''Freestyle'' was a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...

program on the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

's Radio One network, which aired from 2005 to 2007."Revamp aimed at office listeners". ''

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'', November 1, 2005. For the first year, the program's hosts were Cameron Phillips and Kelly Ryan; in December 2006, Ryan left the program and was replaced by Marsha Lederman. ''Freestyle'' combined contemporary popular music, predominantly but not exclusively by Canadian artists, with generally irreverent "water cooler" chat."If Mozart embodies the CBC, why not Madonna?" ''

'', December 3, 2005. The show also featured regular commentators including "music guy" Daniel Levitin and book reviewer Sara O'Leary. It first aired on November 9, 2005, replacing '' The Roundup''. The show received some criticism for purportedly sounding too much like commercial radio programming. Conversely, Kate Taylor of ''

'' called the show relatively inoffensive and safe, but supported the CBC's desire to attract a younger listening audience. ''Freestyle'' had its final broadcast on April 13, 2007, and was replaced on the CBC Radio One schedule by '' Q''."New CBC Radio show gets name of a single letter". ''

'', March 2, 2007.

Scheduling

Officially, ''Freestyle'' aired weekdays from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. However, it was also one of the most variably-scheduled programs on the network — some stations aired only the first hour of the program, while others shifted the program to the 1:00 to 3:00 slot, and still others didn't air the program at all. Only the first hour of ''Freestyle'' aired in Calgary,

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Ottawa,

Toronto 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 anch ...

and

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. In each of those markets, the local afternoon program started at 3:00 p.m. instead of 4:00. However, the stations' rebroadcast transmitters outside of the main markets aired all of ''Freestyle'' and then joined the host station's local program in progress at 4:00. In

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

, ''Freestyle'' aired from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., airing the whole program but preempting the final hour of the regional noon-hour show. Again, however, rebroadcast transmitters outside of Winnipeg aired all of the noon show, then ran ''Freestyle'' in its normal time slot and joined the local afternoon show in progress at 4:00 p.m. The program did not air at all in the Northwest Territories or Nunavut, as the

CBC North CBC North ( iu, ᓰᐲᓰ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ, lit=CBC Northwest, translit=, SiiPiiSii Ukiuqtaqtumi; cr, ᓰᐲᓰ ᒌᐌᑎᓅᑖᐦᒡ, label=cr, SiiPiiSii Chiiwetinuutaahch; french: Radio-Canada Nord) is the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora ...

stations in those territories entirely preempted the program in order to offer special local programming in aboriginal languages.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freestyle (Radio Program) CBC Radio One programs Canadian music radio programs 2005 radio programme debuts 2007 radio programme endings