Photo: Alex MNJIVR, host of Autobeat

It's time to celebrate CJLO's amazing 15th Anniversary in community radio, and 5 years broadcasting on Montreal's airwaves at 1000 watts of AM power! To quote The Beatles, it's been a long and winding road, but CJLO 1690 AM has become a real family, and each member has a passion for filling this city's airwaves with beautiful tone, tempo, and timbre. We welcome all who wish to join our family in this undying love for music in the many years to come, but for now, please travel down just one more road in our long journey by reading about the shows, new and old, that took CJLO from silence to signal... and beyond.

...from Silence

CJLO Head Music Director Omar Sonics, and host of Hooked on Sonics (rumour has it, he's also an accountant, and sodee and milkshake aficionado), tells us all about CJLO's true champions. The ol' radio shows that took CJLO out of the silence and continue to broadcast on 1690 AM today!

I've been at CJLO for a while now. Having left the station twice, plus a leave of absence last year as well, it still keeps me coming back. Aside from the main reason—a love of music, radio, and exploring new sounds and being able to bring that to a community of listeners as hungry as I am—a big reason I keep being sucked back into the CJLO vortex is the people. People who share the same passion I do, and who (cue melodramatic score) believe in the power of community radio. That being said, while celebrating CJLO and its achievements, we should also remember The Struggle! 

It took years of fine-tuning our programming, of dealing with a revolving door of volunteers, years of continuous obstacles, and most importantly, of traveling the long, arduous road to the AM dial. Through all of that, there has been a solid group of volunteers and DJs that have held on to keep CJLO's programming consistent and professional, with renowned high quality.

What can I say about BVST, a show that brazenly admits it plays the "best and worst of country, punk, and metal"? Clearly from that description it's no surprise some of the musical selection may not pass my own personal smell test, but host Angelica is one of the station's most affable and charming on-air hosts. A die-hard CJLOxican, sharing a talk spot with her is something every DJ at the station should do. It's fun! you get carried away on whatever tangents, and will probably get in trouble with the higher ups. If you wanna chat hair metal, stoner rock, or the "benefits" of long hair and unkempt beards, Angelica is the person to go to. Also, Gene Simmons from Kiss even calls in to BVST time to time...

Paul and Ian from The Go-Go Radio Magic Show have been the diehard supporters of shambolic rock at CJLO for eons now (even prepping their adorable young daughters to eventually take over the mantle when they retire). The two trade off sets, almost in a friendly game of one-upsmanship, to see who can school the listener more in classic soul, rock, post-punk, and college rock of yore and of today. In the end, we all win as Paul "Prince Palu" caters to his loyal subjects and "Oncle" Ian spoils his listening nieces and nephews. Become a fan, and like me, you may be on the receiving end of a delightful phone call from Oncle Ian, or a sloppy kiss on the cheek from Prince Palu.

Kiran is the OG CJLOer, so old school his show, Beyond That Graveyard! III, is a sequel to a sequel of his original show. The official CJLO Defender of Rock, the K-Man keeps it simple: if it's loud and has been rolled in the dirt a few times, he's a fan. He's probably CJLO's biggest local rock supporter, so much so that I'd say if you consider yourself to be in a "rock n' roll" band from Montreal and you haven't caught the ear of the K-Man, you're not in a rock n' roll band.

From being a co-host on a once ramshackle & charmingly lazy show on "punk and... stuff", Idle Matt has transformed Radio Fun—his latter-day incarnation of an early program called The Idle Minds—into a pristine weekly presentation of current and classic post-punk and garage rock selections (with the occasional tip of the hat to hardcore). One of CJLO's most professional shows, hear how it should be done and look at your own show in disgust afterwards as CJLO Mom remarks "why can't your show sound more like Matt's!?"

If Michael Williams from MuchMusic's heyday RapCity wore a backpack and fitted caps, he would be Phantastiq Cypha host Brian 'Doc Holidae' Joseph. The preeminent supporter of Canadian talent on CJLO, I'd even go so far to say that as far as local radio goes, if you're looking for Montreal based hip hop, the Cypha is the place to go. One of CJLO's most vocal and visible ambassadors, Brian was selected to represent CJLO (and Canada!) at the inaugural International Radio Festival in Zurich. If that doesn't speak to the quality of this program, I don't know what does. Along with being a CMJ award-winning Specialty Music Director, he's also a righteous dude.

