MHz
The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...
, ''103.9 Proud FM'') is a
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
in
Toronto, Ontario
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
. Owned by
Evanov Communications
Evanov Communications is a Canadian radio broadcasting company. It is also the sole owner of Dufferin Communications Inc., 80% owner of Halifax Broadcasting Ltd. and Ottawa Media Inc. The group of Evanov companies owns and operates a number of ra ...
, it broadcasts a
Hot AC
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet s ...
EDM
EDM or E-DM may refer to:
Music
* Electronic dance music
* Early Day Miners, American band
Science and technology
* Electric dipole moment
* Electrical discharge machining
* Electronic distance measurement
*Entry, Descent, and landing demonstrat ...
format with a focus on the area's
LGBT community
The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay men, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a comm ...
. Launching on April 16, 2007, it was the first radio station in Canada targeted specifically to an
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
audience, and the first commercial, terrestrial radio station in the world to target such an audience. It is one of six stations in Toronto that reports to
Nielsen BDS
Broadcast Data Systems (also known as BDS or Luminate BDS), is a service that tracks radio, television and internet airplay of songs. The service, which is a unit of MRC Data, is a contributing factor to North American charts published by co-owned ...
' Canadian Top 40 airplay panel.
Originally broadcasting from Toronto's
Church and Wellesley
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
neighbourhood, CIRR's studios are currently located on Dundas Street West in the
Eatonville Eatonville may refer to:
* Eatonville, Florida, United States
* Eatonville, Minnesota, United States, an alternative name for the former Dakota village Ḣeyate Otuŋwe
* Eatonville, Mississippi, United States
* Eatonville, Ontario, a neighbourhood ...
neighbourhood of Toronto, while its transmitter is located atop the Sheraton Centre on
Queen Street West
Queen Street is a major east-west thoroughfare in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It extends from Roncesvalles Avenue and King Street in the west to Victoria Park Avenue in the east. Queen Street was the cartographic baseline for the original east ...
in
downtown Toronto
Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Stre ...
across from
Toronto City Hall
The Toronto City Hall, or New City Hall, is the seat of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Designed by Viljo Revell and engineered by Hannskarl Bandel, the building opened in ...
.
History
Application and launch
The application was filed by Rainbow Media Group, a partnership between
Evanov Radio Group
Evanov Communications is a Canadian radio broadcasting company. It is also the sole owner of Dufferin Communications Inc., 80% owner of Halifax Broadcasting Ltd. and Ottawa Media Inc. The group of Evanov companies owns and operates a number of ra ...
and other private investors, in 2005, and was approved by the
on April 5, 2006. The company planned a format featuring a mix of popular and classic music (with daytime focused primarily towards current and classic hits, and evenings featuring more specialty rhythmic, dance, and world music), with spoken word programming oriented towards Toronto's LGBT community (including at least 7 hours of news programming, and 21 hours of talk/information programming per week). The station also promised to fund a $5,000 annual
scholarship
A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need.
Scholarsh ...
to journalism, art or music students at
Humber College
The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, commonly known as Humber College, is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has two main campuses: the Humber North c ...
and
Carleton University
Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World ...
, and a $30,000 stage showcase for musical artists at Toronto's
Pride Week
LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to sh ...
celebrations. Programming would be partially overseen by a community advisory committee.CRTC Decision 2006-128 /ref> The company first applied for this licence in 2000, but was denied in favour of
Milestone Radio Milestone Radio, Inc. was a radio broadcasting company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They were the first broadcasting company in Canada that was owned and operated by Black Canadians. The company's president was Denham Jolly.
Company ...
urban music
Urban contemporary music, also known as urban music, hip hop, urban pop, or just simply urban, is a music radio format. The term was coined by New York radio DJ Frankie Crocker in the early to mid-1970s as a synonym for Black music. Urban contem ...
station.
Several interventions opposing the application, as well as ''
National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
'' columnist
Lorne Gunter
A former managing editor of the '' Alberta Report'', and reporter with the '' Edmonton Journal'' Lorne Gunter employed as a Canadian columnist and editorial board member with the ''National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English- ...
,"Radio Free Canada" , ''
National Post
The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...
