CKLN used to get. Pathetic. As SUN TV was circling the drain the CBC couldn't pass up a chance to rub salt in the wound by taking out ads bragging that CBC's ratings were 650 percent better than SUN TV's. And that was even before they went dark. This led to more impotent outrage from from various SUN TV talking heads who sputtered about the scandal that "Tax Payer Money" was being used to "attack" a poor defenseless mom and pop operation like SUN TV. Taking another shot in the increasingly nasty death match, the CBC piled on by running more ads pointing out the millions of "Tax Payer Money" that QMI (SUN TV's parent company) had gotten over the years from corporate welfare (which I also wrote about here,). QMI Boss Pierre Paladeu threatened a libel suit (like his pal Rob Ford when faced with bad press) and then failed to follow through (also like Ford). Notably he did not actually deny the accuracy of the CBC report however. He did however get to testify at parliamentary hearings which gave him yet another chance to sputter his outrage on behalf of the sacred taxpayers that the big bad CBC would be allowed to run adds smacking him down.

So the run up to the Oct.31 sign off was oddly muted. Other than a crawl across the bottom of the screen which listed the cable providers which would still carry SUN (which at that point was merely Shaw, at least in Southern Ontario) but actually did not mention that they would be off the air at all. That was pretty much it.

I watched the last hours from SUN TV's bunker curious to see how they would go into the dark, dark night, on Halloween no less. Still expecting some kind of grand defiant send off, or at least some kind of acknowledgement to their few viewers. What we got was slapstick.

With FOX North looking to come with a version of the ever popular "War on Christmas" that FOX South has been hawking for years, we had the ludicrous spectacle of Ezra Levant and Charles Adler ranting about the liberal "War on Halloween". The evidence for which being a few schools that banned Halloween dances. Running on a roll they then rambled on to rant some more about the outrageous liberal War on Disneyland. If the War on Halloween consisted of a few school board Killjoys, the War on Disneyland existed solely in the paranoid fantasies of Levant and Adler who simply speculated about how imaginary liberal activists MIGHT protest about racism in Snow White or whatever. The fact that nothing like this ever actually happened is apparently beside the point. As was the fact that the one group who actually HAVE protested Halloween has been Christians, outraged at a pagan holiday. Actually some Christians have even protested Disneyland for allowing gay tourist charters. But there I go using "facts" again, no fair.

At any rate with all this idiotic babble going on I plumb forgot that they were about to go off the air at midnight and turn into a pumpkin with no viewers. Apparently they forgot as well since they never bothered to mention this even once as the minutes ticked down to midnight. At about five to midnight as Levant was in still in mid rant the screen suddenly froze on Levant with his arms outstretched and his mouth silently agape. This shot stayed motionless like this for perhaps half a minute, then the screen went dark on SUN TV forever. And that was that.

I have now had the odd distinction of listening in to no less than three stations go off the air. I also listened in as 1050 CHUM went off air back in 2001 to become an all sports station. They had a classy sign off with an Elvis song "Heartbreak Hotel" (the first number one record at CHUM) and a long sound collage of various moments from CHUM's past. The new format didn't last very long and they soon came back as an oldies station, which also didn't last. Then they were bought out to simulcast CP20's TV newscasts, which was odd since there was obviously no video to go along with the commentary. This year that came to an end and they went back to being an all sports station, which is dying in the ratings again. I didn't catch those changeovers but apparently they were done with little or no notice, let alone fanfare.

1050 CHUM promo circa 1986;



And then there's CKLN. They were yanked off the air this April for being completely inept. Given their penchant for strident left wing ranting and bizzarro conspiracy theories their sign-off was oddly muted. As D-Day came there was no notice of their impending demise until mere minutes before when the station manager Jacky Harrison broke into "The OCAP Show" to announce they would be going off air in about five minutes. She then handed the show back to the perpetually outraged OCAP Radio show host to furiously rant about this censorship for a few minutes before Harrison came back to repeat the warning. Then back again to the OCAP host who was by then comparing CKLN to the Arab Spring protesters before being cut off in mid rant, putting an end to their Abbott and Costello routine for good with the sweet, sweet sounds of static.

It's worth pointing out that after being yanked off the air various members of CKLN's disgraced management gave their conspiracy theories about the CRTC's secret plan to destroy community radio, using this as an excuse for their incompetence and portraying themselves as hapless victims. To go along with this they confidently predicted that others would soon follow, particularly CO-OP Radio in B.C. and CIUT in Toronto.