Saturday's powerhouse lineup (and probably the crown jewel of former program director Brian Joseph's block programming scheme) is a concentrated blast of some of CJLO's most dedicated shows who are also extremely well-respected in their own respective communities. Sugarface Nene, CJLO's longstanding World Music Director Kelly Belfo (and one half of local DJ duo powerhouse Les Femmes en Question), has been bringing the musical flavours of the world for ages—first with Afternoon Roots, now on Beat the World. She's also a nurse, so you know you're in good hands with her. The extended family of Caribbean Callaloo,which now includes Anatomy of Caribbean Music and The Live Wire Show, has been a Saturday mainstay. With their parties, fundraising efforts, and overall fun vibe, Raphael, Pete & Gordon are quite possibly CJLO's biggest champions—their shows are pretty much appointment listening for the Caribbean community. And what can be said of More Fyah? The slickest production at the station, and a show that still is a constant subject of praise in the CJLO offices with their whip-smart talk spots, sizzling songs, and rapid-fire sound effects. Saturday is the day that I think all CJLOxicans can agree leaving the dial on 1690 AM, and keeping the volume up right into The Limelight, CJLO's premiere R&B and hip hop show. If you've been at the station as long as I have, hosts J Nice and Lady Oracle are like the two cool cousins you always want to hang out with. When they're not tending to the ones and twos at CJLO, J Nice is probably searching for obscure anime flicks, and Lady Oracle is spinning in a club as the other half of Les Femmes en Question. The smoothest show on CJLO, always playing host to a who's-who in the hip hop community, they're my go-to for making obscure '80s and '90s hip hop references for laughs. In summary, Saturday is stacked!

People like Karl Knox need to be on the air. Our defender of justice, our man of the people, our DJ who used to wake up super early and host a daily morning show about the depressing state of the world ("Oh what's that? You host a show ONCE a week? Isn't that cute...") thankfully returned after a much-needed break to a more manageable weekly slot on New Media & Polictics 2.0. Karl covers all the politics and media news that would and should be driving you mad. Karl is CJLO's equivalent to Amy Goodman.

A show whose content is (almost) as sweet as its host, Twee Time's Stephanie Dee brings a weekly sugar shot of the twee-est tunes for that musical diabetic fix. From obscure 45s, cult bands, indie power pop labels, the show is basically a musical anti-depressant that keeps the cute-factor high, with just the right amount of edginess to keep it from going into "d'awwwww" territory. Also taking on the mantle of being our erstwhile online (and print) magazine editor, Steph has the power to twist whatever I am writing right now about her into whatever she wants it to be; kittens, kittens, kittens! With that, I'll leave you with the following: No, Steph, My Bloody Valentine is not twee! (Editor's note: Listen to "Sunny Sundae Smile" and tell me that's not twee!)

And with that, consider the above a tip o' the hat to the "old guard"—the DJs who stuck it out through the hard times, and can truly appreciate where this "little radio station that could" came from. The station that, when asked how it got all the acclaim it has in such a short period of time and from where it came from, colleagues of ours at CMJ answered "basically, a group of friends got together and said 'Let's start a radio station…', and they did." And we did, with a strong hand from the programming backbone those above provided.

...to Signal

CJLO Program Director Alex Massé travels through the fairest of dwellings to our recent past, and gathers some history about CJLO's five years on the edge of that AM dial along the way.

Seeing as this issue of the magazine is all about retrospectives, I'm going to take you on a journey to the heady days—nay, the glory days!—of last fall. I remember it like it was just last year... I was new to Montreal and fitting in nicely: a broke-ass 25 year-old Anglo hipster working a crap job in the Mile End. But there was one thing missing! I needed a community. And so it was that I searched out CJLO. 

"A campus station on the AM dial?" I exclaimed. "That's so avant-garde." I twisted my radio tuner all the way to the right, hitting 1690 just in time to hear those fateful words: "Next we're gonna hear something from the new Godspeed You! Black Emperor album. You're listening to Dirty Work right here on CJLO, 1690 AM." I was sold.

I've since come to know all the shows on CJLO, but considering I'm still a new jack, I'm going to talk about the new generation of shows that started after CJLO reached the AM dial in late 2008. 

One of the early additions to the AM radio roster in 2008 was the appropriately titled Haze World, a show full of mysterious beeps, beats, and textures. Then in 2009 we added Greedy Graffiti, a banging hip-hop show punctuated by the unfiltered musings and rantings of DJ MissChief; and along came the Diego Award-winning show Beats from the East with DJ Mister-Vee, whose unique show features some of the best urban music from far-east Asian communities.