'', April 10, 2006, reprinted by
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting
Friends of Canadian Broadcasting (FRIENDS) is a Canadian advocacy group that monitors developments in the Canadian television and radio broadcasting industries. The group promotes expansion of public broadcasting, investment in Canadian content, a ...
noted that the CRTC had not issued an open call for other applications, alleging that the application was given special treatment by the CRTC for "
politically correct
''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...
" reasons — notably, Gunter directly linked the station's approval to the CRTC's denial in 2003 of a licence for a
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
radio station in Toronto, alleging
religious discrimination
Religious discrimination is treating a person or group differently because of the particular beliefs which they hold about a religion. This includes instances when adherents of different religions, denominations or non-religions are treated u ...
. In the licence approval, the CRTC noted that because the proposed 103.9 frequency is second-adjacent to Evanov's own CIDC, and Evanov would therefore have to give its consent to accept a zone of
radio frequency interference
Electromagnetic interference (EMI), also called radio-frequency interference (RFI) when in the radio frequency spectrum, is a disturbance generated by an external source that affects an electrical circuit by electromagnetic induction, electrost ...
to its signal, the company would effectively have held a
veto
A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto ...
over any competing application for the frequency. The Catholic station, conversely, was one of eight applicants for a single frequency, 101.3, which was awarded to the multicultural station CJSA-FM.
Pink Triangle Press
Pink Triangle Press is a Canadian organization which specializes in LGBT media including publishing, online interactive media, and television. PTP's main asset is the LGBT news website ''Daily Xtra'', a continuation of the company's former print t ...
, the publisher of the city's LGBT newspaper ''
Xtra!
''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former pr ...
'', was originally a partner in the application. The company pulled out in December 2005, alleging that Evanov was using the application as a backdoor into the Toronto market — where reception of the company's existing
rhythmic contemporary
Rhythmic contemporary, also known as Rhythmic Top 40, Rhythmic CHR or rhythmic crossover, is a primarily American music-radio format that includes a mix of EDM, upbeat rhythmic pop, hip hop and upbeat R&B hits. Rhythmic contemporary never uses ...
station, CIDC-FM Orangeville is unreliable — and intended to eventually drop the LGBT programming and convert the station to a mainstream format or
rebroadcaster
A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater (two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tran ...
of CIDC. Evanov stated a commitment to serving LGBT audiences, but refused Pink Triangle's request to have the commitment reiterated in a legally binding contract.
Post-launch
In 2009, Evanov bought out the remaining owners of Rainbow Media Group, becoming the station's sole owner.
In the station's early years, some listeners noted that even in the Church and Wellesley Village itself, the station's signal was sometimes drowned out by
CBL-FM
CBL-FM (94.1 MHz) is the flagship station of the CBC Music network. It is a non-commercial station, licensed to Toronto, Ontario, and is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
CBL-FM's studios and offices are located at the Canadian B ...
's rebroadcaster in
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
or by
CKDK-FM
CKDK-FM is a Canadian radio station owned by Corus Entertainment, and is licensed to the city of Woodstock, Ontario. It serves the London market, with transmitter power of 51,000 watts on the assigned frequency of 103.9 MHz, covering most of Sou ...
from
Woodstock
Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...
Xtra!
''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former pr ...
'', March 26, 2010. In 2010, the station applied to the
to increase its signal from 50 watts to 128 watts, with an ERP of 250 watts, which received CRTC approval on June 9, 2010. However, the station still broadcast from a transmitter location near
Yonge and Eglinton Yonge is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Charles Duke Yonge (1812–1891), English historian and translator of Philo of Alexandria
* Charles Maurice Yonge (1899–1986), British marine biologist
* Charlotte Mary Yonge (1823†...
in the Midtown region, rather than from a downtown location like most other radio stations in the city, and its signal later deteriorated even further as
condominium
A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership structure whereby a building is divided into several units that are each separately owned, surrounded by common areas that are jointly owned. The term can be applied to the building or complex ...
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'', September 7, 2012. CIRR has since relocated its transmitter to the top of the Sheraton Centre on Queen Street.
CIRR was the first commercially licensed LGBT-oriented radio station in Canada and the world. Evanov Communications was granted a license in November 2011 for a second LGBT-oriented station, a
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
market."Making waves: Montreal broadcasters in flux" ''
The Gazette
The Gazette (stylized as the GazettE), formerly known as , is a Japanese visual kei Rock music, rock band, formed in Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa in early 2002.''Shoxx'' Vol 106 June 2007 pg 40-45 The band is currently signed to Sony Music Recor ...