CO-OP Radio did indeed face CRTC hearings last year partly due to some serious issues over their financial and equipment problems as well as some missed paperwork fillings, as well as a plan by CO-OP to trade their signal with a commercial radio station in exchange for enough money to fix their existing issues. I happily wrote a letter of support to the CRTC for them. The hearings were quite different from the CKLN Gong Show hearings of December 2010. In spite of the CRTC's supposed ruthless corporate racist agenda against community radio they granted CO-OP their extension and allowed their signal swap. And CIUT has been granted their extension along with every other community station as well. Except for CKRG who gave theirs up voluntarily.

CKRG was a Low Power campus station at York University's Glendon Campus. How low? About 5 watts, which would cover the area of the campus itself and that's it. They had been around since 1998 first as a Low Power AM signal then moving to Low Power FM in 2004. They had tried to go for a 200 watt license in 1994 but were turned down. Lately they had decided not to bother to renew their license when the current one came up for renewal in Aug. 2011. There was an extension to Nov. 2011 but by then CKRG had actually been off the air since school had let out the previous spring. Like many student stations (and CKRG was always a student station) CKRG had given up on trying for a terrestrial signal and had decided on a purely internet future. This is unfortunate since they had made this call before they know that CKLN was going down and would be creating an opening that they could have made a bid for. Oh well.

So the cheese stands alone.

A few other sign offs;


CINW-AM 940 in Montreal;





CIGM-AM 790 in Sudbury;






CJUL-AM 1220 in Cornwall;





WMJX-FM 96.3 in Miami (shut down by the FCC in 1981);

Upcoming Guests on "CIUT Live"

Just thought you'd like to know what we have panned upcoming on Toronto's only live music show. "CIUT Live" Mondays 6-7pm on CIUT 89.5fm;

Sept.6; Heather Morgan & Steve Briggs w/ Micheal Brennon & more - (for the Annual Patsy Cline Tribute)

Sept.13; Garotas Suecas - (garage band from Brazil)

Sept.20; Gerry Alvarez - (formerally of the Gruesomes, garage/psyche)

Sept.27; Canteen Knockout - (country rock)

Oct.4; The Outbred Inlaws - (Cow Punk)

Oct.11; Harpdog Brown (Blues from Alberta) (canceled, will play a prerecorded session of the Existers ans Tyranna instead)

Oct.18; The start of CIUT's Fall Membership drive 2010! (w/ Guests Christian D and Glen Brody)

Oct.25; Dr.Ew (of the Bicycles, solo, indie pop)

Nov.1; The Cynics (Pittsburgh garage punk)(prerecorded)

Nov.8; Little Foot Long Foot (roots punk)

Nov.15; Bela Clava

Nov.22; The Grapes of Wrath (pre-recorded)(to be confirmed)

Dec.6; The Rizdales (honky tonk from London)

Dec.13; Christian D & The Hangovers (rockabilly)

Dec.20; Alistair Christl (to be confirmed)

Dec.27; TBA



"Moondog's Ballroom" is of course also heard regularly Tuesdays 5-6pm

Moondog's Ballroom on CIUT 89.5fm moves to a new timespot!

Howdy All;
Starting this Tuesday Moondog's Ballroom on CIUT 89.5fm will be moving to a new timespot from it's current one Mondays @ 6 - 7pm to Tuesdays 5 - 6pm.
It's not a major move but it's a good one. This will put me in a block of related shows which will now include;
5pm - Moondog's Ballroom (that's me!)
6pm - Real Cool Time (w/ Rocky & Deena, playing Garage & Punk)
7pm - Dementia 13 (w/Christian Hamilton, playing 60's Psyche & Prog)
8pm - Vinyl from the Crypt (w/ The Cryptkeeper Ken Stower, playing assorted stuff from the 40's to the 80's)

By contrast Mondays are more spoken word heavy so this should be a better fit. Since "Real Cool Time" and "Dementia 13" play a lot of 60's garage I will probably focus more on Rockabilly, Blues, Doo Wop, Honky Tonk, Jump Blues and Western Swing. Not exclusively of course, I will still play lots of newer local stuff and will have guests and ticket giveaways as well.

Speaking of guests that brings us to part two of our schedule changes; the tentative plans for the Monday 6pm spot is to call it "Live at CIUT" and it will, logically enough, focus on live performances done at CIUT. We already have live bands down virtually every weekday but we have lacked a spot to really focus them until now. This new hour will give us the chance to record more, and have the bands do more songs as well as an interview. I will be involved in this as well, although not every week. In the past few months I have already done live sets with Split Lip Rayfield, The Fruit Bats, Harp Dog Brown and this Monday I will have Luau or Die and The Blue Demons and I am looking forward to getting more bands down in the future.

