After a 10-year journey to secure a broadcast license for G98.7 FM, president and station manager Fitzroy Gordon’s dreams came true last Monday, as he invited media and guests to the station for an unveiling of the studios and offices.
During a ribbon-cutting ceremony, press conference and tour of G98.7 FM, Gordon took the opportunity to thank the staff who helped him reach this milestone, and the community for its patience after applying for a license on three separate occasions. The station was packed from wall to wall with supporters, enthusiastic about the launch.
The station targets a core 25 to 54 year old demographic, plays R&B, soul, hip-hop, reggae, soca, gospel and smooth jazz, which is groundbreaking for Canadian radio, as well as the Black and Caribbean communities.
For the last few weeks, G98.7 FM has been experimenting on-air by playing continuous music to receive feedback from listeners. Aisha Wickham Thomas, the station’s director of communications shared that the whole team is pleasantly surprised at the response they are already receiving from the community, even before any shows and talk programming have been launched.
“The response in our first several weeks of just pure music testing has been overwhelming. People are loving what we are offering, both the new school and the old school, and not only that, but the news and talk programming is going to give a voice to the Black and Caribbean community to talk about issues of importance,” she says.
Program Director Wayne Williams announced the on-air team, stating that the crew was created to make the competition nervous. The line-up consists of many renowned Toronto DJs and radio personalities such as Jester, Dr. Jay, DJ Riyad, Mark Strong, Jemeni and Spex. “We have a very good team. When we started to think about putting a team together, we wanted to get an experienced team, a team that could hit the ground running,” Gordon says.
The announcement that Mark Strong and Jemeni are reuniting to host the morning show created much excitement. The duo, whose previous show left airwaves in 2006, is enthusiastic about returning to the booth, and the impact G98.7 FM will have on Toronto. “We’re happy to be part of a movement that has been a buzz for a long time and has been a need in the community, and we’re happy to be a part of this journey and build it from the ground up,” says Strong. Immediately following the announcement, Twitter was blowing up, as fans of the pair welcomed them back to the airwaves.
Spex, the Riddim Track master, is also joining the G98.7 FM team and returning to his Sunday night slot on the airwaves after his exit from FLOW 93.5 in February. “To actually be on a radio station that caters to the music that I want to hear and the music that I want to play, 24 hours a day, is actually a dream come true. So I’m more than excited. I’m very blessed.”
Gordon, along with his G98.7 FM team, asks the community to be patient, as this is only the beginning, but ensures that there are only great things to come for the radio station.
Visit www.urbanologymag.com for more
No comments:
Post a Comment