| City of license | Edmonton, Alberta |
|---|---|
| Branding | Hot 107 FM |
| Slogan | Edmonton's New Hit Music Channel Make the switch |
| Frequency | 107.1 MHz (FM) |
| First air date | October 6, 2009 |
| Format | Rhythmic top 40 |
| ERP | 40,000 watts |
| Class | C |
| Callsign meaning | NeW (from their slogan and test name "NEW-FM")[1] |
| Owner | Harvard Broadcasting |
| Website | http://www.hot107.ca/ |
CJNW-FM (Hot 107, stylized as HOT 107) is a Canadian radio station, that broadcasts a rhythmic top 40 format at 107.1 FM in Edmonton, Alberta. Under the former owner John Charles Yerxa, the application received approval on October 17, 2008. CJNW started testing on September 16, 2009, and was officially signed on air on October 6, 2009.[1][2] It uses studio space in West Edmonton Mall, next to Newcap Broadcasting's CFCW, CIRK and CKRA. John Yerxa is the son of Hal Yerxa, a former broadcaster at CFCA-FM, and was the only local station owner in Edmonton.[3] On December 21, 2011, the CRTC approved the sale of CJNW-FM to Harvard Broadcasting who also own CKEA-FM.[4]
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Initially presented with a focus on lesser-known music, independent artists, and alternative and electronic music, the station launched playing instead primarily top-40 music on a very small rotation.
Currently, the station plays mostly Pop, pop-electronic, independent, and European artists, with a small selection of American hip hop usually in the rotation as well. The format draws from top-40, but cannot be classified as such. The station plays a very large amount of music in comparison to commercial and talk time on the station. They also have a "No Nickelback Guarantee". Because of that, they rarely play contemporary rock songs, unless it is a remix that makes it more suitable for CJNW's genre.
There are 3 different live-performed DJ sets each weekday - 1 hour at lunch, 90 minutes at 5:00 and 1 hour at 9. The lunch and 9:00 mix is performed by Mike Tomas, while Russel James performs at 5PM.
The station's first live broadcast was December 31, 2009, in the form of a live DJ mix,[5] and aired a two hour commercial-free live mix on Saturdays from 7:00 to 9:00 pm since. This mix is called the "Saturday Night Hot Mix", and is hosted by L.F., an intern turned full-time employee, it features DJ's Russell James and Mike Tomas. On February 5, 2011, the "Saturday Night Hot Mix" was moved to 8:00 to 10:00, and started broadcasting the syndicated show, the "All Star Hit Mix" by The Baka Boyz, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm.
The station began airing a daily live personality on January 11, 2010, identifying herself as Bri, she was on air every weekday from 4:00 to 8:00pm, up to September 24. The two hours of this broadcast, from 4:00 to 6:00 are commercial free, and the hour from 5:00 to 6:00 is a live DJ mix called the "Hot Mix". This was in competition with The Bounce's half hour mix, called "Traffic Jam", the Hot Mix's main DJ, Russell James, was the original DJ of the Traffic Jam. The Bounce discontinued the Traffic Jam on September 3, 2010, and now airs a mix at 9:00pm. Up to September 10, the Friday mix was themed, called "Fist Pump Friday", inspired by Jersey Shore.
Starting May 7, 2010, the station began airing a live electronic mix, called "Connected Fridays", also from their studio space, commercial-free every Friday evening from 9:00 to 11:00 pm, it originally featured DJ's Benny Hawk and Mikey Wong. These DJ's played Connected Fridays from an ultra lounge, on the Bounce previously. Seelo Mondo has since taken over for Benny Hawk.
A new promotion, called "Facebook Fan Fridays", started September 17, 2010. For most of the day HOT 107 is "renamed" to a CJNW listener's name. On September 27, the hosting duties for the 4:00 to 6:00 block transferred to DJ Russell James solely. Bri now hosts the "HOT 7 at 7", a count down of the "hottest" songs of the day, and "U-MIX 107", a live mix that takes requests with DJ Mike Tomas at 9:00pm, in competition of the Bounce's new mix. However, "U-Mix107" lasts 60-minutes commercial free as compared to The Bounce's 40-minute mix.
The CRTC approved the sale of Hot 107 to Harvard Broadcasting on December 21, 2011. Former owner John Charles Yerxa said in a statement "Although health circumstances factored into my decision to sell, in selecting Harvard, I truly believe I am doing what is best for my staff and the local Edmonton radio market".[6]
Since it was launched in October 2009, Hot 107 has been doing marketing directly targeted at CHBN-FM (91.7 The Bounce), such as launching the station with "10,000 songs in a row", compared to The Bounce's commercial frequency, playing an hour long afternoon DJ mix, and also some parodies to The Bounce's bumpers, such as "I just bounced to the new Hot 107".
The Bounce remained firm on their slogan by emphasizing station in their slogan, "Edmonton's #1 Hit Music Station", while Hot 107's slogan, "Edmonton's New Hit Music Channel", has emphasis on the new. The Bounce has since added more new international hits such as Rihanna's S&M and Cee Lo Green's "Forget You". The morning show with "Pepper and Dylan" only retained the conversational format, until Pepper and Dylan's resignation April 9, 2010, and The Bounce's half-hour afternoon mix show was moved to 9pm and re-branded as the 9 o'clock Shake. The 5 O'clock Traffic Jam was replaced with the Bounce's Top 5 at 5 featuring the 5 biggest hits of the day.
On February 23, 2010, the hot adult contemporary station CKNO-FM (102.3 Now! Radio) launched. It plays some similar artists as Hot 107, such as Lady Gaga, The Black Eyed Peas, and Ke$ha, however, because a majority of Now's playlist is different than Hot 107's, and the presence of on-air personalities, it is not a major competitor.
On February 3, 2011, The Bounce introduced Commercial Free Mondays once again, it existed when CJNW launched, but however was cancelled in 2010. The next day, February 4, CFMG, formerly 104.9 EZ Rock, dropped Adult Contemporary to become Contemporary Hit Radio 1049 Virgin Radio, having the same format as its CHBN-FM rival.
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