The following show on Mondays & 7pm, "Acoustic Workshop" also features many live sets so that's a bonus. CIUT will be the only radio station in Toronto presenting regular live sets from local and international artists, like our own Peel Sessions, so stay tuned.

We kick things off this Monday with the Blue Demons playing live to air @ 6pm and Luau or Die will also be in recording earlier in advance of the 5th Annual Great Lakes Surf Battle happening next weekend!

Later Y'all!
DJ

Niut Blanche 2009 review

I finally got around to doing the whole Niut Blanche thing. For those who don't know, it's a whole night of various art pieces throughout the city from dusk to dawn, and it's free. It's been around for a few years but I was always busy or whatever and I wasn't real clear on what it was. But Alisa does the whole experience every year and invited me so we stocked up on water, munchies, comfortable shoes and an umbrella and made a night of it.

7pm ~ Nuit Blanche officially starts, I haven't left home yet but CIUT is playing an electronic soundtrack while the lights on the CN Tower change and pulsate to the beat. It's not dark enough yet to get the full effect though.

8pm ~ Meet up at The R.O.M. where they are showing an exhibit of photos and covers from "Vanity Fair" going back to 1913. This isn't really an actual Nuit exhibit but rather an ongoing one that they are including in for free. Fairly crowded but the line up moves quickly. Not surprisingly we prefer the old black and white photos, Louise Brooks and her shining black do, James Joyce and his eyepatch, Cary Grant, Albert Einstien, Sergi Eisenstien, H.G.Wells, Picasso, Jean Harlow, Kate Hepburn. Someone wonders aloud if Kate is related to Audrey and if Jean Harlow copped her look from Marylin Monroe. Time to move on. By the time we get outside the line is winding around the corner.

9:15pm ~ The Royal Conservatory; Now we're talking, a sound college made up of musicians on three floors playing sustained notes with plenty of echo and coloured lights. In the auditorium there are eight singers exchanging more sustained notes. Eerie. Sounds like the soundtrack from Kubricks "2001". I would have turned the lights down for more atmosphere though. The Royal also has a collection of cool antique instruments behind glass. Outside a large group of buskers have shown up to take advantage of the crowds provided by the now long lineups. The usual jugglers, giant unicycle rider and a troop of Morris Dancers. For those who don't know Morris Dances are English folk dancers who wear baby blue hats, vests, kneepants and bells on their legs and shoes while dancing in circles while waving sticks and hankies. They look like the Tetley Tree Folk from the old commercial. Why the English who had the worlds greatest empire and body of literature also produced the world's silliest folk dance I'm sure I don't know. Afterwards we stop off at Subway to polish off a quick hogie. I mention this because it's almost the only money I had to spend all night.

11:30 ~ Hart House; Heading south we reach U of T where CIUT's new digs are, they're not actually home since they are broadcasting from the CN Tower. However in the courtyard the Foodjammers have a giant wheel offering coffee snowcones, which we pass on thanks, seems somewhat less than hygenic. There's also a blasting techno soundtrack which we also pass on. Inside there are several photo exhibits which are rather dull and we pass through quickly. However there are also some more interesting video art pieces which we spend more time on. There's one of a mirror image of a woman banging her head against a wall (with sound), and another of a guy hyperventilating loudly. There are also some silent ones from 1970 with some guy standing in a barn and dropping stuff and another guy walking down the side of a building, those look they belong in the creepy video from "The Ring". Speaking of creepy some group called Cry School Yearbook are taking photos of people done up in zombie goth make up for an imaginary school yearbook. There's a bit of a wait so we make an appointment for 5:30am, which is quite a commitment and decide to come back. Outside The CFS is protesting tuition fees by showing "V for Vendetta" on the side of a building and giving out free popcorn, cotton candy and hot chocolate. I'm no fan of CFS grandstanding but we'll take their free munchies though.