In 2010, our second full year on the AM brought us The New Noise with DJ Runt, a two-hour punk and hardcore showcase with a middle finger on the pulse of the local scene. Then there's Midnight Love Affair, a show whose defining characteristics are the laid-back host Mason W. and a finely-curated set list.

2011 brought us Rex's Barn Sessions, where Rex plays country, folk, and oldies, punctuated by hilarious chat. You can follow that up with Fear of Music, also a 2011 addition. The host is not as chatty, but he lets the excellent music do the talking, all with an eye for local artists and new releases.

After our youth program ended in 2012, two participants stuck around to create CJLO's funniest show. FunkShui takes off-the-cuff chatter to the next level with nerdy topics and hilarious personal anecdotes. And let's not forget Stroll Around the Groove. The hosts are DJs in the truest sense, and the little-known grooves you hear on every show are the result of some serious crate digging.

The shows from 2013 hold a special place in my heart, as I had the great pleasure of helping these hosts get their shows onto the air, and I couldn't be happier with the results. The Link brings an hour of Concordia-related news, culture, and insight. Anatomy of Caribbean Music infuses feel-good vibes with fascinating context. Meanwhile, Jeff Elgee's deep knowledge leads to excellent selections of classical music on Wagner's Beard.

So what does the future hold? Your guess is as good as mine, but what I can say is that there are dozens of hosts in training. Some want to do nerd culture, J-pop, bilingualism, or oral history. Whatever comes of it all, it's going to be programming the likes of which you're not going to hear anywhere else. Three cheers for community radio. Three cheers for CJLO. And Happy Birthday!

...and Beyond!

Here's your future, CJLO! Lucy Kiparissis, CJLO's Volunteer Coordinator and host of The Belldog, gives our interpretation of where we'll be in the year 2023!

Not only are CJLO's volunteers and DJs supremely talented and incredibly good-looking, we also consider ourselves to be amateur futurists of the highest order. As we celebrate a couple of milestones this year, we impatiently look forward and ask, "Yes, but what about 10 years from now?" WHERE WILL CJLO BE THEN?

The majority of us are practical. We love our scrappy home on the AM dial, but our signal isn't as strong or as far-reaching as it could be. "Underground rep" and "having decent reception downtown" aren't mutually exclusive categories, it turns out. So, plenty of us hope and predict that we'll find ourselves on the FM dial in ten years' time, or as Erica from the F-Hole puts it, "rockin' the FM like a boss"—it's a fair prediction that we'll continue to do everything like a boss in ten years, though. CJLO Magazine editor and Champs host Stephanie Dee predicts even greater leaps in broadcasting capabilities, hoping that we'll have the technology to "broadcast neo-garage psych music straight to [her] geriatric brain."

In other matters of practicality, DJ Runt from The New Noise forecasts that we'll have a state-of-the-art archiving system, with shows available for download on demand. He also sees CJLO staffed by "brain-eating, man-killing robots... with a love of toaster strudels," which is essentially part and parcel to a streamlined podcasting system. Marina from FunkShui is also thinking ahead to our technological capacity, imagining in ten years that "CJLO to be all cool and tech-y with rad new equipment that makes you think you're in a spaceship!" 

Speaking of CJLO's imminent leap into the space-age, Remi from At the Movies with Iconic Sounds predicts that, if the rise in space tourist has anything to say about the near future, we'll be star-bound in ten years. More specifically, broadcasting from Newt Gingrich's Moon colony.

Back on Earth, some of our volunteers reflect on the good CJLO has done and can do still. Patricia from FunkShui, as one of the youngest DJs at the station, speaks with authority as a representative of CJLO's next generation, and she hopes that she and her partner Marina will still be "working at the station and heading the up Youth Program in order to inspire teenagers the same way that [we were] when we were in high school!" Former station manager Katie Seline sees "CJLO in the next ten being heard Montreal-wide and a household name for great music and community programming across Canada," maybe even becoming "Canada's KEXP." Denis from Dirty Work sums this sentiment up, assured that "CJLO will still be a beacon of underground music in 10 years—in whatever form that might take."

I'll leave the final word to our RPM & Metal Director and Grade A Explosives host Andrew Wieler, whose humble wish is something everyone here at CJLO can get behind: "World domination... Too much?"

(Actually, final word goes to me. Watch out for the next great flood circa 2018, and join me in the CJLO bathysphere I'm secretly building in the Loyola Chapel basement afterhours.)