CKLN-FM
CKLN-FM was a community radio station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
From 1983 to 2011, CKLN Radio Inc. was licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission as a campus-community FM radio station affiliated with R ...
, and to increase its transmitter power. Per the CRTC's competitive licensing process, a call for competing applicants for the frequency was issued (where Evanov also proposed a "new easy listening" station).Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2012-485 Licensing of a new radio station to serve Toronto, ''CRTC'', September 11, 2012 The license was ultimately awarded to Rock 95 Broadcasting Ltd., which launched
adult album alternative
Adult album alternative (also triple-A, AAA, or adult alternative) is a radio format. See pages 9 and 10Mills, Joshua. "A New Radio Music Format: Rock for Prosperous Adults" New York Times, Feb 28 1994, p. 2. ProQuest. Web. Accessed September 4, 2 ...
CIND-FM on the frequency.
In 2018, Evanov filed an application to swap CIRR and CIDC's frequencies and power, with a proposal to convert CIDC to a low-power station on 103.9 that would specifically serve its city of license Orangeville, and CIRR to a full-power station on 103.5 that would assume CIDC's existing CHR format, and move the existing LGBT community programming to an
HD Radio
HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...
subchannel. The CRTC denied the application in January 2020, citing technical restrictions, and past attempts by Evanov to relocate CIDC in a manner that would neglect its city of license, and undermine the CRTC's competitive licensing process.
Programming
On September 13, 2006, Evanov announced that the station's morning program would be hosted by
Ken Kostick
Ken Kostick (1 June 1953 – 21 April 2011) CBC News. Retrieved 23 April 2011. was a Canadian chef and ...
and
Mary Jo Eustace
Mary Josephine "Mary Jo" Eustace (born May 1, 1962) is a Canadian actress, singer-songwriter, comedian, model, author, and sous-chef best known as co-host of the Canadian cooking TV series '' What's for Dinner?''.
Early life
Eustace was born and ...
, the former co-hosts of the television cooking show '' What's for Dinner?''. Eustace left the program in June 2008. Kostick would also depart the station in December 2008, after which the morning show was co-hosted by
Deb Pearce
Deb Pearce is a Canadian broadcaster and comedian, who, in the 2000s, hosted the midday program and then co-hosted the morning program with Patrick Marano on 103.9 Proud FM in Toronto, Ontario.Richard Ryder's ''Rise with Ryder'' was replaced with the syndicated ''
Elvis Duran and the Morning Show
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...
'' as its first Canadian affiliate; the program's host
Elvis Duran
Elvis Duran (born Barry Brian Cope; August 5, 1964) is an American radio personality. He is the host of the daily morning radio program ''Elvis Duran and the Morning Show'' in New York on Z100 and in syndication on Premiere Networks.
Before h ...
came out as gay in 2010, and has supported LGBT organizations.
Other hosts that have appeared on the station include
Cajjmere Wray
Cajjmere Wray (aka CCW) is a Canadian producer, DJ and remixer from Toronto. He is known for a variety of his original and remix productions. He has officially remixed many major recording artists including: Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Esthero, ...
Deb Pearce
Deb Pearce is a Canadian broadcaster and comedian, who, in the 2000s, hosted the midday program and then co-hosted the morning program with Patrick Marano on 103.9 Proud FM in Toronto, Ontario.Paul Bellini
Paul Bellini (born September 12, 1959) is a Canadian comedy writer and television actor best known for his work on the comedy series '' The Kids in the Hall'' and '' This Hour Has 22 Minutes''. He has worked on several projects with Josh Levy and ...
, Crystal Lite, Danielle Loncar, Acey Rowe and Sean Cowan. Comedian
Maggie Cassella
Maggie Cassella is an American-Canadian actress, comedian and writer, best known for hosting the Canadian television talk show '' Because I Said So'' and founding the ''We're Funny That Way!'' comedy festival.
Biography
Cassella's double degree ...
was also part of the station's original roster of hosts, but left the station as of August 2007. Pearce, Marano, Proulx and Wigmore were all dropped from the station in May 2010."Another bloodbath as Toronto's Proud FM fires four hosts" . ''
Xtra!
''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former pr ...