12:30am ~ The Polish Veteran's Hall; Outside is some kind of rickety stick canopy while inside another dull photo exhibit along with a short film about a guy who graphically kills his plumber so he can take his job. I assume this is supposed to be some kind of comment on the economic meltdown but it's mostly just gratuitous violence. There is also a photocopied zine handout which conjures up fond memories of the 1980's art zines. They also have some kind of interactive piece but we judge the lineup as being too long. All in all fairly dull stop so why does the Polish Art exhibit have a good size crowd? Because they have the best food (Yay! perogies and cabbage rolls) and they have beer (Yay! Polish beer) that's why. A few doors over is Steelworker's Hall on Cecil street which has a Caribana related display of large dayglo dolls made up like Caribana parade dolls looking like a lightbrite game. They loudly ban cameras from this one but Alisa sneaks a pic anyway before we make a beeline out of there.

1:00am ~ The AGO; They have a display out front of discarded computer consoles covered with flower stickons. Don't know what's inside since they also have another long line up so we head down to OCAD where they have giant stuffed white Casper looking toys scattered about while smoke machines belch away. Around the corner is the inevitable impromptu rave. Down at the Music Gallery they have...no music. But they do have a ten foot wedding cake with a trampoline on top that you, yes you, can jump on with a bouncing bride while more annoying techno music plays. Yet another line up for that one of course.

2:30am ~ City Hall; At the Armory st. entrance there is a "12 Hour interpretive dance piece" about dead philosophers or whatever. Yeah, OK, whatever you say. Moving right along to Nathan Phillips Square they have giant flashing lights spelling out random four letter words while white noise blares. It's ok but we wonder if better use could have been made of such a large central place. On the other hand back in the nineteen sixties when Mayor Phill Givens bought the Henry Moore sculpture and put in on display some people were so outraged that he lost the next election, now city hall is being used to blast out Throbbing Gristle while people wait to see if an obscene word will inadvertently pop up. Toronto certainly has come a long way baby.

3:00am ~ The Royal Bank on Bay st. in the financial district; Midway rides on Bay St! I know this is supposed to symbolize the stockmarket rollercoaster and all, but more importantly; Midway rides on Bay St! Actually there's just two; a giant slide and the Avalanche ride ( it's kind of like the Pirate ship at Wonderland), and there's the usual linups, but thank God for artful butting in line at least at the Avalanche ride which wakes me up nicely thanks.

3:45am ~ Old City Hall has another lineup? At 3:45am? Go home already people. Trinity Spadina Church (where the Cowboy Junkies recorded) has an even longer one. I'd like to see the interactive music experience at Massey Hall but I'm told that the lineup there is even worse. So heading back west we pass through that tiny park behind City Hall where there's supposed to be a ghost walk. Actually it's a group of people in white sheets reading some sort of chant. The photo in the guide shows them glowing green but it's just guys in sheets. Alisa likes it but I think it could have used some dry ice.

4:15am ~ The AGO is now closed but the Cinemateque is still open. They're showing the 1903-04 silent films of George Melies including the classic "Voyage to the Moon" accompanied by live piano to a full house. I love silent films but I don't usually get to see them on a big screen. It's good chance to take off our shows, polish off some chocolate and take a load off for a bit. It's 5am and the theatre is still packed when we leave.

5:15am ~ Passing through King's College Circle on our way back to our Hart House appointment (remember?) we run into some die-hards passing out sparklers. Much spinning and twirling about while snapping blurry photos ensues.

5:30am ~ Back at Hart House; Exactly on time to the second with the afore mentioned diehards in tow to get our gothy pictures taken. No more lineups, no more wheel of coffee snowcones, no more free cotton candy and popcorn. But we do get our photos done and leave with goth makeup intact after hanging out and making shadow puppets on the video screens. We have officially been up too long.

6:40am ~ St. Thomas Anglican Church on Huron St.; There was supposed to be a hologram display with music, but by the time we get there they are packing up equipment and the music is done. There are still a few holograms though and a strange collection of portraits of famous people burned into pieces of toast. I guess the message is that Charles Darwin and Karl Marx are toast. But then why is Tim Allen here praytell? Anyhow there's also lots of free cookies and tea to stock up on for the trek home.

7:00am ~ Bloor St.; Walking back to the car and wondering if anything is still open. Nope, The Bata Museum is dark as a tomb and the ROM and Conservatory are locking up. However turn on the car radio and CIUT is still playing an electronic drone while the lights still pulse on the CN Tower.

7:30am ~ Home; And so to bed. Over and out.

The unspoken legacy of Much Music

2009 marks the 25th anniversary of Much Music, Canada's answer to MTV and oddly nobody seems to have noticed, including Much itself which has chosen to downplay this event for some unknown reason. Perhaps they fear their core audience of fifteen year-olds will be creeped out by old footage of Terry David Mulligan or Kim Clark Champnis interviewing Bryan Adams in 1985, I know I am. Perhaps they know that anyone who was a fan back in the day (as I was) stopped watching Much over a decade ago and could not possibly care less if the station was there or not anymore.

