CHOZ-FM
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| CHOZ-FM | |
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| Broadcast area | St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador |
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| Branding | OZ FM |
| Slogan | The Rock of the Rock The Power to Fly, The Power of OZ |
| Frequency | 94.7 MHz (FM) |
| First air date | June 15, 1977 |
| Format | hot AC |
| Callsign meaning | OZ for "OZ FM" |
| Owner | Newfoundland Broadcasting Company Ltd. (controlled by the Stirling family) |
| Website | http://www.ozfm.com/ |
CHOZ-FM is a Canadian radio station based in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Its main St. John's transmitter broadcasts on FM at 94.7 MHz, but additional transmitters are located throughout the province. The station, known as "OZ FM", is one of the various media properties of Geoff Stirling, which also include local television station CJON-TV.
The station launched on June 15, 1977, soon after Stirling sold his interest in what is now CJYQ. Originally a full-time rock station known as "Radio OZ", it perhaps intended to be the Newfoundland equivalent of other stations then owned by Stirling such as CHOM-FM Montreal. It eventually transitioned to a combination contemporary hit radio/classic rock format under the "OZ FM" brand; nonetheless it kept the slogan "The Rock of the Rock".
During most of the 1990s it was the most popular FM radio station, both in the province and in the core St. John's market, driven largely by the strength of its eclectic morning show, The Dawn Patrol.
Yet by the early 2000s its newly strengthened competitor Newcap Broadcasting had begun to cause a significant effect, particularly in St. John's. Already the owner of the city's dominant radio station, AM station VOCM, Newcap effectively split CHOZ's market by converting VOCM-FM (and several other stations across the province) to classic rock, and soon after CKIX-FM to contemporary hits. Another strong contender, Coast Broadcasting's adult contemporary station CKSJ-FM, launched in 2004.
But since CKSJ and CKIX only operated in the St. John's area, OZ FM was now in the problematic situation of competing primarily with female-skewing FM stations in its largest market, and with a single male-skewing FM competitor in the rest of the province.
CHOZ can still boast having the largest audience of any FM radio station in the province, largely because it is the only station with a province-wide network of transmitters, all carrying identical programming, which can therefore be accumulated for ratings purposes as a single station. In contrast, other provincial radio services such as CBC Radio One, VOCM/CFCB, and K-Rock are made up of separate local stations with some unique programming, while several stations operate only in the immediate St. John's area.
In 2003, Randy Snow left the OZFM Dawn Patrol to join rival station CKIX to host his own morning show. His replacement was Brian O'Connell, who left the VOCM Morning Show to join OZFM. In April 2007, O'Connell took over as station manager for the OZFM Network and host of the daily Electric Lunch program. OZFM staff announcer Paul Kinsman was named as O'Connell's replacement, joining long time Dawn Patrol veterans Deborah Birmingham and Larry Jay.
OZ FM is also available across Canada on Bell ExpressVu on channel 951.
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