''Toronto Rocks'' was an hour-long television program presenting music videos on

CITY-TV CITY-DT (channel 57) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the Citytv network. It is owned and operated by network parent Rogers Sports & Media alongside Omni Television outlets CFMT-DT (chan ...

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 ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada in the 1980s, starting in 1984. It aired live at 4PM weekdays and was initially hosted by John Majhor. Majhor was a longtime DJ at 1050 CHUM AM in Toronto and eventually became one of Canada's first " VJs" with the development of

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

s. ''Toronto Rocks'' was a local contemporary to

MuchMusic Much (an abbreviation for its full name MuchMusic) is a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. MuchMusic launched on August 31 ...

and

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

(CITY-TV and MuchMusic were both owned by CHUM Ltd.), and had kids rushing home from school every day to catch their favourite videos of the early-to-mid '80's. During the show, Majhor played videos by a wide variety of the big-name artists of the day, all the way from

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

's "

Beat It "Beat It" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson from his sixth studio album, '' Thriller'' (1982). It was written by Jackson and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. Jones encouraged Jackson to include a rock song on the album. Jackson l ...

Van Halen Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...

's "

Jump Jumping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living (e.g., robotic) mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory. Jump or Jumping also may refer to: Places * Jump, Kentucky or Jump S ...

", Yes' "

Owner of a Lonely Heart "Owner of a Lonely Heart" is a song by British progressive rock band Yes. It is the first track and single from their eleventh studio album, '' 90125'' (1983), and was released in October 1983. Written primarily by guitarist and singer Trevor ...

", to the

Eurythmics Eurythmics were a British pop duo consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. They were both previously in The Tourists, a band which broke up in 1980. The duo released their first studio album, '' In the Garden'', in 1981 to little succ ...

' "

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" is a song by British new wave music duo Eurythmics. It is the title track of their album of the same name (1983) and was released as the fourth and final single from the album in early 1983. The song became t ...

" and other songs released in the 1980s by artists who became commercially popular during the decade. Wednesdays on the show were set aside for "Mid Week Metal Mania", where Majhor played only heavy metal videos from the

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

and "

hair bands Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is a subgenre of heavy metal that features pop-influenced hooks and guitar riffs, upbeat rock anthems, and slow power ballads. It borrows heavily from the fashion and image of 1970s glam ro ...

" of the day. He also interviewed in-studio guests and had various contests and giveaways. Over 400 episodes of ''Toronto Rocks'' were aired.

Brad Giffen Brad Giffen is a retired Canadian news anchor who has worked on television in both Canada and the United States. Over his broadcasting career he has also worked as a radio personality, disc jockey, video jockey, VJ, television reporter, televisi ...

(until 1988),

Lance Chilton Lance Chilton is a former Canadian television journalist. He began his career at Citytv in Toronto in 1987, as an entertainment reporter for CityPulse News. He also briefly hosted ''Toronto Rocks'' before joining MuchMusic as a reporter and ancho ...

(1988–90) and JD Roberts also filled in for John Majhor from time to time.

References

Former Toronto Rocks Host John Majhor Dies Of Cancer
Citytv original programming 1980s Canadian music television series 1984 Canadian television series debuts Year of Canadian television series ending missing Rock music television series Television shows filmed in Toronto {{Canada-nonfiction-tv-prog-stub