Let's not take up time stating the obvious, Much is manifestly superior to MTV in every conceivable way. Actually let's take some time on this because Much in fact played an important role (along with some other factors) in the way that the Canadian music scene evolved in the 1980's and 90's in ways that Canadians barely notice.

EXHIBIT A: THE SHADOWY MEN;




We all should know by now about the role that CanCon played in fostering a serious domestic music industry in the 1970's by literally forcing radio to play Canadian music, which in turn made homegrown record labels a viable concern. Positive as these steps were this was only a step (or two) in the journey. In spite of what the CBC's various worship-full documentaries say, and with all due respect to some notable exceptions, much of the music put out by Canadians in the 1970's were bland, derivative versions of American AM radio fare. What was still lacking was the kind of variety that would require a nationwide underground, eclectic, alternative scene that could go in a dozen directions at once while still holding the center in a country that is fiendishly difficult to tour in ways that British or even Americans can hardly understand. This would also require an openness to the new sounds coming out of England and the USA.

It is with this last point that Much Music proved it's worth from the start, inheriting the tradition already set by "The New Music", a groundbreaking music news show also owned by City TV (who owned Much) which had been going for a few years already, and who would share many hosts and VJ's in the early years, Much started out with a very different mindset than the American MTV.

EXHIBIT B: THE GRUESOMES;



MTV was built on the vomit-inducing model of American top forty radio, "All the hits, all the time", with vapid VJ's bantering meaninglessly in between short sets of video clips which came from a limited playlist. Nothing surprising, nothing off-center, nothing new, nothing that might offend the folks in Utah. And in the beginning, absolutely nothing black, at all, literally, until Micheal Jackson's clout forced them to open up ever so slightly.

"The New Music" was the first attempt at creating a music magazine like Rolling Stone for T.V. And it happened in Canada. America had MTV and before that, lip-synched performance shows like "Solid Gold" and "Midnight Special" along with Casey Kassem's "America's Top 40". Britain had their own performance shows like "Top of The Pops" and "The Old Grey Whistle Test". These all were just variations on the templates laid down by Dick Clark in the fifties, and by the punk and post punk era they were dangerously out of touch and as credible as the "Muppet Show", and not nearly as funny. But we had "The New Music" which did serious and semi-serious interviews with artists and entire genres that would never be heard elsewhere; New Wave, Post-Punk and Metal bands from England, Roots Rock, Hardcore and Thrash bands from America, Euro-techno and Industrial from Germany, Reggae, World Beat and later Hip-Hop as well.

EXHIBIT C: SLOW;





Both "The New Music" and "Much Music" were owned by CITY TV/CHUM Radio and therefore Much could build on the foundations laid down by New Music. So right from the start Much was far more eclectic than MTV ever would be, playing the whole variety of musics that New Music had already blazed a path for. Much also followed the same CanCon regs that radio had to follow, but unlike commercial radio they were not satisfied to simply play the token top forty CanCon hits, Much even had the "Indie Street" show to focus on low budget indie videos by unsigned Canadian bands. The cause of indie and alternative CanCon was helped by the support of Video Fact grants that help fund the making of low budget videos that could actually have a chance to get played thanks to Much and New Music. There was simply no equivalence to this on MTV or BBC, still isn't actually. This meant that bands like Deja Voodoo, The Gruesomes, Slow, Ray Condo, Blue Rodeo, The Razorbacks, 54-40, The Grapes of Wrath, Skinny Puppy, Change of Heart, The Shadowy Men, Martha & The Muffins, Breeding Ground, The Payolas, Sturm Group, Death Sentence and Voivod could get their videos, which ranged from the fairly cheap to the laughably cheap played as if they were almost as important as top 40 fare. And clearly way more cool.

CHANGE OF HEART ~ "TEN MILES AWAY";


Remember the cheapo videos like The Shadowy Men's puppet shows? Or Ray Condo's cartoons? Or Sturm Group running around the Scarborough bluffs waving swords looking like a pasty Conan The Barbarian? Or Skinny Puppy's morbid super 8 performance art bloodfests? They must have cost all of two hundred dollars to make, not counting the pizzas and beer. Then there was the ultimate in clueless Canadiana; April Wine's video for "I like to rock" in which our boys take time out from a busy day in the studio to play some tabletop hockey and brew some coffee. Only in Canada you say? Pity. God how I miss them all.

EXHIBIT D: APRIL WINE;




They were also helped by the fact that the established acts like Rush, Triumph,Trooper, not to mention earlier dinosaurs like Burton Cummings and Gino Vanelli at first refused to make videos at all, and later only grudgingly and poorly. The same thing was happening in the USA with the likes of Journey and Boston sulking on the sidelines as New Wave and New Romantics bands breezed by them. Some American critics are still bitter about this. It is a fact that relatively fewer American bands of the early eighties bothered to make videos at all, they were too expensive to make if they weren't going to get played on MTV anyway. And there were no Videofact grants for them. The lack of videos from this era is actually a real loss American music, although there were a few exceptions. The Ramones, Fleshtones, Blondie, Cramps, Lords of The New Church, Long Ryders, Iggy Pop, Motels, Talking Heads, Joan Jett and a few others did make some videos as did the Stray Cats after they moved to England, which doesn't count. However for the most part they were ignored by MTV and only got played on Much anyway. The lack of videos of the likes of The Gun Club, Jason and the Scorchers, Mission of Burma, Replacements, Rank and File, Blasters and even early REM is inexcusable and it's MTV's fault. If it weren't for "The Decline of Western Civilization" and "Suburbia" we wouldn't have X, TSOL, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, The Germs and D.I. footage either. In Canada or even Britain and Australia they all would have made videos as a matter of course, and they would have been played too.

EXHIBIT E: RAY CONDO;





Of course Much was hardly alone here. CBC joined in with "Brave New Waves" and a network of campus and community radio stations would grow up including CKLN and CIUT (both of which I worked at) in Toronto. Ironically even though the Chum/City group also owned the most powerful radio stations in Toronto (and a number of other cities), they kept those operations separate from Much and New Music which left an opening for upstart CFNY to fill. There would also be a network of magazines like Nerve, Reargarde (which I wrote for), What Wave and Graffitti and weekly papers like Now Magazine (in Toronto) and in most other Canadian cities. But Much was in the unique position to act as a nationwide unifier and by and large they did.

VITAL SINES ~ "COLLAGE";


This openness to music beyond the mainstream meant that most of the Post Punk and New Wave sounds coming out of Britain now actually came to Toronto first to break into North America where they would have once treated Canada as a backwater of the USA. This meant that British bands like U2, Simple Minds, The Cult, The Cure, OMD, the Banshees, Jesus and Mary Chain and virtually every other contemporary hit here first, Aussies like Midnight Oil and INXS would follow as would reggae and world beat. You could even occasionally see the likes of serious weirdos like Cabaret Voltaire, the Severed Heads, The Virgin Prunes, Laurie Anderson and SPK who probably couldn't even spell MTV. It actually got to the point where even some American bands were actually more popular here than they were at home, including REM and Steve Earle.

EXHIBIT F: SKINNY PUPPY;



The spinoffs this had for enriching the scene in Canada are impossible to measure. Once upon a time Canada was a backwater known for crappy cover bands where anyone with real talent and ambition had to go to New York or L.A. to get signed. And where international bands largely ignored or treated as a stopover on their way to New York. That is no longer true at all. Much played a big role in this evolution, they weren't the only player, but they were vital in pulling local scenes together and one shouldn't forget that.

EXHIBIT G: BLUE PETER;




It's true that in the past decade or more Much has become bland, glitzy, commercial and predictable, so has CFNY. Graffiti, Nerve and Reargarde magazines are long dead and were replaced by Exclaim and Chart which in turn also became more commercial and bland. "Indie Street" is long gone and when New Music finally gave up the ghost a couple of years ago few noticed or cared. But it also true that MTV has declined even more to the extent that even the mention of MTV as playing videos at all is considered a punchline. Much branched off into various specialty channels for punk & metal, hip hop, retro 80's, country, latin and french which segregated the audiences and diluted the variety and unpredictability of the original. While Much may be a pale shadow of it's former greatness one shouldn't totally forget that greatness once existed, even if Much seams not to care. Those who grew up with Much can take a minute to reflect on memories that go beyond mere misty eyed nostalgia. Sometimes the old days really were better. So thank you Much Music, glitzy warts and all.

EXHIBIT H: THE NILS;



P.S. I planned on including the videos for Sturm Group's "Twenty" but it's not on youtube damn it. However by way of bonus we have this Indie Street segment from 1983;